The royal couple’s visit is full of sartorial Easter eggs and hidden meaning | Canada Voices

The Royal Family has always wielded soft power with incredible effect.

They did so again Monday when King Charles III and Queen Camilla walked off the plane and onto the tarmac in Ottawa sporting clothing accessories that quietly showed their support for Canada’s sovereignty in the face of recent aggression from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The King tipped his hat to Canada by wearing a red tie and his Order of Canada pin on his lapel. Camilla donned one of Queen Elizabeth’s most treasured possessions: the diamond maple leaf brooch that her father gifted to her mother before a royal visit to Canada in the spring of 1939.

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The brooch, made by Asprey & Co., is a diamond version of a leaf of a Canadian sugar maple. Justin Vovk, a royal historian with McMaster University in Hamilton, says the diamond-and-platinum pin is the single most important piece of jewellery to this country, in terms of the crown jewels.

“By choosing to wear this particular piece, Camilla is wielding brooch diplomacy in the same way that her mother-in-law used to do.

“The brooch meant a great deal to the former Queen and she always chose to dress simply when she wore it, so that the brooch would turn heads. Camilla did the same thing,” said Mr. Vovk, referring to Camilla’s pale pink coat dress by Anna Valentine (the same dress she wore to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding).

“Nothing with the Royal Family happens by coincidence. Every item they wear in public, and every item they accessorize with, is meant to make a statement that the monarch cannot say with words.”

Tuesday, when the King delivers the Throne Speech, Mr. Vovk expects diplomatic dressing will once again be the order of the day. The royal historian predicts that the King, as commander-in-chief of the Canadian Armed Forces, will wear the uniform of the Royal Canadian Navy, with various orders of merit, including his Order of Canada.

He expects Camilla will dress formally in white, possibly sport a different brooch (there are five with significance to Canada, including the sapphire snowflake brooch, gifted to Queen Elizabeth in 2017 to mark 65 years on the throne), and also wear Queen Alexandra’s kokoshnik tiara.

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The tiara, in the style of the Russian kokoshnik, a traditional headdress, was presented to Queen Alexandra as a wedding anniversary gift in 1888 and became a favoured jewel of the British Royal Family. It was later worn by Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth and most recently by Camilla.

“The headpiece establishes a very visual link between her and her mother-in-law and all the previous queens,” said Mr. Vovk. “It also reinforces the long-standing ties between the two countries.

“This royal visit is important. It helps to stress our unique political identity and our unique political traditions, which are very different from the United States. It shows that we have a long and rich history with the Royal Family. It also shows that politicians come and go, but the monarchy has always been here.”