A queen's coat and arms get everyone talking

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands can be forgiven for forgetting to put her arms through her coat.  She's had a busy week on the European heads of state front.  The Dutch king and queen started the week with a major state visit on home soil and have ended it with a brief trip to another European country for the day.  And on both occasions, the queen's arms have taken centre stage.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands arrive in Rome for a one day visit to Italy.  They were greeted by the country's president, Giorgio Napolitano.

First of all, the consort and hubby, Willem-Alexander, played host to the President of France.  Francois Hollande, sans Valerie Trierweiler, had been due to visit the Netherlands for a while but arrived with a media storm about his private life in his wake.  Queen Maxima pulled one of her finest fashion moments out of the bag for the occasion and by the end of his visit all anyone wanted to talk about was her sleeves.

Francois Hollande looks relieved as he realises that the sleeves on Queen Maxima's dress will keep everyone talking long enough to avoid any more questions about his private life

And then on January 23rd 2014, the king and queen paid a one day introductory visit to Italy where the queen decided to wear her coat draped over her shoulders.  She looked very stylish and the outfits is one of her best yet.  But it can't have been easy balancing a coat on royal shoulders while greeting another president.  But it did mean that Maxima ended the week as she began it - with everyone talking about her arms.

Queen Maxima does effortlessly stylish draping in Rome