Weekend Bonus: The Imperial Chrysanthemum Tiara

Empress Michiko of Japan (born 1934), pictured here with Emperor Akihito (born 1933), wears the Imperial Chrysanthemum Tiara

Weekend Bonus: The Fife Tiara

Princess Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife (1867-1931) wears the Fife Tiara. The diamond fringe necklace she wears was a wedding gift from her parents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra; it could also be worn as a tiara

The Queen Ena Aquamarine Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg; Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain; Olimpia Weiller; Infanta Beatriz, Princess of Civitella-Cesi; Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain; tiara detail

When Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg stepped out in this aquamarine tiara at her nephew's royal wedding last autumn, it was a major reminder that she didn't just marry into royalty -- she also has royal heritage of her own. What better way to remind the world that your great-grandmother was the queen of Spain than to wear one of her tiaras?

The original owner of this piece (and Sibilla's great-grandmother) was Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, who was herself a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The tiara is a part of a larger parure of Brazilian aquamarine jewelry. It was originally made by Ansorena, and in its very first incarnation, it was set with drop pearls rather than aquamarines. The piece was a gift to Ena from her husband, King Alfonso XIII.

Ena left her aquamarines to her daughter, Infanta Beatriz, who married an Italian prince, Alessandro Torlonia. You'll notice that the tiara that Ena wears looks significantly different from the modern color photographs of the piece -- that's because Beatriz had Bulgari redesign the piece as a tiara of interlocking circles. The reworking of the tiara apparently wasn't only for aesthetic reasons; the delicate structure of the original piece had weakened over time and needed to be redone.

Like her mother before her, Beatriz passed the aquamarines along to her daughters, but she divided the parure. Her elder daughter, Sandra, was given three pieces (the necklace, bracelet, and brooch), while her younger daughter, Olimpia, was given the tiara and earrings. Olimpia is Princess Sibilla's mother, which explains how Ena's aquamarines made it to Luxembourg. It remains to be seen whether the loan of the tiara to Sibilla is temporary or a more permanent arrangement.

For more on this tiara:
Weekend Bonus: Queen Ena wears the tiara
Aquamarine Tiara | Aguamarinas Diademe |Queen Victoria Eugenia

The Aquamarine Pine Flower Tiara

Today's aquamarine tiara is one that generally falls into either "love it" or "hate it" camps: the British aquamarine tiara with pine cone/flower motifs that is owned today by Princess Anne.

The tiara itself dates back nearly a century to Anne's grandparents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The king commissioned Cartier to make the tiara for his wife as an anniversary present. She was photographed in it a few times, but it was never used as much as many of her other jewels. In 1973, Elizabeth gave the tiara to her granddaughter, Princess Anne, as a wedding gift.

Older photographs of the tiara compared with more current pictures make it clear that changes were made to the piece some time after Anne took possession of it. The large circular element in the center of the tiara was removed; today, one of the large rectangular aquamarines sits in the center of the piece.

To my knowledge, this is one of the only royal tiaras (maybe one of the only pieces of royal jewelry, period) that uses pine cones as a central motif. Pine cones are a symbol of fertility, which is always a good thing in marital terms, I suppose. But Anne's tiara isn't the only British piece to include tree-parts in its design: remember that the Duchess of Cambridge wore earrings to her wedding that included tiny acorns in their design.

The Ligne Aquamarine Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Princess Isabella de Ligne de La Trémoïlle; tiara detail; tiara detail

Today's aquamarines come to us courtesy of the Belgian noble house of Ligne. The Ligne family have held their titles for centuries, but this tiara is a thoroughly modern addition to the family's jewel collection.

When Prince Edouard de Ligne de La Trémoïlle (a member of a junior branch of the family line) married Italian actress Isabella Orsini in 2009, this tiara was made for the occasion. The sparkler, which was created by Holemans, features a large central aquamarine bookended by smaller aquamarines, . And, because this is a Ligne tiara after all, the piece also features diamond script "Ls" as a major feature of the design.

