The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Royals turn on the style for Garter Day service
HISTORY: Foreign monarchs honoured in display of pomp and pageantry
British and European royal women have turned on the style for Garter Day as foreign monarchs were honoured by the Queen during a display of pomp and pageantry.
The Duchess of Cambridge, the Duchess of Cornwall and the Countess of Wessex led the way in the fashion stakes as they stood shoulder to shoulder with Queen Letizia of Spain and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands during the annual event.
The royal party watched as Garter knights – both commoners and royals including their husbands – wore lavish velvet robes, glistening insignia and plumed hats for a procession through the grounds of Windsor Castle to the St George’s Chapel service commemorating the Order of the
Garter.
Newly invested members of the order, King Felipe VI of Spain and King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands – now supernumerary, or stranger knights – proudly walked with the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cambridge, the Duke of York, the Princess Royal and the Earl of Wessex.
The watching royal women all looked stylish in wide-brimmed hats, with Kate wearing a Catherine Walker coat and Lock & Co hat, Camilla dressed in an Anna Valentine coat and Philip Treacy hat, and Sophie wearing a Suzannah dress and Jane Taylor hat.
Maxima wore an outfit by Claes Iversen and a hat by Fabienne Delvigne.
Hundreds of spectators watched as the Garter knights walked through the castle grounds accompanied by ceremonial military units.
Their route was lined by troopers on foot from the Household Cavalry’s Life Guards and Blues and Royals, wearing their plumed helmets and carrying swords.
The Queen, who arrived by state limousine, is sovereign of the order and appoints new Knights of the Garter without consulting ministers.
Recipients are chosen because they have held public office, contributed to national life or served the sovereign personally.