A state banquet is part of a state visit. At the Royal Palace in Amsterdam, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima share a fork with President Macron and his wife. In this blog you can read more about fashion and jewelry.

First image courtesy of Patrick van Catwijk:

The dress was designed by Claes Iversen.

Fun detail: Six months ago, on September 2, I blogged about Iversen’s new collection and advised the Queen to order this dress.

Our expert jeweler Edwin Fellner explains this night’s choice of jewels: “We saw the antique pearl diadem eight times at Maxima, two of them without pearls. The gem is also incorrectly referred to as the Paulowna Pearl Diadem because Queen Anna Bolona once owned a diadem with similarities to it. Large. The diadem that Maxima wears tonight was commissioned by then Queen Wilhelmina in 1900, based on an example (!) of her Russian grandmother’s diadem. Anna Polona’s diadem was likely inherited by her daughter, Princess Sophie, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. However The large pear-shaped pearls affixed to the current wreath are much older than the jewel itself.The pearls (at least 4) come from 1646(!) from the estate of Amalia van Solms, Dutch princess in the 17th century.The pearls from her collection are set on a base of diamonds, and a wreath of floral motifs.The wreath can also be worn without pearls

So Queen Wilhelmina was the first to wear this wreath. Since then, all Dutch queens wear a pearl diadem. It was Queen Juliana who inherited the beautiful jewel and later placed it in the Royal Family Jewelery Foundation, which she founded, so that this beautiful piece would be preserved for her descendants.”