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Earlier this week Meghan Markle stepped out with Prince Harry in a glamorous floor-length blue gown at a Fiji state dinner. The event was significant as it marked the Duchess of Sussex’s first formal event as a member of the royal family.
While the pregnant royal looked stunning in her Safiyaa dress and diamond chandelier earrings there was something missing from her outfit – a tiara.
Her lack of sparkle was only contrasted by Kate Middleton’s appearance at a formal banquet for the Queen and King of the Netherlands at Buckingham Palace which took place just one day later.
Moreover, Meghan’s jewels were vastly different to Queen Elizabeth’s appearance at a Fiji state banquet in 1953.
According to royal tradition, Markle was able to wear a tiara for a very simple reason –
Members of the royal family can only wear tiaras when the event is a white-tie event and Meghan and Harry’s Fiji reception was a black-tie event, Hello! reports.
The rules around tiara-wearing in the royal family extends to all women on one condition: they must be married. “Any woman may wear one, but ancient tradition has it that they must be a bride or already married,” jewellery expert Geoffrey Munn told Town and Country.
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That means Meghan, Kate and Princess Eugenie all able to wear one while (sorry) Princess Beatrice can’t.
“The tiara has its roots in classical antiquity and was seen as an emblem of the loss of innocence to the crowning of love.
This article originally appeared on InStyle.
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