- Kate Middleton had her third tiara moment of 2025 during the German state banquet, wearing Queen Victoria’s Oriental Circlet Tiara.
- The tiara was created for Queen Victoria and hasn’t been worn in public in two decades.
- Kate’s other go-to tiaras include the Halo Tiara, the Lotus Flower Tiara, the Strathmore Rose Tiara, and the Queen Mary Lover’s Knot Tiara.
The state visit from Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, Elke Büdenbender, is in full swing, and in honor of the special guests, Kate Middleton is having her third tiara moment of 2025. For the state banquet at Windsor Castle on December 3, the Princess of Wales arrived wearing Queen Victoria’s Oriental Circlet Tiara—which, for the record, is the fifth different tiara Kate has ever worn...not to mention the biggest.
And while one doesn’t really need to accessorize when wearing a tiara as big as the Oriental Circlet, Kate’s state banquet ensemble included earrings that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth as well.
Also called the Indian Circlet Tiara, Garrard describes it as one of “the most important Victorian-era jewels in the Royal Collection,” not to mention one of the oldest pieces made by the jewelry house. This tiara was created for Queen Victoria as a gift from Prince Albert in 1853 and set with 2,600 diamonds. It was then passed to Victoria’s daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra.
The headpiece was also worn by the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth, although the late monarch wore it only once during her reign, during a 2005 trip to Malta. That means that its appearance at the German state banquet marks the first time the Oriental Circlet has been worn in public in two decades.
Oh, and fun fact: Although the tiara originally featured opal accents, they were later replaced with rubies by Queen Alexandra since she found opals to be “unlucky.”
So! What are the other four tiaras that Kate keeps on rotation? Her tiara debut came on her wedding day in 2011, when she wore the Halo Tiara, made by Cartier and commissioned by King George VI for the Queen Mother in 1936.
She’s also worn the Lotus Flower Tiara, the Strathmore Rose Tiara, and the Queen Mary Lover’s Knot Tiara (the latter of which she wore for both the French state visit in July and the U.S. state visit in September).
