Princess Letizia

Ahem: "Princess Letizia of Spain receives organizing committee of the 'World Championships Artistic Roller Skating'" !!!!!!!!! Why didn't I watch that?!

Princess Letizia's shoes

I am into these shoes.

Princess Letizia

No one is immune to the Power of the Wind.

First State Visit Of An Irish President

So, as the title of the slide says, this was the first state visit from the Irish president and they DID IT UP at Windsor Castle. That is a TIARA. Emeralds feel right for Ireland, no? More details about said tiara at The Court Jeweller, where I learned that it's the "Vladimir Tiara with the Cambridge emerald pendant drops." It has a VERY juicy history, which I learned all about (as usual) over at The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor, and which I recommend. Ahem: "[The Grand Duchess Vladimir] hid this wonderful example of intricate Russian craftsmanship in the vault at Vladimir Palace in 1918 when she fled St. Petersburg in the wake of the revolution. It remained hidden away until a friend of the family who happened to be a member of the British Secret Intelligence Service smuggled the jewels out of Russia for the Grand Duchess, tucked away in a plain bag." THAT is a book all on its own. Go read all about it. It's quite interesting. I will wait for you. I'll just eyeball the rest of her jewels.

First State Visit Of An Irish President

EVERYONE brought out her tiara, in fact: Camilla is wearing one, and even Anne seems to have one on, yes? I do love a tiara. As more background on this event, per Getty: "Queen Elizabeth II delivers a speech during a State Banquet in honor of the President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins...Higgins is making the first state visit by a president of the republic since it gained independence from neighboring Britain. The visit comes three years after Queen Elizabeth II made a groundbreaking trip to the republic, which helped to heal deep-rooted unease and put British-Irish relations on a new footing. Higgins' return visit will be seen as an official sign of further progress following the hard-won peace in Northern Ireland, which remains part of the United Kingdom."

First State Visit Of An Irish President

CERTAINLY no expense was spared. LOOK AT THAT TABLE. This is in St George's Hall in Windsor, which is where all the Order of the Garter hoo-ha is chronicled. (We have a scene set in this room in the new book, and I promise we didn't use the phrase "hoo-ha." I don't think.) IT. IS. STUNNING.

Queen Elizabeth II and Irish President Michael Higgins

"Here's some random fan someone gave me one time. God even knows who it was. Shall we go find the cocktails?"

First State Visit Of An Irish President

Here's your QE2 hat of the day. These colors really are lovely on her.

Chaz and Cam

Camilla ALSO wore a hat, obviously. I am delighted every single moment that she isn't wearing some crazy wreath on her head.

The Duchess Of Cornwall Visits The London Book Fair

She also went to the London Book Fair, and now that I see this book was written by her son, it makes more sense that she's waving around something that says MEAT on it in huge letters.

Princess Anne

The Grand National was at the very start of the week -- I cannot think of The Grand National without thinking of National Velvet, which I loved SO MUCH AS A CHILD. Liz Taylor AND Angela Lansbury in one movie! Is it weird that I kind of love this crazy hat?

Zara Phillips

Zara of course also went to the Grant National. The weave of this coat is rather like the Missoni Kate wears. She looks nice.

Princess Beatrice and boyfriend Dave Clark

Princess Beatrice actually looks lovely here, but I basically just wanted us all to have a chance to eyeball her boyfriend. Let's eyeball the DUDES dating into the royal family for once. Featuring: Princess Beatrice,Dave Clark Where: London, United Kingdom When: 10 Apr 2014 Credit: Will Alexander/WENN.com

Royals Round-Up, April 11, 2014

Okay, so obviously, most of the Royals Shenanigans this week have been Wills, Kate, and George on their New Zealand/Australia Royal Tour. If you've missed any of those posts, here they are: The arrival, AKA Kate's red pillbox hat and George in his wee Queen's Guards sweater. The playgroup, AKA OMG GEORGE YOU ARE SO CUTE. Wills and Kate In McQueen visit the war memorial, talk to children, flarg around with a vintage plane, sport a ponytail. In which a new portrait of The Queen is revealed, and Jenny Packham is modeled at a state reception. Yachts were raced! Twice! And Kate won both times. Sunglasses were worn and flirting was accomplished. That being said, other stuff happened too, including a state dinner at Windsor Castle at which the Queen wore MAJOR JEWELS, Camilla held up books, people wore shoes, there's an amazing table-setting, and all kinds of other stuff that you can ogle in the slideshow. Other tidbits of interest: People has the full menu for the New Zealand state dinner and it's making me hungry. I am obsessed with menus for formal events. I really am. I will ALWAYS read them. Just the other day, I had to look something up for The Royal We and ended up spending like AN HOUR reading about what the Queen has served at various Important Dinners. Charles and Camilla's ninth anniversary was this week. Royal Central has archival news video from the wedding. And is it amazing. "Camilla. Looked. Terrified. All. Day," the announcer intones (over footage of her looking totally normal). William looks REALLY REALLY handsome. Holy cow, you William lovers will die. Stephen Fry looks A DELIGHT. Harry looks like A CHILD. And Camilla is OF COURSE wearing some kind of wreath on her head. You need to watch this.