In recent years, the Ligne-Orsini wedding has garnered more attention for the dress, rather than the tiara; Isabella's gown shares remarkable similarities with the wedding dress worn two years later by the Duchess of Cambridge. Both dresses were apparently inspired by Grace Kelly's famous wedding gown. But I think it's time we gave the tiara some attention, too!

For more on this tiara:
The Orsini-Ligne Aquamarine and Diamond Wedding Tiara

The Romanov Aquamarine Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): tiara detail; Tsarina Alexandra of Russia; tiara detail; brooch detail

The royal aquamarine tiara that I like perhaps best of all is one that could be almost anywhere these days. It's the aquamarine and diamond sparkler once owned by Alexandra Feodorovna, the last empress of Russia.

Like many Russian tiaras, this one was designed to mimic a kokoshnik headdress. It was made around 1900 in Russia, probably by Fabergé, and unlike many of the Russian pieces, this one was apparently Alexandra's own personal property. She loved aquamarines, and Tsar Nicholas II famously gave her an aquamarine brooch in 1894 as an engagement present; the large aquamarine had been mined in Siberia. This tiara, along with the necklace and earrings that were made to match it, would have combined with the brooch to form a tidy little parure when added to the collection six years later.

We all know what happened to Nicky, Alix, and their children; what's less certain is exactly what happened to much of Alexandra's enormous collection of jewels. I linked earlier this month to an inventory photo made by the Soviets as they prepared to auction much of the family jewelry, but this tiara was not included in that table display. Some suggest that Wartski, the London jeweler that specializes in Fabergé pieces, acquired the tiara in Russia about two years after the Romanovs were murdered. (Wartski does have the engagement brooch.) Another source claims that representatives from the Soviet government brought the tiara to Paris in a suitcase and sold it there.

The tiara pops up on the radar once more in the early 1980s, when a piece similar in description to this one, with its distinctive series of rectangular aquamarines, was auctioned by Sotheby's. Even so, the current whereabouts of the tiara are unknown. Color photos of a reproduction tiara are floating about on the internet, but it's not Alexandra's original diadem. Yet one more tiara mystery!

For more on this tiara:
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia |Aquamarines

The Brazilian Aquamarine Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (in the 1957 version); tiara detail

We've talked about the smaller of the two aquamarine tiaras in Queen Elizabeth II's collection already -- now let's take a look at its big sister, shall we? This tiara, the Brazilian Aquamarine, was originally commissioned from Garrard in 1957. Liz had received several pieces of aquamarine jewelry from the people of Brazil as a coronation present a few years earlier (hence the tiara's name), and some of those gemstones were used in the creation of the tiara.

The original tiara was significantly smaller, basically a substantial bandeau base topped with three smaller upright pieces. But in the early '70s, the Queen decided to have the tiara remodeled, and the result was the large version she wears now, complete with four large scroll elements. The enormous rectangular aquamarine in the center of the tiara was originally a pendant drop on the matching necklace, which was a part of the coronation gift.

For a long time, it was assumed that a smaller aquamarine tiara that HM had received in 1968 from the Governor of São Paolo had been broken up to help create the new version of the tiara. However, it seems now that the smaller aquamarine tiara is still intact, after it made a surprise appearance on the Countess of Wessex in 2012. Exactly which pieces were or weren't altered still remains a tiara mystery. One thing is absolutely certain, though: these are some truly astonishing aquamarines.

For more on this tiara:
Weekend Bonus: Queen Elizabeth II wears the tiara
Mad Hattery's TiaraPedia (UK)

Weekend Bonus: The Connaught Diamond Tiara

Princess Madeleine of Sweden (born 1982) wears the Connaught Diamond Tiara at the wedding of her sister, Crown Princess Victoria, in 2010. She also wears the Processional Necklace, made of Ceylon sapphires, pearls, and diamonds, that was given in 1881 to the future Queen Victoria of Sweden by her new husband for her procession into the city of Stockholm

Weekend Bonus: The Pearl Poiré Tiara

Queen Alexandrine of Denmark (1879-1952) wears the Pearl Poiré Tiara with the necklace and earrings that were given by the Khedive of Egypt to the future Queen Louise of Denmark as a wedding gift in 1869

The Flanders Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): tiara detail; Princess Marie of Hohenzollern, Countess of Flanders; tiara detail; tiara detail

Let's wrap up our week of shamrocks, clovers, and trefoils with a peek at a historical tiara from the Saxe-Coburg-Gotha vaults, shall we? This is the trefoil coronet of the last Countess of Flanders, who was born Princess Marie of Hohenzollern.

