Charles and Camilla greets Emperor & Empress of Japan at State Banquet as Queen wears new badge for first time
KING Charles and Camilla greeted the Emperor and Empress of Japan at a State Banquet as the Queen wore a new badge for the first time.
The King’s new Family Order has been worn for the first time by the Queen at the Japanese state banquet.
Camilla stepped out wearing the diamond-encased miniature portrait of her husband topped with a tiny gold and enamel Tudor crown.
It was suspended on a pale blue silk bow on her left shoulder for the glittering event in the Buckingham Palace ballroom.
It comes nearly two years after Charles, the longest serving heir to the throne, acceded as monarch following the death of his mother.
Family Orders badges are worn at formal evening occasions by female members of the royal family and personally bestowed by the sovereign, and are a sign of the importance of the wearer within the royal household.
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The King will have privately presented the Order to his “darling wife” – whom he praised in his first televised address as monarch for her “steadfast devotion to duty on which I have come to rely so much”.
The couple have faced the challenge of the King's cancer diagnosis and treatment together, with the Queen urging her husband to take it easy but revealing he “won’t slow down and won’t do what he’s told”.
More than one Family Order can be worn at the same time and Camilla was also wearing the late Queen Elizabeth II’s.
This was seen mounted on a chartreuse yellow ribbon, below that of the King’s.
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George IV started the tradition of presenting Family Orders – miniature portraits of the sovereign set in diamonds suspended from a ribbon – to female members of the family more than 200 years ago.
But Charles has modernised some of the elements of his own, while keeping to the traditional appearance.
His miniature portrait is painted on a synthetic material called polymin, rather than on ivory as was the tradition, and the diamonds are spare ones – existing loose jewels from the Royal Collection rather than newly acquired.
Polymin is a translucent treated plastic sheet similar in texture to ivorine, which is a synthetic ivory made from cellulose nitrate.
The diamonds are brilliant-cut and have a total weight of 10.41 carats – and the Order, designed by the Crown Jeweller Mark Appleby, was crafted in 18 carat white and yellow gold which was already in royal possession.
Charles personally selected the pale blue colour of the ribbon which is based on the bow on the Family Order of his great-grandfather King George V.
It comes after William welcomed Emperor Naruhito and his wife Empress Masako at their hotel before accompanying them to Horse Guards Parade.
The prince has stepped up to lead the royal family while his wife Princess Kate undergoes treatment for cancer.
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Kate, 42, made her public comeback at Trooping the Colour earlier this month but will not yet resume full-time royal duties.
William is also supporting his father King Charles while the monarch also undergoes cancer treatment.