Jewels in Motion: Jubilee Tiaras in Brunei

Last weekend, a glittering Golden Jubilee celebration took place in Brunei, honoring the fifty-year reign of Hassanal Bolkiah, the 29th Sultan of Brunei. The festivities included a banquet with lots of tiaras, and I’ve got a whole post’s worth of them glittering — in motion! — for you today. 

Three notes! First: many of these GIFs contain flash photography. Second: don’t take this post as an endorsement of the politics of some of the rulers and regions shown. (That should really go for many posts on the blog, really.) And finally, because I know I’ll get asked — I don’t have any more information, provenance or otherwise, on the individual tiaras than I’m sharing in the post.

Queen Saleha, the senior wife, queen consort, and first cousin of the sultan, wore a grand tiara set with white and yellow diamonds.

Another view of the tiara; note the largest yellow diamond in the middle of the top cluster element.

The only major European country to send representatives for the jubilee was Britain. The Earl and Countess of Wessex represented the Queen at the celebrations.

Sophie wore her convertible diamond and aquamarine tiara for the banquet, pairing it with a multigem suite that she’s had in her jewelry box for several years.

Because I know so many are interested, here’s a glimpse of Sophie’s tiara hair for the occasion.

The woman in the all-diamond suite here is the Raja Puan Besar of Perak, wife of the Sultan of Perak. Perak is a Malaysian state.

Here’s one more view of her jewels. Born Zara Salim Davidson, she runs an oil and gas consulting firm in Kuala Lumpur.

Here’s the Sultan of Terengganu, who served as King of Malaysia from 2006 until 2011, with his wife, Sultanah Nur Zahirah. She’s wearing a full suite of diamond jewels.

Sharafuddin Idris Shah, the Sultan of Selangor (another Malaysian state), attended with his wife, Norashikin Abdul Rahman. She wore an intriguing fringe tiara for the banquet.

The Selangors are newlyweds; they married in August 2016. She was a television personality before her wedding. Here she’s standing beside the bejeweled Permaisuri of Johor, wife of the Sultan of Johor (another Malaysian state).

And last, but not least, we’ve got the Raja Muda and Raja Puan Muda (Crown Prince and Crown Princess) of Perlis, who hail from the smallest state in Malaysia. He’s the son of Sirajuddin of Perlis, the state’s current raja. She’s wearing a diamond tiara and a necklace that appears to have a substantial diamond and pearl pendant.