Princess Charlotte Once Swiped Kate Middleton's Million-Dollar Tiara To Play Dress Up
Many children of the world take to their parents' closets when playtime rolls around, trying on their clothes and accessories while pretending to be someone else. However, when your parents are royals, the accessories you grab might be worth millions. Catherine, Princess of Wales, and William, Prince of Wales, have three children: Prince George of Wales, Princess Charlotte of Wales, and Prince Louis of Wales. Kate Middleton and Charlotte have a hobby in common — playing piano — and it's been rumored that they have similar preferences in jewelry as well.
An insider spoke to Life & Style about Charlotte's "very expensive taste." They said, "She's obsessed with her mother's jewelry. William once found her covered in Kate's makeup and wearing a $4 million tiara." The source reported that Kate bought Charlotte a Disney tiara so she could have her own. "She prefers the real deal and made Kate promise to give it to her in the future," the source added.
However, the insider's claim that just one of Kate's tiaras costs $4 million (which would be about £3.165 million) doesn't quite match other accounts that calculate the assumed value of Kate's full jewelry collection.
Charlotte could inherit a large jewelry collection from Kate
According to Express, the total value of the jewelry owned by Catherine, Princess of Wales, is approximately £1.7 million. £275,995 of that is the supposed value of Kate Middleton's personal collection, and the rest is jewelry she inherited from Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana. Since Princess Charlotte of Wales is Kate's only daughter, she may receive all or most of that collection one day in the future.
If the story of Charlotte trying on one of her mother's expensive tiaras is true (even if it wasn't really worth $4 million), maybe Kate will loan it to her for a special occasion, like when Kate wore one of Queen Elizabeth's tiaras for her wedding to William, Prince of Wales. That would likely happen when Charlotte was much older. However, she's already gotten to wear the same designer clothes and jewelry as Kate for a royal event: King Charles III's coronation ceremony.
Kate and Charlotte matched for the coronation, both wearing white dresses from Alexander McQueen with symbolic flowers embroidered on them: roses for England, thistles for Scotland, daffodils for Wales, and shamrocks for Northern Ireland. Kate also wore official royal robes for the Royal Victorian Order on top of her dress, and her and Charlotte's headpieces were nearly the same.
Kate and Charlotte's headpieces were covered in silver leaves
The mother-daughter duo had leaf-inspired headpieces for King Charles III's coronation. Sarah Burton from Alexander McQueen — who made Catherine, Princess of Wales', coronation dress and probably Princess Charlotte of Wales' too — collaborated with milliner (i.e. hat maker) Jess Collett on the headpieces. According to Kensington Palace, per Harper's Bazaar, Kate's wasn't officially a tiara, despite its similar shape. Charlotte's headpiece was less intricate than Kate's, and it looked more like an ornate headband.
Each headpiece was made of crystal and silver bullion with silver leaves. Chloe Savage, a royal embroiderer, told People about the process of working on the diadems: "You basically make the flowers and leaves on fabric with wires and then you cut them out. Then you bend and shape them accordingly." Savage talked about the difficulties of working with silver thread — but no one would be able to tell there was any trouble behind the scenes just by looking at Kate and Charlotte's sparkling jewelry.
Kate and Charlotte's striking headpieces were also homages to Queen Elizabeth II. They were similar to the shimmery headpieces Elizabeth's Maids of Honour wore at her coronation in 1953, tying in a sweet familial connection.