The tiara was made in 1830, and the original owner was allegedly Stéphanie de Beauharnais, the adopted daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte. Stéphanie married Grand Duke Karl of Baden in 1806, so she was already a grand duchess when the tiara was created. Stéphanie's daughter, Princess Josephine of Baden, married Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen; their daughter was Princess Marie, the owner who is most identified with the tiara.

Princess Marie married the Count of Flanders, who was the younger son of King Leopold I of the Belgians. Eventually, through the vagaries of fate, her son would eventually reign as King Albert I, and her descendants still sit on the Belgian throne. The tiara, however, left Belgium. It was inherited by Marie's daughter, Princess Henriette, who married Prince Emmanuel of Orléans, Duke of Vendôme.

Eventually, as is the case with many tiaras that leave the main line of a royal family, this piece was sold. Today it is in the collection of the Albion Art Institute in Tokyo, and it is frequently included in traveling exhibits.

For more on this tiara:
Diamond Divas: The Countess of Flanders

The Clover Coronet Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Empress Augusta Viktoria of Prussia; Empress Augusta Viktoria of Prussia; tiara detail; tiara detail

The Prussian royal family may possibly have let go of their shamrock kokoshnik tiara, but we know for sure that they've still got this clover showstopper: the coronet once owned by the last empress of Germany, Augusta Viktoria. Apparently the design for the tiara was dreamed up by Augusta Viktoria and her husband, Wilhelm III. Who knew kaisers were so interested in tiaras?

Like many of the diadems once owned by German royals, this tiara was made in Frankfurt by Koch. The piece was commissioned in 1906 in honor of Wilhelm and Augusta Viktoria's twenty-fifth wedding anniversary. (Fun fact: their 1881 wedding lasted for eight hours, and everyone had to stand the entire time. Can you imagine???) In the ensuing decades, however, the tiara was altered. In 1950, parts of the tiara were removed to create two additional tiaras. In its current form, the clover coronet is often featured in various museum exhibitions.

(Also of note: another branch of the family, the Hohenzollern-Sigmaringens, own a similar clover coronet tiara. That clover coronet was worn by Princess Birgitta of Sweden at her German wedding to Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern in 1961. The tiaras are so similar that it's easy to imagine they're the same piece, but they are two distinct tiaras. And why not? Clovers for everyone!)

The Hesketh Floral Tiara

Clockwise (from top left): Christian Fermor-Hesketh, Lady Hesketh; tiara detail; tiara detail

Shamrocks are often featured in jewels from the United Kingdom designed to represent the four major realms of the nation. Shamrocks, of course, are a symbol of Northern Ireland, while England, Scotland, and Wales are symbolized by roses, thistles, and daffodils. This tiara, once owned by the Hesketh family, incorporated those national flowers (well, except the daffodil ... Wales really does get left out far too often).

The diamond tiara was made in the early nineteenth century; the rose in the middle is set en tremblant, which means that it moves as the wearer moves. It's unclear how long the piece was owned by the Hesketh family, who were baronets from the mid-eighteenth century and then upgraded to barons in 1935. But the tiara is not with the family any longer. After the death of Christian, Lady Hesketh, in 2006, the tiara was auctioned by Sotheby's, fetching a price of more than $60,000.

For more on this tiara:
Lot 331: Diamond Tiara/Corsage Ornament, Early 19th Century

The Shamrock Kokoshnik Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): tiara detail; Princess Cecilie of Prussia; Princess Cecilie of Prussia; tiara detail

The former imperial family of Germany may not have been successful at maintaining their realm (to put it mildly), but they were pretty darn good at amassing an impressive collection of tiaras. One of them is this charming kokoshnik tiara made up of tiny shamrocks. The piece can also be worn with three detachable elements to supplement the design. (It's also similar to another kokoshnik still owned by the family -- the Meander tiara worn by Princess Sophie at her wedding to Prince Georg -- but they're two entirely separate pieces.)

