Queen Camilla Wears Garter Star at Her Waist on Antigua Visit
King Charles and Queen Camilla have ended their Caribbean tour with a departure from Antigua and Barbuda. On their last night on the island, the couple attended an official dinner and reception for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, the gathering of national leaders from the Commonwealth, an association of countries that were mostly once British territories.
The evening drew attention for what the queen wore. She chose a dress by the designer Anna Valentine, embroidered with the Dagger Log, the national flower of Antigua and Barbuda, according to Town & Country.
She also pinned her Order of the Garter medal, known as the Garter Star, to her waistband. The Order of the Garter is Britain's oldest order of chivalry, a royal honor the monarch grants to a small number of people. The star is traditionally worn pinned to the left side of the chest. Queen Camilla has often worn it at her waist instead, and Town & Country noted that pattern. Queen Elizabeth II appointed Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, as a Royal Lady of the Order of the Garter in 2022.
The dinner closed a longer trip. Reuters reported that the king and queen carried out a week-long tour of Caribbean nations in autumn 2026. The itinerary also included visits to the Bahamas and Guyana, according to Reuters. On 2 November, the couple were in St. John's, the capital of Antigua and Barbuda.
The palace's daily record of official engagements, the Court Circular, lists a stop at the National Performing Arts Centre of Antigua during the visit. Before the trip, the king spoke of sorrow over slavery, Reuters reported. Calls for reparations for slavery have grown across the Caribbean, and that subject ran through much of the coverage of the tour.
For American readers, the Garter may look like a piece of costume jewelry. It is a formal honor with strict rules about where it is worn. That is why a change in where it sits draws so much notice. The Garter Star has been worn for centuries, and the question of how to wear it is still discussed by people who follow royal dress.
The tour ends with the couple's departure, and the Caribbean stops now become part of the official record that palace staff keep for the future.
