Camilla Queen Consort honours the late Queen Elizabeth II at State banquet with 'gorgeous' sentimental jewels

Camilla Queen Consort has paid tribute to the late Queen Elizabeth II by wearing her blue sapphire jewellery as she dresses head-to-toe in the colour for the State banquet.

• Camilla Queen consort wears her late mother-in-law's blue sapphire jewels for her first State banquet with King Charles III as Monarch.
• The couple were joined by Prince William and Kate Middleton, the newly named Prince and Princess of Wales.
• This royal news comes as Kate Middleton’s favourite tiara may be a Firm heirloom but wearing it causes some pretty painful side-effects.

Camilla Queen Consort is wearing head to toe in blue with the Queen's sapphire jewellery completing her 'gorgeous' look at the State banquet.

As wife of King Charles III, Camilla Queen consort attended the first State banquet since her husband took to the throne following the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

But the late monarch wasn't far from thought as Camilla chose to wear an all blue ensemble and wore matching blue sapphire crown, earring and necklace set which previously belonged to the Queen.

The State banquet was held to welcome the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to the UK and Camilla took inspiration from the Queen for her blue ballgown and accessories.

But while her jewels were sentimental, her outfit was thrifty as Camilla had previously worn the Bruce Oldfield dress to the Commonwealth leaders' dinner in Rwanda with King Charles back in June and the dress made another appearance for her Vogue ahead of her 75th birthday.

And if you're wondering about the historical importance of the jewels, the sapphires were acquired in stages by Queen Elizabeth - the necklace and earrings were a wedding gift from her beloved father, King George VI, in November 1947.

Camilla's antique jewels, dating to the Victoria era, once belonged to the Queen and is her Belgium Sapphire Tiara and the George VI Sapphire earrings and necklace. 

And later, Queen Elizabeth II acquired a diamond and sapphire necklace, which used to belong to a Belgian princess. In the 1960s the necklace was set on a tiara frame and originally featured 18 sapphires, sat on a gradient, ranging from 8 to 30cts, before Queen Elizabeth redesigned it in 1952 - removing four of the sapphire clusters from the back and remodelled and reset one of larger stones from the front, to create a beautiful pendant for the necklace. She also commissioned a bracelet to complete the set.

Diamond experts at UK retailer Steven Stone, said, "For her first tiara as Queen Consort, Camilla chose Queen Elizabeth II's Belgian Sapphire tiara - worth £5,000,000, the tiara is another historic piece and was refashioned from a 19th century necklace once owned by Princess Louise of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

The Queen Consort paid further tribute to the late monarch by pairing the tiara with Queen Elizabeth II's King George VI Victoria Suite. Featuring some of the late monarch's most meaningful jewels that were gifted to her by her Father, the suite consists of a sapphire and diamond cluster line necklace, a pair of sapphire earrings and a bracelet. The King George VI Victorian Suite is likely to be worth £5,000,000, meaning that Camilla was wearing a staggering £10,000,000 worth of Queen Elizabeth II's jewels."

Camilla wore the pieces and finished off her outfit with a royal blue sash and wore the Royal Family Order which is made up of a portrait of the Queen on a yellow ribbon. 

And fans have praised the Queen Consort's look.

One wrote, "Queen Camilla looks gorgeous. Blue suits her." Another fan put, "blue is definitely her colour" and a third added, "she look amazing ❤️❤️❤️."