The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and his wife Elke Büdenbender are making a State Visit to Spain. On the evening of November 26, 2025, King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain hosted a gala dinner at the Royal Palace of Madrid in honor of German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and his wife Elke Büdenbender.
For the gala dinner, Queen Letizia wore the Cartier Tiara. Queen Letizia first wore this important and valuable tiara seven years ago, and wearing it again at this gala evening marks only the second time she has ever worn it. The Cartier Tiara was designed by the famous jewelry house for Queen Victoria Eugenia — wife of King Alfonso XIII. Inspired by Egyptian motifs, it is made of diamonds and pearls.
Exquisite! Letizia has never looked better. I like the way the tiara sits back on her head with the updo.
ReplyDeleteLove this!
ReplyDeletePour cette soirée, Letizia a ressorti ce magnifique diadème ainsi que les boucles d’oreilles qui vont de pair ; elles sont tout à fait à mon goût !
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely stunning. Fabulous to see The Cartier Tiara and the dress is special but restrained so the tiara can shine in all its glory.
ReplyDeleteAs usual a well tailored dress for a perfect.fit. Thiis tiara isuits her better than the last one.There a a lightness about her. She is radiant.
ReplyDeleteWowza, they are a stunning couple! The tiara with her hair back is the best I can remember, then the huge diamond earrings, and then a beautiful gown cut to show off her best. And the King, as usual, is wearing a perfectly fit outfit and looks straight out of a movie.
ReplyDeleteAgreed - Perfection!
DeleteMESH
Absolutely stunning! The Cartier Tiara is one of my favorite tiaras and I wish she would wear it more often. It deserves to be seen. I love this updo. It is formal without being too severe. Letizia and Carolina Herrera are a match made in heaven. She rarely goes wrong in CH. This gown is fairly simple in its design, yet the interesting sleeves are enough detail to make this gown memorable. Letizia has also decided to wear platform sandals (confirmed elsewhere). I am hoping by wearing lower heels most of the time, she will continue to be able to wear high heels on special occasions.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree with you. Beautiful gown, tiara and tiara hair.
DeleteAbsolutely wonderful ! Excellent tiara hair and tiara. Stunning dress (and wonder who the creator is?). She is very very skinny at the moment and the dress does reveal this, but if she wanted to hide that, she’d have chosen longer sleeves / different neckline. Interesting she has chosen not to wear necklaces when the neckline definitely allows the space … but that seems to be typical minimalist Letizia, for whom less is more and I think she does that simplicity wonderfully.
ReplyDeleteThat is why everybody loves the tiara. She is not overloaded with other jewelry like a necklace, a bracelet, rings. Just the tiara and the earrings. The jewelry she does wear is very valuable and because it is not spoiled by another necklace and another bracelet, our attention is drawn to these 2 beautiful pieces. This is what is called class and style.
DeleteAnd I think she did well in not adding a necklace. A necklace matching the gravitas of the tiara would have been too much; a smaller necklace would have been a mismatch. The earrings do match and are just right. Any necklace would have created a round shape and thus fought with the beautiful square neckline.
DeleteA bracelet had been an option. And I personally would have preferred the order to be attached much further up rather than right on her tummy. Given the square neckline, I would have placed it near the corner of the neckline. I suspect however, that she chose the lower placement so that the golden star isn´t too close to the otherwise silvery jewellery. (Silvery in colour; I have no idea what material it is.)
The German president´s wife placed her order on her tummy too, and I don´t think it looks good. I like the silhouette of her dress and simplicity of the cut since the dress already features a bold colour and shiny material. I notice the difference in posture between the ladies, and I wonder if Mrs Büdenbender could have styled her hair differently for a state gala dinner. I´m not talking of a big updo - she has shorter hair after all - but some styling matching the grandeur of the dresses and the palace.
Mrs Budenbender's hairstyle is always the same. The wife of a president doesn't wear a tiara. How can she dress matching the grandeur of a palace ? Mrs Büdenbender's dress is a rewear in a beautiful color which suits her.
