Dior, Diamonds, Dinner: Inside King Charles, Queen Camilla’s French State Visit
LONDON — King Charles and Queen Camilla landed in France Wednesday for their first state visit since taking the throne.
The royal couple met France’s president Emmanuel Macron and his wife, first lady Brigitte Macron, at the Arc de Triomphe, where a wreath-laying ceremony was held.
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The royal couple are on a three day visit with fashion holding a key part in the program.
On arrival, Queen Camilla wore a wool crepe coat dress in rose pink by Fiona Clare with a beige top handle bag from Charlotte Elizabeth paired with a Philip Treacy hat that matched her dress. She wore diamond and pearl clip-on earrings with four strands of pearls, which she was photographed in for her 14th wedding anniversary portrait with King Charles.
Meanwhile, Macron wore head-to-toe navy with a skirt suit that featured nautical-inspired buttons in the shape of anchors.
In the evening, the Macrons met with the royals along with 160 other guests that included Arnault and his wife, Helene Mercier, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Mick Jagger, Hugh Grant and Emma Mackey at the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles.
Queen Camilla and Macron were in unison in navy evening gowns.
Camilla wore a minimal Dior couture design with embroidery at the belt paired with a long evening cape with an embroidered trim. She wore Queen Elizabeth II’s diamond and sapphire necklace, otherwise known as the George VI Sapphires.
The late queen received the necklace as a gift from her father, hence the name.
The First Lady of France added a touch of glamour to her gown with an embroidered crystal collar and cuffs.
Camilla isn’t the first British royal in Dior, nor the last.
Princess Margaret wore a cream Dior dress made by the founder himself for her 21st birthday portrait by Cecil Beaton in 1951; in 1996, John Galliano designed a navy slipdress for Princess Diana to wear to the Met Gala in New York and Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, has worn Dior on multiple occasions, from pregnancy to the Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
Over the summer, a flurry of media reports said the Duchess of Sussex was about to sign a deal with the French fashion house, though a spokesman for Dior in Paris told WWD the reports were unfounded, stressing there had been no contract negotiations or recent contact with Markle.
King Charles and Queen Camilla’s trip was planned for March but was postponed due to the riots in France over President Macron’s changes to France’s pension plan. The trip marks Charles’ first state visit since succeeding his late mother, Queen Elizabeth II.
Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron were present in May for Charles’ coronation. Prior to the event, Emmanuel and Charles met in 2022, when the French president gifted the British royal a book of pictures celebrating Queen Elizabeth II’s visit to France.
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