The Reason Duchess Kate Wore A Tiara To State Dinner, While Duchess Meghan Went Without In Fiji

On Tuesday night, both Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge, attended formal dinners as part of their duties in the royal family.

Meghan, who is on tour with her husband, Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, in Oceania, attended a welcome reception and dinner in Fiji hosted by the president, Major General Jioji Konrote. Meanwhile, on the same night, Kate and her husband, Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge, attended a state dinner back in the U.K., hosted at Buckingham Palace in honor of guests King Willem-Alexander and his wife, Queen Maxima, of the Netherlands.

Both women looked radiant as they stepped out in shades of blue, but what was noticeably absent from Meghan’s outfit was a glittering tiara.

Ever since Prince Harry and Meghan tied the knot back in May this year, fans of the newest member of the royal family have been waiting to see the duchess don her first post-wedding tiara, and might have been hoping to see such an occasion during her first royal tour.

But alas, Meghan’s dark waves were left devoid of all jewels when she descended the stairs to the glittering event. As Now To Love explained, however, there was a good reason for this.

Meghan, who is a married woman and a senior ranking member of the royal family, has every right to wear a tiara should the desire strike her, but, as with everything else in the royal family rulebook, there is a time and a place. Women in the royal family are only allowed to wear tiaras to certain events, more specifically, white tie events.

The event that Meghan was attending in Fiji was only classified as a black tie event, meaning that royal fans might have to wait a while longer to see the Duchess of Sussex step out in glittering jewels, as she has no white tie events scheduled on the immediate horizon. Instead, the duchess wore her dark locks loose down her back, and chose a strategic shade of blue (known in Fiji as Fijian blue) for the event. The fitted cape dress gave royal bump watchers the best view yet of her growing baby bump. Although without a tiara, Meghan still wore a pair of sparkling diamond drop earrings, apparently on loan to her by the queen.

The state dinner at Buckingham Palace, however, was definitely a white tie event, and Kate did not disappoint. She stepped out in a fitted duckegg blue mermaid cut gown by the label that designed her wedding dress, Alexander McQueen, Princess Diana’s favorite tiara (the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara), a necklace owned by Queen Alexandra in the 19th century, and, historically, her Royal Family Order.

Despite the glitz and the glamour that seems to surround the royal family at all times, Kate, who has been a fully-fledged working member of the royal family for seven-and-a-half years already, has only actually donned a tiara a total of seven times, including this latest appearance, according to Glamour.