The U.K.’s Queen Camilla favored subdued elegance in a Fiona Clare dress alongside King Charles III for a special visit to Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City on Thursday.
The queen consort’s simple midi dress, from one of her go-to London-based designers, featured long sleeves and a flowing skirt with a slightly fitted bodice and zipper detail at the base of the neckline. Queen Camilla augmented her monochrome attire with sheer black tights and a pair of Eliot Zed black suede pumps with a leather toe cap.
Queen Camilla during a visit to the Pauline Chapel on Oct. 23 in Vatican City, Vatican.
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A standout accessory to her attire, Queen Camilla wore a traditional mantilla headpiece with a long black veil, designed by Philip Treacy and featuring a crown of leaf-shaped pieces. The veil of Queen Camilla’s mantilla included delicate floral embroidery, echoing the botanical inspiration of the ornate piece.
As for jewelry pieces, Queen Camilla wore pearl drop earrings with a coordinated four-strand pearl necklace with center clasp. She also wore a sentimental piece of jewelry from the British royal family‘s vault: the Raspberry Pip brooch.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrive for a visit to the Papal Basilica and Abbey of St Paul’s Outside the Walls.
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Shaped like a Georgian cross, the brooch is “originally part of Queen Elizabeth II’s private collection, it’s believed to have been one of the late monarch’s favorites. However, it wasn’t publicly worn for decades — until Queen Camilla revived it during the 2023 Christmas service, becoming the first to showcase it in recent history,” Maxwell Stone of U.K. jewelers Steve Stone told WWD via email.
During the British royal couple’s visit to Vatican City, Queen Camilla wore a second look antithetical to her attire while meeting Pope Leo XIV. Queen Camilla wore a white dress with a flowing coat featuring delicate embroidery.
Queen Camilla, Pope Leo XIV and King Charles III at San Damaso Courtyard on Oct. 23 in Vatican City, Vatican.
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Queen Camilla’s monochrome attire and choice of mantilla fall under papal protocol, requiring women who meet with the pope to wear black and a veil, symbolizing respect and modesty. At the funeral for Pope Francis in April, Jill Biden, Queen Letizia of Spain, Princess Charlene of Monaco and Queen Rania of Jordan were among the high-profile royals and global dignitaries who wore mantillas with their mourning attire.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla joined the Catholic Church’s 2025 Jubilee Year celebrations during their visit, at which the heads of the Catholic Church and Church of England prayed together, the first time the British monarch and pontiff have done so at a church service since the English Reformation.
