8 times royals sent subtle messages with their outfits
- Royals can’t express political opinions publicly, but may send subtle messages with their outfits.
- The Queen may have trolled President Donald Trump by wearing a brooch given to her by the Obamas.
- Kate Middleton appeared to show support for Ukraine in a blue dress with heirloom jewelry.
People speculated that Queen Elizabeth shaded President Donald Trump with her tiara that guards against “evil” on his 2019 visit to the UK.
Queen Elizabeth wore her Burmese Ruby Tiara to a state dinner at Buckingham Palace with Donald Trump. The tiara contains 96 rubies that were given to the Queen as a gift from the people of Burma (also known as Myanmar).
According to the Royal Exhibitions website, the Burmese people believe that the rubies in the tiara guard against “illness” and “evil,” and Twitter users were quick to note the possible message she was sending with her tiara choice to dine with Trump.
“The Queen wore her Burmese Ruby Tiara to protect herself from evil during Trump’s visit and I AM CACKLING,” one user wrote.
“Queen Elizabeth is a hero,” another user tweeted. “I adore her for her trolling Trump skills through the medium of jewellery.”
The first time Trump visited in 2018, people noticed the Queen’s choice of brooches may have been sending him a message.
On the first day of President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump’s visit to the UK in 2018, Queen Elizabeth wore a brooch given to her by Barack and Michelle Obama.
When she actually met with Trump, she wore a brooch that her mother wore to her father’s funeral, which some people thought could be a subtle sign of the Queen’s opinion of the president.
The Queen could have been making a subtle statement about opposing Brexit with her hat reminiscent of the European Union flag.
The Huffington Post reported that people drew connections between the Queen’s blue and yellow hat and the flag of the European Union when she opened Parliament in 2017 and thought she could be sending a message about opposing Brexit.
Meghan Markle wore a necklace purported to bring good fortune and protect from “negative vibes” on a call with a woman preparing for a job interview through Smart Works.
Smart Works, one of Markle’s patronages before she stepped back from royal life, provides professional clothing to unemployed women to help them succeed in job interviews. On March 27, Markle spoke with a woman working with the organization to offer words of encouragement before her interview.
“You seem incredibly confident and prepared,” she said.
Smart Works shared a clip of the conversation on their Twitter page. In the video, Markle can be seen wearing a $175 “Visionary Charm Necklace” from Edge of Ember that guarantees the wearer, “It’s got your back.”
She wore a white dress to an International Women’s Day panel that could have been intentionally chosen as “Suffragette white.”
Meghan Markle spoke on an International Women’s Day panel with Adwoa Aboah, Annie Lennox, and other feminist activists in 2019. She wore a white printed dress for the occasion which Elle speculated was a deliberate choice to don “Suffragette white,” a symbol dating back to British women’s rights activist Emmeline Pankhurst in 1908.
Kate Middleton didn’t wear black in support of Time’s Up at the 2018 BAFTAs, but some people thought her dress’ black sash was a subtle nod to the movement.
At the 2018 BAFTA Awards, celebrities wore black in support of the Time’s Up movement, but Kate Middleton opted for a dark green dress, likely because members of the royal family are supposed to remain politically neutral. Some thought that the black sash was her subtle way of showing solidarity with the anti-sexism and anti-harassment movement.
Princess Beatrice carried a bag decorated with the slogan “Be Cool Be Nice” from an anti-bullying campaign she contributed to.
Good Housekeeping spotted Princess Beatrice’s custom box bag at the 2018 Chelsea Flower Show embellished with the words “Be Cool Be Nice,” the slogan of an anti-cyberbullying campaign with a book that Beatrice contributed to.
Kate Middleton appeared to show her support for Ukraine in a blue coatdress paired with the same jewelry she wore to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Arriving for a Commonwealth Day event at London’s Westminster Abbey on Monday — more than two weeks after Russia invaded Ukraine — Middleton was photographed wearing a Catherine Walker coatdress and Lock & Co hat, the Daily Mail reported. The coat was entirely blue, one of Ukraine’s national colors.
She completed the look with sapphire earrings and a necklace, believed to be from Princess Diana’s collection, according to People magazine. The publication added that the duchess previously wore the jewelry to meet Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his wife, Olena Zelenskyy, at Buckingham Palace in October 2020.