The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Princess Anne’s Festoon Tiara

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Princess Anne’s Festoon Tiara (SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images)

The British royal family has an incredible wide array of jewels. Beyond the pieces owned and worn by the reigning queen, many of the other Windsor women have impressive jewelry collections of their own. Today’s tiara is one of several owned by the Princess Royal: her diamond festoon tiara.

Anne wears the tiara for the French state banquet at Windsor Castle, March 2008 (PHILIPPE WOJAZER/AFP/Getty Images)

As the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, Anne is a hardworking and significant member of the royal family. And, as such, she needs quite a few tiaras in her arsenal for the state events she attends. While Anne’s other major tiaras — including the diamond meander tiara of Alice of Battenberg and the aquamarine pineflower tiara that belonged to the Queen Mum — were legacies from her grandmothers, the diamond festoon arrived in Anne’s jewelry box in another way entirely.

Anne wears the tiara for the Turkish state banquet at Buckingham Palace, November 2011 (Dominic Lipinski/AFP/Getty Images)

The tiara was given to Anne in 1973, the same year that she married her first husband, Mark Phillips. But it wasn’t a wedding present; it was given to the princess by the World-Wide Shipping Group, a Hong Kong firm, after she christened one of their ships.

Anne wears the tiara for the Indonesian state banquet at Buckingham Palace, October 2012 (Steve Parsons/AFP/Getty Images)

Anne has worn the tiara on a regular basis since she received it, usually at events like state banquets. She often pairs the tiara with her diamond festoon necklace (which you can read more about here) and other jewels, including a large diamond bow brooch.

Autumn Phillips wears the tiara on her wedding day in 2008 (SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images)

In 2008, the tiara was worn for the first time in public by another woman: Anne’s daughter-in-law, Autumn Kelly, who borrowed it for her wedding tiara. Autumn anchored her veil with the diamond festoon for her wedding to Peter Phillips in Windsor that May. Delicate, with just enough height and enough fullness to be visually pleasing, I think this one was an excellent choice for a bride marrying the grandson of a monarch.

Note: This is an updated and expanded version of an earlier post, with new text and images.

No Crowns at Parliament in June

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ALASTAIR GRANT/AFP/Getty Images

June is typically one of the sparkliest royal months in the United Kingdom, with Trooping the Colour, Garter Day, and Royal Ascot coming back-to-back. But this year, the recently-called elections will be changing a few things — and not for the better where royal jewels are concerned!

It was announced today that, because of the elections, the state opening of parliament has been moved to June 19. That was supposed to be Garter Day, but this year’s service has been cancelled by the Queen so that she can attend the state opening. No parade of royals in their formal Garter attire at Windsor this June, sadly.

But it gets even worse for royal jewel lovers: because of the shuffle, the state opening will be noticeably less formal this year. The Queen will not wear her crown or her robes, and she’ll be driven to parliament in a car, not a carriage. This kind of “dressed-down” state opening has happened before, but not since the 1970s. Unfortunately, it means we won’t see the kind of pageantry and finery that we’ve come to expect from the event.

So, bottom line: we’ll likely see a hat and brooch at parliament on June 19, and we’ll have to wait until next year to see the Garter knights and ladies at Windsor. What brooch do you hope HM will wear for the state opening? Something particularly grand, perhaps, to lend just a little bit of sparkle to a usually glittering occasion?