The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Queen Paola and the Art Deco Bandeau

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Queen Paola wears the Art Deco Bandeau, October 2012 (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Happy Birthday to Queen Paola of Belgium! Today, we’re celebrating the day with a look at one of Paola’s most important pieces of jewelry: the Art Deco Bandeau.

Princess Paola wears the diamond bandeau, August 1968 (Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy)

The classic diamond bandeau-style tiara first belonged to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. The tiara was later worn by Elisabeth’s daughters-in-law, Queen Astrid and Princess Lilian. (See images of both of them wearing the jewel here!) In 1959, Elisabeth’s son, King Leopold III, gave the tiara to his new daughter-in-law, Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria. The jewel was a gift to mark the wedding of Paola and Leopold’s second son, Prince Albert, Prince of Liège.

Princess Paola arrives for Princess Beatrix’s pre-wedding ball, March 1966 (Eric Koch/Anefo/Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia Commons)

The Prince and Princess of Liège were two of the most elegant royals of the swinging ’60s, and Paola often nestled the diamond bandeau in her fantastic hairdos. This shot, showing Paola arriving for a ball in Amsterdam in March 1966, gives you an idea of the intricacy of her ’60s updos!

Princess Paola arrives for Princess Beatrix’s pre-wedding ball, March 1966 (Eric Koch/Anefo/Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia Commons)

Here’s another view of the couple arriving for the ball, which was held at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. The glittering occasion honored Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, who married Prince Claus the following morning.

An illustrated portrait of Queen Paola wearing the diamond bandeau on a postage stamp

The Prince of Liège became King Albert II after the death of his brother, King Baudouin, in 1993, and Paola became Belgium’s new queen consort. The Art Deco Bandeau, then, rejoined the main jewelry collection of the family. Though Paola now had access to the grand Nine Provinces Tiara, she still often wore the diamond bandeau. Images of Paola wearing the tiara were even featured on Belgian currency and stamps.

Queen Paola wears the diamond bandeau, October 2004 (Mark Renders/Getty Images)

Though she often chose the Nine Provinces Tiara for the grandest of diplomatic occasions, Paola did wear the diamond bandeau for state functions as well. Above, Paola wears the bandeau for a gala dinner in honor of the President of Poland at Laeken Castle in October 2004.

Queen Paola wears the diamond bandeau for the Danish royal wedding, May 2004 (SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Queen Paola also frequently wore the diamond bandeau for family events like royal weddings. In May 2004, she wore the Art Deco Bandeau for the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in Copenhagen.

Queen Paola wears the diamond bandeau for the Danish royal wedding, May 2004 (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Here’s another image from the Danish royal wedding in 2004. You’ll note that Paola is technically wearing two tiaras in the photo. She used the bandeau base of the Nine Provinces Tiara as a choker necklace.

Queen Paola wears the tiara at the Swedish royal wedding, June 2010 (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

In June 2010, Queen Paola wore the diamond bandeau for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden in Stockholm.

Queen Paola wears the tiara at the pre-wedding gala in Luxembourg, October 2012 (Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images)

And in October 2012, she wore the tiara for a pre-wedding gala in honor of her great-nephew, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg.

Queen Mathilde wears the tiara on her wedding day, December 1999 (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/Getty Images); Elisabetta wears the tiara on her wedding day, July 2014 (Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images)

King Albert II abdicated the throne in July 2013 in favor of his elder son, King Philippe. Since then, Queen Paola has hung up her tiaras. But we’ve still gotten to see the Art Deco Bandeau on a handful of occasions since then. In July 2014, Paola loaned the tiara to her grandson’s new wife, Elisabetta, as a wedding tiara. She’d also previously offered the tiara as a loan to her daughter-in-law, Queen Mathilde, in December 1999.

Princess Astrid wears the bandeau for the German state dinner, March 2016 (Patrick van Katwijk/DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy)

And one more member of the family has borrowed the tiara, too: Princess Astrid, Paola’s daughter. She wore the tiara for a gala banquet in honor of the President of Germany in March 2016.

The Princess Royal’s Tiaras

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CHRIS J RATCLIFFE/AFP/Getty Images
We’re closing out the month of August here at The Court Jeweller with a bit of a bejeweled tribute to a royal who just marked an important milestone: the Princess Royal, who celebrated her 70th birthday on August 15. Today, we’ve got a look at all of the tiaras she’s worn in public!

