Queen Camilla wore Fiona Clare, Melania wore Dior for the White House state dinner

By the time last night’s White House state dinner rolled around, it would not surprise me at all if King Charles was flat-out exhausted. He looked very tired at the dinner too. Another reminder that he is a 77-year-old man living with cancer, being forced to interact with a 79-year-old demented fascist madman nominally in charge of the American government. This state visit is a complete sh-tshow in many ways, and most of those ways don’t involve Charles whatsoever.

Fashion notes… Melania wore a structural, strapless Dior gown for the state dinner. When the two couples first walked out, Melania looked terrified for some reason, probably involving her husband’s diaper. “Queen” Camilla wore a custom gown by her dressmaker Fiona Clare. It’s AWFUL. I know Camilla isn’t great at formalwear, but she’s had much better state-dinner looks than this!! Remember her caped, navy Dior gown at the 2023 French state dinner at Versailles? A million times better than this. Camilla also avoided wearing a tiara for some reason, even though QEII wore various tiaras for previous White House state dinners. Camilla did wear some jewels though – a diamond-and-amethyst demi-parure. Eh. There are much better Royal Collection pieces.

The staging for this state dinner was tacky as f–k as well. As the royals and the Trumps entered the room, they staggered past a large portrait of a “bloody” Donald Trump from the Butler, Pennsylvania shooting. Crass. It would be difficult to avoid seeing or mentioning the fact that Trump ripped down the White House East Wing and there’s a big, muddy hole where it used to be. Charles even mentioned it in his state-dinner speech, saying: “And it is a particular pleasure to be back in this wonderful building, the heart of your democracy. On this occasion, I cannot help noticing the ‘readjustments’ to the East Wing, Mr President, following your visit to Windsor Castle last year. I am sorry to say that we British, of course, made our own attempt at real estate redevelopment of the White House in 1814.”

You can read about the menu for the state dinner here. Some highlights: hearts of palm salad, spring herb ravioli with ricotta and morel mushrooms, and dover sole. Dessert was chocolate with a vanilla bean custard. Surprisingly, a lot of the meal came from the White House gardens, which I’m sure Trump is desperate to pave over.

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.