The tiara was made by Fabergé; it was given to Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as a gift in honor of her marriage to Germany's last crown prince, Wilhelm, in 1905. The gift came from some of Cecilie's Russian relatives -- her mother was Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia.

The tiara was worn by Cecilie's daughter, also named Cecilie, at her wedding in 1949. The affair was a bit different from the traditional German royal marriages to other royals and aristocrats; the younger Cecilie's husband was Clyde Harris, an American architect from Texas.

Today, the whereabouts of the tiara are unclear. The family has retained some of their tiaras; other pieces of jewelry have been auctioned. Wartski, a London firm that specializes in Fabergé pieces, photographed the tiara, but I've not been able to discover whether they were exhibiting it on loan or preparing to sell the piece. Many believe, ultimately, that this piece has been sold.

For more on this tiara:
Das Faberge-Diadem von Kronprinzessin Cecilie

The Hanoverian Clover Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Princess Isabelle of Hanover; Princess Isabelle of Hanover; Princess Ortrud of Hanover; tiara detail

A nineteenth-century tiara trend that we don't get to see much in today's diadems is the use of clover or shamrock motifs (they're also sometimes referred to as trefoils). The Victorians loved a good shamrock motif. And why not -- the shamrock is not only used as a symbol of Ireland but also seen as a representative of the trinity and of other sacred trios. Third time's a charm, after all, right?

I only wish this particular tiara, the clover tiara owned by the Hanoverian royal family, was a bit luckier. Its history starts out innocuously enough: it originally belonged to Princess Olga of Hanover, who was the daughter of Crown Prince Ernst August of Hanover (the country's last crown prince) and Princess Thyra of Denmark (who was part of a family full of rulers; her siblings included King Frederik VIII of Denmark, King George I of Greece, Queen Alexandra of the UK, and Tsarina Marie Feodorovna of Russia).

Olga never married, and when she died, her nephew, Prince Ernst August IV, apparently inherited the tiara from her. His first wife, Princess Ortrud, was photographed wearing the tiara. But the most recent photographs of the sparkler were taken in 1987 at the wedding of Ernst August and Ortrud's younger son, Prince Louis Rudolph, to Countess Isabelle of Thurn and Valsassina-Como-Vercelli, who wore the tiara with her veil. Unfortunately, it's Louis Rudolph and Isabelle whose marriage ended tragically, with both of them dying barely a year later.

The current whereabouts of the tiara aren't clear; it seems it's probably still with the family, but it's not clear who has it. It's not one of the Hanover tiaras that Princess Caroline resurrected in the early years of her marriage to the current head of the royal house. And, really, even if she had the option of wearing it, it's entirely possible that the family views the tiara, beautiful as it is, as bad luck these days.

For more on this tiara:
Isabella Prinzessin von Hannover | Hochzeits - Diadem - Coronet

Weekend Bonus: The Ruby Peacock Tiara

Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands (1880-1962) wears the Ruby Peacock Tiara with its coordinating brooch

Weekend Bonus: The Baden Fringe Tiara

Princess Lilian of Sweden (1915-2013) wears the Baden Fringe Tiara; like the tiara, the diamond brooch on Lilian's sash also belonged to Queen Victoria of Sweden. Sadly, Lilian died on Sunday, and her funeral will be held this afternoon at the Royal Chapel

The King Edward VII Ruby Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Queen Silvia of Sweden; tiara detail; Queen Silvia of Sweden; tiara detail

The Edwardian ruby tiara owned by the royal family of Sweden is our final Connaught tiara of the week. Like the Connaught Diamond Tiara, this one came to the Bernadottes in 1905 when Princess Margaret of Connaught married Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden. The tiara was a wedding present from Margaret's uncle and aunt, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom.

Unfortunately, Margaret's story has a tragic end -- she never got to be queen of Sweden, as she died in 1920 of an infection after having operation. Her tiaras were dispersed between her children. Today, some are still with the Swedish royals, while others followed Margaret's daughter, Ingrid, to Denmark. This particular tiara was inherited by Prince Sigvard, Margaret's second son. Sigvard, who was stripped of his royal title when he married a commoner, sold the tiara; but conveniently, the buyer was Sigvard's father, Gustaf VI Adolf.

