This one’s a battle of the floral sparklers!

This lovely kokoshnik-style tiara was given to Queen Mary as a wedding present by Lord and Lady Iveagh in 1893. It’s one of the only pieces of wedding-gift jewelry that she never significantly altered; with its beautiful, balanced shape, she didn’t really need to. Mary bequeathed the tiara to her daughter-in-law, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Today, it’s still worn by Alice’s daughter-in-law, Birgitte, and it was also a wedding tiara for Alice’s granddaughter, Lady Rose Gilman.

When Prince Fumihito and Kiko Kawashima married in 1990, Emperor Akihito granted them their own household and the titles of Prince and Princess Akishino. Kiko also gained her own imperial symbol, the iris setosa. Her diamond wedding parure, which includes the Akishino Tiara, incorporates iris flowers in its complicated design. For three decades, the Akishino Tiara was the only diadem that Kiko wore for gala events, including state banquets and the family’s annual New Year audience. Now that she’s Japan’s crown princess, however, her tiara options have expanded.

 

This one’s a match-up of tiaras made for empresses!

This all-diamond tiara features one of the most important symbols of the Japanese imperial family: the chrysanthemum flower. The piece was a favorite of Michiko’s mother-in-law, Empress Nagako, who wore it on Akihito and Michiko’s wedding day in 1959. Michiko has often chosen this piece for banquets. She also wore the tiara on the wedding day of her younger son, Crown Prince Fumihito, in 1990.

Queen Mary’s husband, King George V, called this sparkler her “best tiara.” It was made in 1911 for the Delhi Durbar, the celebration of the couple’s coronation in India. Mary recycled diamonds from another dismantled tiara to make the piece, which was originally also set with some of the famous Cambridge emeralds. In 1912, Garrard altered the piece so that it could be worn with the Cullinan III and IV diamonds. Mary gave it as a long-term loan to the Queen Mother, who kept it until her death. Today, it’s now on loan to the Duchess of Cornwall, who has so far only worn it in public once.