Diamond Tiara Tournament: The Championship!

It’s time to pick a champion in our Diamond Tiara Tournament! But first, we’ve got our Final Four results!

This was quite a close one! Though the Stuart Tiara brought in a very respectable 47.52% of the vote, Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik was the winner with 52.48%! 

This was a match-up of two tiaras with important symbolism! Though the Imperial Chrysanthemum Tiara was selected by 31.35% of voters, the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara won the day with 68.65% of the vote.

…and that means it’s time for our final contest of the tournament!

This classic diamond tiara was inspired by a kokoshnik owned by Queen Alexandra’s beloved sister, Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia. Alexandra received hers as a silver wedding present from a group of aristocratic women. Later worn by Queen Mary, it’s graced the Queen’s head since 1953, and has been a fixture at galas and state banquets during her reign.

One of the most classic and beautiful tiaras in the British collection, Queen Mary received this one as a wedding present in 1893. And although it is an all-diamond tiara today, it was originally topped by fourteen large pearls. Mary later had those pearls replaced with diamonds and used the pearls on her new Lover’s Knot Tiara. Mary gave the tiara to her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, as a wedding present, and it’s still one of the Queen’s most-worn tiaras today.