The red queens: Kate and Camilla’s royal power moves

Apologies to Margot Robbie but Queen Camilla and Princess Catherine have a point to prove. Pink is fine for playing around with Barbie dolls, but when it comes to ruling the colour wheel, red always wins.

For the official visit of President Yoon Suk Yeol of South Korea and his wife Kim Keon Hee to London, both Camilla and Catherine followed in the footsteps of pharaohs and emperors by making power plays in bold red designs.

Catherine was dressed in all red, with a coat dress from designer Catherine Walker – who rose to fame dressing Princess Diana – at the official welcome for Yoon on Tuesday. A red hat by Jane Taylor and red shoes completed the bold look, which would have made Holy Roman Emperor Charlemagne, who wore crimson shoes to his coronation in 800, turn unfashionably green with envy.

There have been red kings, such as William II, called William Rufus (the red, because of his ruddy complexion), and the Tudor red queen, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII. But pink kings and queens are in short supply.

“I think there is something incredibly chic and powerful about a complete red outfit,” says Ginger & Smart creative director Genevieve Smart. “It’s a classic, like top-to-toe black, but immediately gives you more confidence.”

“We have used it in all of our collections. It’s a superpower colour.”

At the official state dinner at Buckingham Palace, the rule of red was reinforced by Queen Camilla in a velvet gown by couturier Fiona Clare, worn with Queen Elizabeth’s Burmese Ruby Tiara.

The tiara’s 96 rubies were a gift from Burma to commemorate Elizabeth’s marriage to Prince Philip in 1947. In the culture of Myanmar, formerly Burma, rubies ward off illness and evil spirits, with 96 the number of diseases thought to imperil humans.

In 1973, Elizabeth commissioned Garrard jewellers to create the tiara, with rubies and diamonds fixed in a series of motifs inspired by the Tudor rose, adding to her already formidable collection of sparkling headwear.