But there were problems with this sale; Sigvard claimed he'd only really loaned the tiara to the king, but Gustaf VI Adolf maintained the sale was legitimate. Possibly as a mea culpa, the king left the tiara to Sigvard's son, Michael, when he died in 1973. But then Michael sold the tiara -- to the new king, Carl XVI Gustaf.

Sigvard lived until 2002, and Queen Silvia did not begin wearing the tiara regularly in public until after his death. Today she's the primary wearer of the piece. Now that the ownership of this historic Connaught/Bernadotte piece has finally been settled, perhaps it's time to place it in the family jewel foundation once and for all?

For more on this tiara:
Mad Hattery's TiaraPedia (Sweden)

The Connaught Diamond Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Queen Silvia of Sweden; Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden; Princess Sibylla of Sweden; Princess Madeleine of Sweden

The diamond drop tiara of the Swedish royal family has to be one of the most lovely, delicate tiaras in a royal collection today. The tiara came to Sweden in 1905 with the country's new princess, Margaret of Connaught.

We've already talked about the tiara that Margaret received as a wedding present from the Khedive of Egypt; this was the tiara that she received from her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn. (Margaret's father was a son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; her uncle was King Edward VII of the UK.) The Connaughts bought the tiara in 1904 from E. Wolff & Co.

Margaret didn't wear a tiara at her wedding, but the Connaught tiara has adorned the heads of other Bernadotte brides and princesses. Princess Christina wore the tiara in 1974 when she married Tord Magnuson. But the tiara is most frequently linked to Princess Sibylla, mother of Christina (and the current king); the tiara became so associated with her that it is sometimes called "Sibylla's tiara."

Today, the tiara is owned by the king; it is apparently not a part of the family's jewel foundation. For years, Queen Silvia was the primary wearer of the tiara, but that distinction is slowly being ceded to Princess Madeleine, who famously wore the tiara at Crown Princess Victoria's wedding in 2010. (This was a last minute switcharoo, apparently -- the press releases from the day had Madeleine's tiara wrong, and the base of the tiara was still wrapped in dark material to match her mother's hair.)

Madeleine also wears the diamond drops suspended from the tiara's loops independently as pendants on a necklace and as drop earrings. Many have suggested that her use of the tiara and its elements may mean that she will eventually inherit the sparkler. Perhaps this will be the tiara we see anchoring her bridal veil this June?

For more on this tiara:
Weekend Bonus: Princess Madeleine wears the tiara
Mad Hattery's TiaraPedia (Sweden)

The Connaught Fringe Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught; Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught (as necklace); Lady Patricia Ramsay; tiara detail (as necklace)

There are many convertible diamond fringe tiaras in royal vaults today, but the fringe tiara of the Connaught family has a particularly long royal history -- longer than that of most other tiaras in the British royal family especially.

The first recorded owner of this diamond fringe is the Duchess of Kent, mother of Queen Victoria; she left the tiara to the queen. In 1879, Victoria gave the tiara as a wedding present to her new daughter-in-law, Princess Louise of Prussia, wife of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. Princess Louise wore the fringe as a necklace at her wedding, opting to wear a wreath of flowers on her head instead of a tiara.

From Louise, the tiara was passed to her younger daughter, Princess Patricia of Connaught (who renounced her titles on her marriage to a commoner, becoming Lady Patricia Ramsay). It's safe to say that Louise's elder daughter wasn't much in need of family tiaras to wear; Margaret had married Crown Prince Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and had access to the Bernadotte jewel collection.

Lady Patricia wore the fringe tiara at the 1937 coronation of King George VI; from that point, however, we lose sight of the piece. It was apparently not included in the estate auction of her jewels in 1974. Perhaps it remains with the family today?

