The reason the Queen was dressed casually at the State Opening of Parliament

Today, Thursday 12 December, the Queen conducted the State Opening of Parliament — her second in just two months.

However, Her Majesty was relatively dressed down compared to back in October when she wore full regalia including a diamond tiara, a silver brocade dress and red velvet mantle. This time the 93 year old monarch looked chic in smart daywear which consisted of a tweed aqua-coloured coat with a matching wide-brimmed hat complete with ribbon decoration and a floral pink dress underneath.

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Downing Street released a statement, before the UK general election on 12 December, explaining that if Boris Johnson was to remain Prime Minister the State Opening of Parliament would then take place on Thursday 19 December and instead have “reduced ceremonial elements, as was the case following the early general election in 2017".

Arriving ahead of Her Majesty to the Palace of Westminster was The Imperial State Crown which was placed on a red velvet and gold fringe cushion next to where the monarch sat with her son, the Prince of Wales. Naturally, because of the informal style of her outfit the Queen would not have been expected to put on the crown. However, she did not wear the impressive piece with her ceremonial dress in October for the State Opening either.

The reason for this is that The Imperial State Crown is adorned with 2,201 previous stones including rubies, sapphires and diamond, which makes it weigh 1kg which is extremely heavy. Therefore because of her age and the crown’s weight she instead opted for the George IV State Diadem during the whole event, instead of changing it as is tradition.

The Queen has had a very busy week thus far, having already hosted an annual lunch in celebration of Christmas for members of her extended family at Buckingham Palace on Wednesday. She will now be getting ready to travel to Sandringham for the holidays. Her Majesty will be joined by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall for the church service on Christmas Day.

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The Royal Family

However Meghan Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and their baby son Archie will be noticeably absent. Instead, the trio will be spending the festive day with Meghan’s mother Doria Ragland at their home of Frogmore Cottage. Buckingham Palace released a statement saying: "This decision is in line with precedent set previously by other members of the Royal Family, and has the support of Her Majesty The Queen."

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