The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Zara Talks Engagement Rings

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Zara Phillips Tindall attends the Magic Millions Polo Event in January (Jason O’Brien/Getty Images)

Zara Phillips Tindall, granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II, is best known for her equestrian achievements, but in a recent interview with Town and Country, she talked about her growing love of jewelry.

Zara’s engagement ring (Tim Ireland/AFP/Getty Images)

Zara’s fascination with jewelry began in earnest when Mike Tindall proposed in 2010. “I didn’t appreciate jewellery until I got a bit older and started going to events,” she explains. “I never wore rings. My engagement ring was my first. Mike found it – I hinted what I liked, but he did it all himself.”

Zara wears rings from her jewelry collection with her engagement ring at Royal Ascot in 2015 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Now, Zara has her own line of jewelry, the Zara Phillips Collection, in collaboration with Australian jewelry designer John Calleija. (We covered the collection extensively here when it launched in June 2015.) She explains that she wanted the collection, which is equestrian-inspired, to be both subtle and wearable: “I felt strongly that each piece had to be wearable from morning to night. I’m sure John would like to go all out and have a horse galloping across your hand, so sometimes I have to rein him in.” No pun intended?

Okay, magpies: tell me about your first ring!

Letizia Debuts La Buena!

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The long wait is over, magpies: at tonight’s gala dinner for the President and First Lady of Argentina, Letizia officially took the tiara of Spain’s queens out for its inaugural spin!

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Queen Letizia wore “La Buena” — the diamond fleur-de-lis tiara made a century ago for her husband’s great-grandmother, Queen Ena of Spain. The tiara was made by Ansorena; its design prominently includes the fleur-de-lis symbol of Spain’s reigning family, the House of Borbon. King Alfonso XIII gave the tiara to his new bride as a wedding present.

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The tiara is one of the joyas de pasar, a collection of jewels designated by Queen Ena in her will for the use of Spanish queens. Letizia wore three pieces from the collection at tonight’s dinner: the fleur-de-lis tiara, the diamond earrings, and the matching diamond bracelets. (Read more on the joyas de pasar in this post!)

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Letizia received the joyas de pasar when her father-in-law abdicated in 2014. We last saw the jewels in public on Queen Sofia at a state banquet for the President of Mexico just before the abdication.

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Here’s a better view of the earrings. Letizia is also wearing the central element of her own pearl and diamond fleur-de-lis tiara as a brooch.

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And here’s a closer look at one of the diamond bracelets.

Grand Ladies Site

La Buena is an absolutely humongous tiara, but its base is adjustable. Queen Ena, who wore the tiara at her disastrous royal wedding in 1906, often wore the piece in a more closed form. In the photos above, Ena wears the more compact version in 1906, and the more open version in 1922. (In the 1922 photo, Ena also wears the earrings that Letizia wore tonight.)

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In photos from tonight’s gala, you can see that the base of the tiara does not quite meet at the front — probably a result of adjustments made so that it would better fit Letizia’s head.

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Such an exciting jewelry debut! What do you think of Letizia’s first attempt to wear Spain’s mightiest tiara?

Letizia in Pink to Welcome the Argentine President

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King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain welcomed President Mauricio Macri and First Lady Juliana Awada for an official lunch at Zarzuela Palace on Wednesday. Here’s a look at the earrings Letizia chose for the occasion.

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With her pink suit, Letizia wore a pair of oversized stud earrings with a pale pink stone.

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Here’s another angle on the earrings…

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…and one more that lets you see a view of the clasp mechanism.

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It turns out the earrings were previously worn by another member of the Spanish royal family: Queen Sofia, who brought them along on a state visit to Japan in 2008.

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Here’s a look at Letizia’s full ensemble for the lunch. Mrs. Argentina coordinated in a similar shade of pink for the event — love when that works out!