For more on this tiara:
Wedding presents| Duchess of Connaught

The Victorian Aga Khan Tiara

All photos: Princess Louise, Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn

In 1896, a year before her Diamond Jubilee, an inventory of Queen Victoria's jewels was made by Garrard, the crown jeweler  There weren't many tiaras on the list -- only five, which pales in comparison to the number of tiaras owned and worn by subsequent British queens. But one of the five on the list was this one: the tiara given to her by the Aga Khan.

The inventory describes the tiara as "A pearl and diamond tiara with 12 Bouton and 12 pear shaped pearls with a diamond chain to form a necklace, presented by Aga Khan." To my knowledge, there are no images, painted or photographed, of Victoria in this tiara. However, we do know that Victoria bequeathed the tiara to one of her daughters-in-law: Princess Louise of Prussia, the wife of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn.

Although two of Princess Louise's children -- Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden and Prince Arthur of Connaught -- married other royals, it seems that the Aga Khan tiara may have been left to her third child, Princess Patricia, who married a commoner, Alexander Ramsay. (She appears to be wearing the tiara in a Connaught family photo taken at the coronation of George V. As a sidenote -- her sister, Crown Princess Margaret, is wearing the emerald tiara now owned by the Norwegian royal family. But more on that later!) Some of Patricia's jewels, including a honeysuckle diamond tiara, were auctioned after her death; however, this one does not seem to have been included in that sale.

If the tiara was inherited by Patricia -- and if it remains today with Patricia's branch of the family -- the most likely candidate for current owner is her daughter-in-law, Flora, Lady Saltoun. Flora is still an active member of the British royal family; she even attended Prince William's wedding in 2011.

For more on this tiara:
Pearls | Duchess of Connaught

The Fife Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife; Caroline Carnegie, Countess of Southesk; Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife; tiara detail

One of the most stunning tiaras in the collections of the extended British royal family, the Fife tiara (which was probably made by Massin, given similarities to other Massin tiaras) was given to Princess Louise, the daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, as a wedding gift in 1889. Louise's new husband had inherited the Fife earldom when his father died; but that title wasn't quite lofty enough for a granddaughter of the monarch, so Queen Victoria made him the Duke of Fife just before the wedding.

The Duke of Fife's title, like most in the United Kingdom, was originally designed to pass only to sons. However, Louise's only son was stillborn. Queen Victoria intervened once more, reissuing the Fife dukedom and making it possible for Louise's daughters to inherit their father's title. In due course, Louise's elder daughter, Lady Alexandra, inherited both the Fife dukedom and the Fife tiara.

Alexandra married Prince Arthur of Connaught, who was also a direct descendant of Queen Victoria; she was generally associated with her Connaught title rather than the Fife dukedom. Their only son, Alastair, died in rather unusual circumstances -- he was serving in World War II, but he died after, er, getting drunk and falling out of a window. Alexandra's title -- and the tiara -- both subsequently were inherited by her nephew, James.

Since then, the tiara has mostly been seen at family weddings. Both James's daughter and daughter-in-law have worn it; the most recent Fife wedding was in 2001. The tiara hasn't been photographed in recent years, and many have feared that it was perhaps sold. Another tiara mystery that will only be solved when it pops up somewhere in public once more!

For more on this tiara:
Weekend Bonus: Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife wears the tiara
The Wedding Jewels of Princess Louise of Wales

Weekend Bonus: The City of London Fringe Tiara

Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark (1906-1968) wears the City of London Fringe Tiara at her wedding to Prince George, Duke of Kent (1902-1942) in 1934

Weekend Bonus: The Queen Josefina Diamond Tiara

Crown Princess Märtha of Norway (1901-1954) wears the Queen Josefina Diamond Tiara; the earrings she wears are the Turkish diamond earrings that Queen Victoria wore at her wedding to Prince Albert in 1840. Queen Sonja regularly pairs the Turkish earrings with the tiara today

The Danish Emerald Parure Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, tiara detail

Queen Margrethe of Denmark once remarked that royal families measure their jewels by centuries rather than by carats. This is particularly true for one of the most magnificent tiaras in the Danish royal collection: the tiara from the country's emerald parure.