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Like two other members of the royal family — Princess Margaret and the Duchess of Cambridge — Princess Anne’s very first tiara was the delicate scrolling halo tiara made by Cartier for the Queen Mother. The piece was loaned to Anne by her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, and she wore it often in her teen years for events like the State Opening of Parliament (pictured above, October 1967)
Terry Disney/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Princess Anne has been wearing this diamond bandeau, featuring laurel wreaths, anthemions, and a Greek Key (or meander) pattern, since she was a young woman. The tiara originally belonged to her grandmother, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, who had given it to Queen Elizabeth II as a wedding present. The Queen loaned it to Princess Anne for some of her early tiara appearances (including this state visit to Austria in May 1969) before giving her the tiara in 1972. Anne still wears it regularly today, and she also loaned it to her daughter, Zara, as a bridal tiara in 2011.
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The Birthday Portrait Tiara

For her twenty-first birthday, Princess Anne sat for a series of official commemorative portraits. She wore an ice green gown with a diamond scroll tiara and posed in front of a background specially painted by Gordon Davies for the portrait session. The tiara has never been seen on a royal woman before or since, so there’s a general consensus that it was probably a loan. (Why would the Brits borrow a tiara? Hard to know. Perhaps they wanted a specific look?) The images were published in British newspapers in August 1971.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

This delicate diamond festoon tiara was given to Princess Anne in 1973 when she christened a ship. (Not a bad thank-you present!) It’s intricate and pretty, which made it a perfect wedding tiara for Anne’s daughter-in-law in 2008. Anne still wears it regularly, including an appearance at a Guildhall banquet during the Spanish state visit in July 2017 (pictured above).
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In November 1973, Princess Anne borrowed Queen Mary’s diamond fringe tiara from her grandmother, the Queen Mother, for her wedding to Mark Phillips. Anne was the second royal bride to wear the tiara after her mother, Queen Elizabeth II (who now owns it). Most recently, it was worn by another family bride: Princess Beatrice of York.
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This Cartier diamond and aquamarine tiara, which has a unique pinecone design theme, was a wedding anniversary gift from King George VI to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in the 1940s. In November 1973, the Queen Mother offered it to Princess Anne as a wedding present. She’s been wearing it ever since (including at a state banquet in June 2019, pictured above), and has even made a few design tweaks along the way. 
The Queen Mother’s Double Meander Tiara

This diamond kokoshnik tiara, made of two rows of Greek Key (or meander) patterns, is a little bit of a mystery. Made in the nineteenth-century, it originally also accommodated an aigrette plume. It belonged to the Queen Mother, but we’ve only seen it worn once by a royal woman: Princess Anne’s outing in the tiara for a state banquet at Buckingham Palace during the Chinese state visit in November 2005 (above).
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Princess Anne’s Pearl Bandeau

Princess Anne has also worn one more mystery tiara in recent memory: a gold-hued bandeau, which appears to be set with large pearls. She donned the tiara for a state banquet at Windsor Castle during the Indian state visit in October 2009. We still don’t know anything more about it, including its provenance, and we haven’t seen it in public since.

A Royal Brooch Update

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Like many of us, the Queen has been staying at home a lot recently. She’s been at Windsor Castle, where she has continued to work privately with the help of a small staff. But because the Queen knows how important public appearances are to the continued success of the monarchy, she’s still made an effort to connect with the larger world on several recent occasions — and, because she’s Queen Elizabeth II, she’s worn some excellent brooches while doing so. Here’s a recap…

The Royal Family
The Queen made a stirring address to the nation and the world in April from Windsor Castle, thanking essential workers for their services and encouraging everyone to stay steadfast in the face of crisis. For the occasion, she wore a brooch with a long family history. The diamond and turquoise brooch, made in the nineteenth-century, was Queen Mary’s wedding gift from her parents-in-law, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. The Queen has only begun wearing the brooch fairly recently, and its innocuous but regal presence made it a perfect choice for the speech. She wanted her words, not her clothing or jewelry, to make the bigger statement. 
The Royal Family
To mark the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe, the Queen reached for a pair of important and sentimental brooches. These diamond and aquamarine clips, made by Boucheron, were a gift from her father to mark her eighteenth birthday in 1944. She’s been wearing them since the days of the war, and the decision to wear them for this special broadcast reminded viewers of her own longevity and of her relationship with the wartime monarch.
The Royal Family
The Duke of Edinburgh, rather incredibly, celebrated his 99th birthday in June. To mark the occasion, the palace released a brand-new portrait of the couple, taken at Windsor Castle. For the portrait, the Queen chose a brooch that is both suitably regal and appropriately sentimental: the Cullinan V Brooch, which features a central heart-shaped diamond.
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The Welsh Guards Leek Brooch
The Queen’s most prominent “public” appearance during this season came in June, when the Welsh Guards marked her official birthday with a scaled-down Trooping the Colour presentation on the grounds of Windsor Castle. The Queen was clearly delighted to see her troops again.
Toby Melville – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The Queen usually wears the Guards Brooch for Trooping the Colour, but this year, she paid special tribute to the Welsh Guards with her brooch choice. This small diamond brooch is shaped like a leek, one of the national emblems of Wales. The brooch was presented to the Queen by the Welsh Guards at least a half century ago, making it an especially appropriate choice for this moment. (A similar brooch is also owned by the Duchess of Cornwall, wife of the Prince of Wales.)