DeleteHello Vanessa, interesting views you share here! What kind of hairstyling would you liked to have seen on Mrs Büdenbender?
DeleteExactly, it´s always the same. It´s not that I dislike her cut, or length, it´s just that this is her go-to everyday hairstyle, and I think the occasion called for something more festive. She could try curls, or parting her hair differently, or combing it back a bit, or a half updo, or hair ornaments or whatever. There are a endless possibilities, and any stylist would have come up with ideas to create an evening look elegant enough to match the dress.
DeleteHello Vanessa, I'm not sure about your suggestions ;-) Curls, half updo, hair ornaments, ... It all sounds a bit too much 1980's prom style to me ;-D But keep up the good work in sharing your ideas here, I love reading them!
DeleteLove her hair it suits the tiara and her dress it shows off her figure
ReplyDeleteThe tiara is gorgeous. Letizia’s updo looks very pretty. I think adding a diamond bracelet to what she’s wearing would have looked nice.
ReplyDelete-Royal Watcher
Agree with you on the bracelets!
DeleteThe up style hair incorporated with her tiara looks superb. Her makeup looks gorgeous, very natural, but enough of an impact. The tiara is just beautiful. The large diamond earrings, I love! they are a wonderful size of substance and glistening is right up there. No necklace is needed with the earrings. The embellishments on the top of her bodice/cap sleeves etc... looks exceptionally good, again adding interest. Love the design of this black gown. The small train, stunning. The gown fits well. The Presidents wife, looks beautiful in this blue satin gown. The style of the gown suits her well. The necklace looks great and a lovely addition.
ReplyDeleteVery pretty dress but somehow the shape of the sleeve area makes her thin arms look like sticks. The bling is great to see, though I miss her rings.
ReplyDeletePrincess Catherine's arms looked like sticks also when she wore the velvet evening gown lately. Strange nobody said she should have worn longer sleeves.
DeleteI agree with you, and with the commentator below.
DeleteLetizia has always been skinny, but here, her arms do indeed look like sticks which takes away from this otherwise stunning appearance. And the sleeve shape does accentuate this, although I like the design as such.
The dress is a 10/10 and looks equally beautiful from the front and from the back. I like that the contrasting material in the sleeves have some subtle sparkle without the dress being shiny on the whole.
@Anon10:06, Re Catherine: Why comparing once again who said what about whom and wnny (no)?? Catherine did not have this kind of over-dimensioned cap sleeves so the whole impression was a very different one. Here, the sleeves are the problem, not the arms, be they thin or not.
DeleteI don't entirely agree with these comments. If you look at the first two pictures in this post I find her arms looking normal and proportional to her body. But in some of the other pictures there is a very dramatic light/shadow effect which really accentuate her biceps. The wide sleeve shape further enhances that effect. She is in good shape, perhaps skinnier than most people, but that as such is no need to cover up in my opinion.
DeleteShe looks healthy, stunning, and the dress + tiara combo is the best I've seen on her in a very long time :-)
8:14 we can have no idea on a blog who reads it when and who comments and who has time, unless we are the blogger who has access to some statistics! So saying things such as you have here isn’t really helpful. We don’t have to compare the royals nor the commenters.
DeleteIt is not about the arms, but the shape of the cap sleeve that doesn’t appear to be the best look. Is it the arms, the width of the shoulders, the shape of the cap. Sometimes a style is not the best even for someone who has a fantastic small figure
DeleteWhy is it always allright to commend on skinnyness, but never on fatness?
DeleteLily T.
Les bras de Letizia sont si minces qu’ils auraient avantage à être couverts. Alors je n’aime pas ces manches qui accentuent la maigreur de ses bras.
ReplyDeleted'accord
DeleteA Spanish beauty!
ReplyDeleteCe diadème est somptueux.
ReplyDeleteLetizia est époustouflante de élégance
Froufrou
Letizia - absolutely wonderful!