The tiara dates from 1840, when King Christian VIII commissioned an anniversary present for his wife, Queen Caroline Amalie. C.M. Weisshaupt created the parure, including the tiara, using emeralds that had already been in the family for a century. Many of the emeralds were originally given by King Christian VI to his wife, Queen Sophie Magdalene, in 1723; others were previously owned by Princess Charlotte.

The tiara is today a part of the Danish crown jewels, a distinction that means several things. For one, you can visit the tiara and see it in person, because it is on display at Rosenborg Castle when it's not in use. Another is that Queen Margrethe never takes the tiara out of Denmark -- the crown jewels do not leave the country. And, finally, only queens (and queens consort) wear the tiara. In fact, it is so historically significant that every Danish queen since Caroline Amalie has worn the piece. Plenty of centuries -- and carats -- to measure in this sparkler, indeed.

For more on this tiara:
Mad Hattery's TiaraPedia (Denmark)
The Crown Jewels - The Danish Monarchy

The Thurn and Taxis Emerald Tiara

All photos: Princess Gloria of Thurn and Taxis

Once upon a time (in the 1980s), there was a prince (rather elderly, with no kingdom, but lots of $$$) who was looking for a princess (because he needed an heir, not because he was, ahem, all that interested in princesses). Luckily, he met a young countess (while she was working as a waitress), fell in love (brokered a marriage deal), and made her his princess (helped by the fact that she was already, ahem, expecting). 

All through their long (ten-year) marriage, the princess lived rather royally (spending lots of their $$$, wearing tiaras like this fabulous emerald diadem, attending party after party, and earning the nickname "Princess TNT"). When her prince died (after two heart transplants in quick succession), the princess found herself bereft (actually, that's true) and faced with the task of organizing her husband's estate (and the massive tax bill that accompanied it).

Princess TNT -- Gloria of Thurn and Taxis -- has mellowed considerably since her husband's death, and many think it was in part because of the shrewd business sense she acquired during her efforts to shore up the family finances and leave a legacy for her son. Lots of the family's jewels were sold during that period, but this emerald tiara apparently managed to survive. The piece has belonged to the Thurn and Taxis family since at least the mid-nineteenth century. It was made by Hancocks, a London jeweler, and included in a display of jewels at the 1866 Paris Exhibition.

And it's still worn today -- Gloria has apparently been seen wearing it at society events in the years since the big sell-off. Perhaps the tiara has had one of the happiest endings from this fractured fairy tale?

For more on this tiara:
Weekend Bonus: Princess Margarethe wears the tiara

The Alexandra Feodorovna Emerald Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Tsarina Alexandra of Russia; tiara detail; tiara detail

Let's peek back into the jewel collection of the Romanovs today, shall we? This is the emerald and diamond tiara created by Bolin at the turn of the twentieth century for the tsarina of Russia, Alexandra Feodorovna.

Alexandra was, of course, the last empress consort of Russia. She was born Princess Alix of Hesse; her mother was Princess Alice, one of the daughters of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Alix's marriage to Tsar Nicholas II was a love match that endured until they were assassinated in 1918.

The tsarina would have had almost two decades to enjoy this piece; the tiara dates from approximately 1900, and Alix wore it in a portrait painted by Bodarevsky seven years later. It is sometimes called the Colombian tiara, because the large emeralds used were apparently mined in Colombia. The tiara was paired with a matching devant-de-corsage made by Fabergé.

The location of the tiara today is, as with many Romanov jewels, unknown. We do know that it remained in Russia following the revolution. In 1925, a large number of the imperial jewels were gathered, organized, and photographed for inventory purposes by the Soviets, who were preparing to auction them. The Bolin emerald tiara is among the pieces in a famous photograph of the jewels; you can see it here, the sixth tiara from the left. The majority of the pieces were auctioned by Christie's in London in 1927, and the jewels were dispersed across the globe. Although occasionally a Romanov piece will pop up in various sales and private collections, the whereabouts of Alix's emerald tiara remain a mystery today.

The Greek Emerald Parure Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Queen Elisabeth of Greece; Queen Anne-Marie of Greece; Queen Anne-Marie of Greece; Queen Anne-Marie of Greece; Queen Friederike of Greece

The former royal family of Greece may have been exiled from their throne nearly forty years ago, but they still possess one of the most impressive jewel collections in Europe. This tiara, which is part of the family's emerald parure, is a piece with a serious pedigree.

