Queen Maxima’s Festive Floral Gown Returns (with Major Diamonds!)

We’ve got one more bejeweled coda from last week’s Dutch state visit to the Czech Republic: the return of a beloved royal evening gown, worn with some major royal diamonds.

With King Willem-Alexander back in the Netherlands to handle government matters, Queen Máxima took over the hosting duties during Thursday’s return event in Prague. She welcomed President Petr Pavel and his wife, Eva Pavlova, to the Estates Theatre for a performance by the Dutch National Ballet. The program included work by the Czech-Dutch choreographer Jiri Kylian.

For the ballet perfomance, Queen Máxima wore a floral evening gown from her wardrobe archive. The dress is a Valentino creation, from their Spring 2006 couture collection.

If the dress looks familiar, there’s a good reason for that. Máxima memorably wore it for the gala performance held in Stockholm on the night before the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden in June 2010. On that occasion, she accessorized with her own diamond chandelier earrings, both of the Dutch East Indies Bracelets, and a diamond hair comb from Queen Wilhelmina’s jewelry collection.

Queen Máxima amped up the diamonds for her second appearance in the dress, which took place almost exactly fifteen years after its debut in Sweden. In Prague, she paired the dress with diamond earrings made from four of the clusters that are usually set on the grand Stuart Tiara.

Here’s a look at Máxima wearing the full setting of the Stuart Tiara during the Spanish state visit to the Netherlands in 2024. The four clusters used to make the earrings are the ones flanking the historic Stuart Diamond, the pear-shaped stone set as the tiara’s centerpiece.

She also wore heirloom diamond bracelets on both wrists. On her right wrist, she wore the family’s antique diamond lattice bracelet, and on her left wrist, she stacked a gold charm bracelet with one of the Dutch East Indies Bracelets.