Queen Camilla arrived at the Biennial Rifles Awards Dinner on Thursday in London wearing a red velvet gown by Fiona Clare with a midnight Daqlah layered over it. The embroidered robe — a Yahya Couture design given to King Charles, the then-Prince of Wales during a 1998 visit to Saudi Arabia — formed the top line of the look as she took her place for the evening’s program.
The Daqlah followed its traditional cut, opening down the front and extending to the floor, with silver threadwork creating a foliate pattern across the panels. The velvet gown underneath added contrast through its deeper red tone, gathered waist and slight flare at the hem. She carried a black minaudière set with small circular jeweled accents and wore black pointed-toe shoes.
Jewelry added several familiar elements. Queen Camilla wore The Rifles’ Bugle Horn brooch on the left side of her gown, a piece she has used at several military engagements, including this month’s National Service of Remembrance. She added the diamond serpent necklace she has worn since the early 2000s — a platinum-set piece formed from round and square-cut diamonds along the serpent’s body, with smaller stones rising into the head and two rubies marking the eyes. Ruby-hued drop earrings framed the neckline, joining her gold-and-agate Vintage Alhambra bracelet from Van Cleef & Arpels.
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The appearance continues a November pattern in which Camilla has revisited significant pieces from her collection. Earlier in the month, she paired a white Fiona Clare gown with the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara, a piece from the Greville bequest featuring emeralds and an upright diamond structure. For the National English Ballet reception the following day, she opted for Van Cleef & Arpels’ mid-century ballerina brooch, a design shaped by the maison’s longtime link to Balanchine. And just a week ago at at St James’s Palace, she wore her sapphire-and-diamond insect brooches, familiar items in her daytime jewelry set.
