Last night, Windsor Castle hosted a glittering state banquet attended by global dignitaries, including supermodel Claudia Schiffer, who was the guest of the German president. Out of everyone present, Schiffer may know Prince William best.
For the occasion, the German-born model wore a striking black Balmain dress adorned with gold and multicolor embellishments. She recently gained an aristocratic title, Lady Drummond, through her husband, director Matthew Vaughan, who was knighted by King Charles as Lord Drummond for his contributions to the creative industries.
Seated next to United Kingdom Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Schiffer was just a seat away from King Charles and Princess Catherine. Across the table sat Prince William, Queen Camilla, and Germany’s First Lady, Elke Buddenbender. (At state banquets, spouses are often seated apart to encourage wider conversation among guests.)
Although some may assume this was their first meeting in years, William and Schiffer share a long history. In the 1990s, the late Princess Diana surprised a young William on his birthday by inviting Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, and Christy Turlington to Kensington Palace. “He was coming home from school,” Campbell recalled in 2020. “We had gotten there before he arrived. We were just like, ‘What do we do?’ It was so sweet.”
The pair reunited in 2002 when Schiffer presented William with the Porcelanosa Cup at a charity polo event—the same year he met his future wife.
Reflecting on the encounter in the 2017 documentary Diana, Our Mother: Her Life and Legacy, William recalled the moment fondly yet embarrassingly: “I was probably a 12 or 13-year-old boy with posters of them on my wall. I went bright red, didn’t know what to say, and sort of fumbled. I think I pretty much fell down the stairs on the way up. I was completely awestruck.”
He added, “That has stayed with me forever—her loving, embarrassing, and jokester-like nature.”