I’m hearing that Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales and absolute wild woman, may decide not to wear a tiara to the coronation of her father-in-law King Charles on May 6, and I simply do not understand this choice. Personally, if I were a literal princess, I would wear a tiara every time I left the house.
According to People, Princess Catherine is considering a more laid-back choice of headgear, like a fascinator or a hat. This, we are to understand, would be quite a break from tradition. “Tiaras were worn by nearly every royal lady at the Queen’s coronation in 1953, as well lots of aristocratic women,” Lauren Kiehna, writer of The Court Jeweller, told the outlet, “but times have certainly changed in 70 years.” A coronation is, by definition, a very crown-forward royal ceremony, after all.
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“I’m certainly hoping we’ll see coronation tiaras, but it’s possible that Charles is following the example of some of his European counterparts, like the King of the Netherlands, and setting a daytime formal dress code for the event,” Kiehna explained, saying it may be part of “the ‘de-formalizing’ of the British royal world that has taken place over the last several decades.”
I would argue that if you’re trying to “de-formalize” a coronation, you’ve already lost the battle. I’d also argue that however formal the dress-code, there’s no real danger of anyone upstaging the king, who will be wearing “the most important and sacred of all the crowns,” titled St. Edward’s Crown, which is nearly 400 years old and weighs almost five pounds.
But if Kate Middleton does wear a tiara, the real question becomes: What will Meghan Markle wear?
