Queen Camilla’s Fashion Choice Echoes Queen Elizabeth II’s 1957 U.S. Visit as King Charles Tries to Win Over Donald Trump
Queen Camilla paid tribute to her late mother-in-law as she arrived in the U.S. on Monday for an official state visit.
Queen Camilla wears symbolic brooch to reference ‘special relationship’ between the U.S. and U.K.
On April 27, the Queen and King Charles III landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland to begin their four-day stay in the country. As she exited the plane, wore a long pink Dior coatdress with Cartier’s Union Jack and Stars and Stripes brooch pinned high on her left shoulder. For her meeting at the White House with President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, she changed into a collarless white coatdress. But she again wore the platinum brooch, which is set with rubies, emeralds, and diamonds.
The brooch, which features a crossed-flags design, was given to Queen Elizabeth II during her first state visit to the United States in 1957, according to Women’s Wear Daily. NYC Mayor Robert F. Wagner presented the jewel-encrusted brooch to the Queen during a luncheon, with the idea that it symbolized the close relationship between the U.S. and the U.K.
Camilla’s decision to don the brooch for this visit serves as a reminder of the historic links between the two countries, particularly at a time when the U.S.’s relationship with many of its traditional allies have become strained. Charles’ visit to the U.S. is the first from a British monarch since Queen Elizabeth II’s 2007 trip to Washington, D.C. The Washington Post notes that the unusual visit is Charles’ attempt to mend ties with Trump. The royal couple are in the U.S. to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence from Great Britain.
“By wearing this brooch, Queen Camilla may have been sending a message about the importance of the special relationship between the U.S. and the U.K., particularly in the wake of the fallout between Sir Keir Starmer and President Trump,” GB News notes.
King Charles being asked ‘sprinkle some royal magic’ during state visit with Trump
But King Charles will need more than his wife’s symbolic jewelry to smooth things over with Trump, who has criticized Prime Minister Starmer over his refusal to back the U.S. war with Iran.
Charles is being dispatched “to sprinkle some royal magic over a president who is a monarchist and appears to soften in front of pomp and ceremony,” wrote BBC royal correspondent Daniela Relph. “And the King will have some heavy lifting to do to make President Donald Trump look more warmly on the UK and its government.”
In some ways, Charles in a similar position to that of his mother during her first visit to the U.S. as Queen.
“In 1957, Queen Elizabeth II visited President Dwight Eisenhower in the aftermath of the damaging Suez Crisis. Her job was to help mend fractured UK-US relations,” Relph pointed out. “Now her son is being asked to do his own bit of royal diplomacy in the shadow of another international conflict.”
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