The cabochon emeralds in the tiara (and the rest of the parure) came to Greece from Russia with Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna, the teenage bride of King George I. Olga never wore the emeralds in a tiara proper, but she did use them to adorn one of her kokoshnik headdresses.

When Olga died in 1926, her grandson, King George II, inherited the emeralds. It was his wife, Queen Elisabeth, who set the emeralds in a tiara. The first version was a bandeau, worn low across her forehead; the second version was the kokoshnik-style tiara that we're used to seeing today. And, in one of my favorite tiara touches, Elisabeth had the jewelers use diamonds to create letter E motifs -- for her initial (and mine, of course, haha) -- between the emeralds.

Elisabeth's tiara also had a border of diamonds across the top, but when her sister-in-law, Friederike, became queen in 1947, she had those diamonds removed. The next queen, Anne-Marie, has kept the tiara largely the same since inheriting it from her mother-in-law in 1964. Even after leaving Greece, Queen Anne-Marie (whose sister is Queen Margrethe II of Denmark) has continued to wear the tiara frequently at royal events. It would make sense that this tiara holds a special place in Anne-Marie's heart: it was the first Greek tiara that she wore in public (at her pre-wedding ball, when she was only eighteen).

For more on this tiara:
Mad Hattery's TiaraPedia (Greece)

The Seven Emeralds Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Empress Farah Pahlavi; Empress Farah Pahlavi; Empress Farah Pahlavi; tiara detail; Empress Farah Pahlavi

In the 1950s and 1960s, it was hard to compete with the Pahlavi family in terms of sheer glitter power. This tiara was one of several that Farah Diba received when she married the last emperor of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in 1958.

This tiara, named for the seven cabochon emeralds that are studded across the top of the piece, was made by Harry Winston in the same year that Farah became queen. The rest of the tiara is made of diamonds -- nearly three hundred of them -- in shades of pink, yellow, and white. One of the most unusual features of the piece is its base, which is curved, almost mimicking the wings of a bird.

Like most of the rest of the imperial jewels, this piece was left behind in Iran when the family left following the revolution of 1979. You can see it, along with many other pieces, in the country's Treasury of National Jewels, located in the Central Bank in Tehran.

Weekend Bonus: The Braganza Tiara

Queen Silvia of Sweden (born 1943) wears the Braganza Tiara with the family's nineteenth-century suite of pink topaz jewels

Weekend Bonus: The Luxembourg Empire Tiara

Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg (1896-1985) wears the Empire Tiara at her wedding to Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma (1893-1970) in 1919

The Ansorena Heart Tiara

Photos (clockwise from top left): Queen Ena of Spain; tiara detail; tiara detail

Everybody's got a wedding gift from their mother-in-law that they hide in the attic, right? I'm guessing, though, that most of you have ugly lamps and passive-aggressive heirlooms, not elaborate tiaras.

The princess on the receiving end of this mother-in-law gift was Ena of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. When she married King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1906, Ena received this pearl tiara, made by Ansorena, from her new mother-in-law, Queen Maria Christina. 

Queen MC was a formidable figure; she'd been born a Habsburg, and after she was widowed, she acted as regent for her young son. And she wasn't pleased initially with Alfonso's choice of bride -- she wanted him to marry a Habsburg cousin, and besides that, she didn't consider the Battenbergs royal enough for the family. (Joke's on her -- there's now a Battenberg on the throne of Spain, another became queen of Sweden, and eventually there will be one on the throne of the United Kingdom, too.)

Eventually Maria Christina relented, and Alfonso and Ena were allowed to wed. Perhaps this tiara was meant to be a peace offering, but if it was, its effects are dubious. Ena was never photographed wearing it; indeed, the only photo of the tiara I've been able to track down is from the record of Ena's wedding gifts. In the 1920s, it was broken up and used by Cartier to create the diamond and pearl tiara worn today by Queen Sofia. (More on that one later.)

So, word to the wise: take that ugly lamp and turn it into a gorgeous candelabra. That will show your mother-in-law who's boss...