ReplyDeleteI also like Ms Büdenbenders outfit.
Elle fait bien son âge avec cette toilette !
ReplyDeleteBeautiful simple elegant dress of Letizia and stunning tiara. The only small critical point for me is that these wide short sleeves make her arms look more skinny. Also a great compliment of the beautiful royal blue dress of the wife of the German president.
ReplyDeleteBRAVO 👏
ReplyDeleteTiara, hairdo and makeup are all fabulous, I enjoy looking at her like this. But the sleeves are simply out of proportion. I get that these sleeves are designed to be cap sleeves, and that's absolutely fine, but then they should cap Letizia's shoulders and arms properly. Again, I do not criticize Letizia's arms nor do I have problems with other royal ladies having more volume - I am just saying that gowns should be changed to fit the given characteristics. These sleeves do not accomplish the job.
ReplyDeletePerhaps Carolina Herrera sells also dresses ready to wear. If this dress is not made especially for Queen Letizia, it could explain why the sleeves do not cap her shoulders and arms properly. But any other evening gown with no or cap sleeves would show her skinny arms too.
DeleteI agree regarding the sleeves, you explained it well.
DeleteFelipe looks splendid in his wonderful white-tie ensemble. Lyra
ReplyDeleteYes he looks perfect most times.
DeleteLetizia looks like a scrawny kid.
Underbart vacker!Allt är så perfekt
ReplyDeleteThis is her best tiara - no doubts there. And she's styled it perfectly.
ReplyDeleteFor once, I don't have anything to add or remove from her outfit.
ReplyDeleteExquisite! Both the women look great!
ReplyDeleteLe chignon est particulièrement beau. J'aime aussi les boucles d'oreilles et les petites broderies sur les manches. Maquillage impeccable comme toujours.
ReplyDeleteJ'aime moins la longueur de la robe qui traîne au sol. Paloma.
This how a tiara should be worn. Hair neatly styled in an updo,so the tiara can shine. Seeing some of the royal ladies wearing their hair down,diminishes the tiara to a hair and status.
ReplyDeleteLowri.
Queen Camilla never wears her hair in an updo, with or without a tiara. Not that I like all the tiara's she has access to and certainly not when they are in the company of big diamond or pearl necklaces, brooches and earrings.
DeleteI have no complaints. Zero. The Cartier Pearl Tiara looks amazing on Queen Letizia.
ReplyDeleteI can't remember how long it took to have more state visits from Spain into other countries and of other countries into Spain.
ReplyDeleteLetizia looks wonderfully.
ReplyDeleteI like to add that Mrs Buedenbender looks also VERY good!
CC
The Most Beautiful Queen of Spain
ReplyDeleteI absolutely think Letizia is too bony to make this dress elegant.
ReplyDeleteThe neckline is not flattering and her arms are to thin in comparison to the dark and heavy dress.
À lightercoloured dress would not have made such a big contrast and would have been better.
Stunning look for Q Letizia. Love the Tiara Like the gown and color of the German First lady, but she should have fastened the Order to the gown.
ReplyDeletecss
Stunning? Not stunning, but pretty in an odd sort of way. Much too thin, but each to their own.
ReplyDeleteI thought she was not supposed to wear high heeled shoes. Got a look at the ones she wore on this occasion, I would have fallen right off of them, tripped over the King's foot, twisted an ankle and been left lying on the floor, a crumbled mess.
ReplyDeleteShe is a beautiful lady, quite fit as well -and the dress is exquisite. But it’s not for her body type and frame. First thing that comes to mind when I look at the closeup is that it the dress design ages her. Black is indeed a harsh colour if worn close up to the face and despite the light reflections from all the incredible jewellery - the overall effect is aging her.
ReplyDeleteFrau G. Looks wonderful for her age, the dress looks very elegant even if her hair is not styled in any special way.
CH
The color is wrong, makes her look older, and her frame is too small for the dress, she simply swims in it, based on the closeup views.
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