The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Queen Anne-Marie’s Tiaras

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Greece’s last queen consort, Queen Anne-Marie, celebrated her 73rd birthday yesterday, and to mark the occasion, we’ve got a roundup of all of her royal tiaras!

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Anne-Marie was born a Danish princess, and she received this diamond and pearl tiara from her parents as an eighteenth-birthday gift. She wore it for the farewell dinner given at Fredensborg Castle before her wedding to King Constantine II of Greece in September 1964, and she’s worn it occasionally since then. It’s more familiar, though, as the wedding tiara worn by her two daughters-in-law, Marie-Chantal and Tatiana.
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Like the other women in her family, Queen Anne-Marie borrowed the Khedive of Egypt Tiara from her mother, Queen Ingrid of Denmark, to wear on her wedding day. When Ingrid died in 2000, she bequeathed the tiara to Anne-Marie, who now wears it more generally. She’s also continued to loan it to the ladies of the extended Danish royal family for use as a bridal tiara.
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The first Greek royal tiara worn by Queen Anne-Marie was the grand diadem from the family’s emerald parure. She wore the tiara prominently in official portraits during her husband’s reign, and she took it with her when they went into exile. She still often wears it at tiara occasions today.
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This delicate diamond and ruby tiara also comes from the former Greek royal collection, and it also accompanied Constantine and Anne-Marie into exile after the monarchy was abolished. Anne-Marie can still be spotted in the tiara and its accompanying jewels frequently at Scandinavian royal events.
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Years ago, Queen Anne-Marie also borrowed the grand Swedish star and pearl tiara from her mother, Queen Ingrid, to wear on at least one occasion. (Sadly, I don’t have a photograph that I can legally share here of Anne-Marie wearing the tiara.) The tiara was later inherited by Anne-Marie’s sister, Princess Benedikte.

Prince Albert’s Tiaras

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Prince Albert, whose 200th birthday falls on Monday, was kind of a Victorian Renaissance man. He loved design, and Queen Victoria was the lucky beneficiary of his jewelry design efforts. Today, we’re revisiting our overview of four tiaras that Albert designed for his wife during their marriage.

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This petite diamond and sapphire coronet was designed by Albert and made by Joseph Kitching in 1842 for the price of £415. Victoria was painted in the coronet by Winterhalter the same year. The piece stayed with the main branch of the royal family until 1922, when King George V gave it to his daughter, Princess Mary. Her descendants kept the piece until a few years ago, and it was recently acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum, where it holds a place of honor in the museum’s refurbished jewelry galleries.
© Historic Royal Palaces
In 1845, Albert designed this diamond and emerald tiara, which was made by Joseph Kitching for around a thousand pounds. Victoria was painted in the piece twice, but at some point, it ended up with the descendants of her granddaughter, Princess Louise. The tiara was included in Geoffrey Munn’s 2001 tiara book, and after the death of the 3rd Duke of Fife, it was put on display at Kensington Palace with additional Fife family jewels.
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This tiara, with its fashionable Victorian strawberry-leaf motifs, was originally a small diamond and ruby bandeau. It was made by Joseph Kitching, apparently with Albert’s design input, around 1844. The piece was later altered to make it taller, and a second, all-diamond version was commissioned for his daughter, Princess Alice. After Albert’s death, Victoria had at least one important outing in the tiara; she wore it for the wedding of her daughter, Princess Louise, in 1871. She gave the sparkler to her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, in 1885. Her descendants (including Queen Ena of Spain) wore and owned the tiara for years, even overhauling it to replace the rubies with diamonds, but it seems likely that it was eventually sold.
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One of the most beautiful tiaras designed by Albert is this diamond circlet, which was originally set with opals, one of his favorite gemstones. Inspired by the Indian jewelry from the Great Exhibition, Albert reflected Mughal arches in the diadem’s design. The tiara was made in 1853 by Garrard; in 1858, after the settlement of the Hanoverian claim, the piece was remade to remove any diamonds that came from Queen Charlotte. In her will, Victoria designated the circlet as an “heirloom of the crown,” and it has been with the main line of the royal family ever since. Queen Alexandra had the opals removed and replaced with rubies, and the piece remains in that form in the royal vaults today.
Note: This is an updated version of an earlier post.

Queen Wilhelmina’s Diamond Haircomb

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The Dutch royal tiara collection is full of enormous sparkling diadems, but the royal vaults also include more petite pieces. Today’s tiara is a small (but mighty!) diamond haircomb that belonged to Queen Wilhelmina.

Grand Ladies Site

Wilhelmina was, appropriately, the first recorded wearer of the comb; the photographic portrait above shows her wearing the piece around 1903. The piece is a delicate, petite diamond hair ornament featuring a dotted diamond base topped by small diamond clovers. At some point, it was placed in the family’s jewelry foundation.

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Wilhelmina wore the piece for several decades, after which it was relegated to the depths of the family vaults. But in June 2010, then then-Princess Maxima surprised everyone during a pre-wedding gala for Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden.

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For the gala, Maxima placed the comb at the back of her head, nestling it into a curly ‘do. She paired the comb with a major pair of diamond statement earrings.

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Another view from the gala shows the petite comb sparkling away.

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And one more angle from the pre-wedding dinner allows a clearer view of the comb’s placement.

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Three years later, Maxima brought out the comb again, this time during a state visit to Singapore. In January 2013, she wore the comb as a small tiara for a state banquet at Istana Palace. She paired the comb with the same diamond earrings from their previous outing, as well as a bracelet from her tutti frutti suite and another diamond bracelet from the family vaults.