Queen Camilla's 488-diamond 'Kokoshnik' tiara and the 365 women who paid for it

Queen Camilla wore the stunning 'Kokoshnik' tiara while attending the Qatari State Banquet on Tuesday evening, making her the fifth Queen to wear the diamond headwear

The Royal Family rolled out the red carpet for Qatar's state visit on Tuesday, greeting the country's Amir on Horse Guards Parade before a reception at Buckingham Palace with King Charles, Prince William, and Princess Kate.

During the evening, the royal pageantry stepped up a gear, with Britain and Qatar's royals donning their finest jewels and gowns for a State Banquet. Speaking at the glitzy banquet, King Charles said: "The United Kingdom is proud to be Qatar’s oldest friend in the Western world. We have a special bond founded on mutual respect which has stood the test of time."

Perhaps the most bejewelled banquet attendee was Queen Camilla, who rocked the palace ballroom when she entered wearing a 488-diamond tiara, set in a timeless white and yellow gold. Known as the 'Kokoshnik' tiara, the stunning spiked headwear appears like a halo of diamonds and was a favourite of the late Queen, who wore it to many functions of state.

But Queen Elizabeth II was just the fourth monarch to wear it, as the piece was originally made for the Princess and later Queen Alexandra in 1888. Oddly, for the most expensive tiara in the Royal Collection, it was crowdfunded by a group of 365 women known as the "Ladies of Society".

At that moment in the late Victorian era, then Princess of Wales Alexandra was celebrating her silver wedding anniversary with her husband, later King Edward VII. Royal jewellery historian Lauren Kiehna has described this important milestone as a major occasion when Britain's aristocracy would be expected to give lavish and extravagant presents, in the hopes of currying favour.

However, this period also marked the start of the declining fortunes of the nation's land-owning nobility, many of whom had started to marry rich American heiresses to prop up their estates. And yet, four prominent women in society found a way to save face and their family's honour, forming a committee to raise funds for an extraordinary tiara.

Remarkably, these women represented a broad cross-party consensus, with the Marchioness of Salisbury, the wife of Prime Minister Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, and the Marchioness of Ailesbury, a major supporter of the opposition, leading the charge. After whipping around 365 women in the aristocracy, they managed to raise £4,400.

Princess Alexandra was asked for her input on the tiara's design and she did not reign in her taste for the nobility, requesting one that resembled the heavy diamond halo-shaped tiara of her sister, the enormously wealthy Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia's Romanov dynasty.

In its original form, the crown jeweller Garrard formed a 400-diamond tiara out of 77 fringe pieces, set in white and yellow gold. It would soon become one of the Princess' favourite pieces, which she would wear on many royal occasions.

However, it did not get the best reception at the time. The Sydney Morning Herald described it as "an exact copy of one possessed by her sister, the Empress of Russia," and said it was "not a particularly beautiful object." Over the years it would be perfected to its current 488-diamond state, with 61 fringe bars in a smooth halo.

The stunning headpiece was occasionally loaned to another royal during Alexandra's life, with her mother Queen Louise of Denmark often being pictured with it before her daughter's succession to the British throne. With its new refined setting, the Kokoshnik tiara was described as “among the handsomest of her jewelry possessions,” when she became Queen consort in 1901.

After her death in 1925, the tiara was passed on to Queen Mary, who in turn bequeathed it to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The late Queen would immediately wear it on her major 1953 Commonwealth Tour, as well as repeatedly over the decades, often paired with other jewel-laden pieces, including her heavy Coronation necklace.

Historian Lauren Kiehna has said the Kokoshnik was: "one of the few tiaras that the Queen wore consistently throughout her entire reign.

She continued: "It has appeared on foreign tours and visits, at royal premieres and performances, and at state banquets both in Britain and abroad."

In its first major outing since the Queen's death, Camilla paired the Kokoshnik-style tiara with diamond earrings from her private collection, as well as a diamond necklace that also belonged to the late Queen and a ruby and diamond bracelet.