The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Saturday Sparkler: The Prussian Meander Tiara

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Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as Crown Princess of Prussia, wearing the Meander tiara [1]

Once rulers of an entire empire, the House of Hohenzollern had a suitably grand selection of tiaras at their disposal at the beginning of the twentieth century. This tiara, the kokoshnik-style meander, supplemented the already impressive collection. It was created in 1905 by Koch, a German jeweller who created numerous pieces for the Prussian royal family.

Crown Prince Wilhelm commissioned the tiara as a wedding gift for his bride, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (who was the sister of Queen Alexandrine of Denmark). Cecilie certainly deserved to get an impressive tiara out of the deal. Her husband was a notorious philanderer — there were even claims of an affair with Mata Hari, which was probably a bad idea all around if true.

Anyway, the the tiara is impressive indeed. The piece is shaped like a kokoshnik headdress, with a Greek key design running along its borders and delicate diamond latticework in the central sections. Large diamonds are studded across the piece, giving extra substance and sparkle to the light and airy web of smaller diamonds.

Some think that the Greeks originally used meander designs to symbolize unity, and so it makes sense that this wedding gift became something of a traditional wedding tiara for the Hohenzollerns. One of the most fascinating women in the family, Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, wore it when she married Wilhelm and Cecilie’s son, Prince Louis Ferdinand, in 1938. Almost thirty years later, her daughter, Princess Marie-Cécile, wore the tiara at her wedding to Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg.

The tiara appeared once more on a Prussian bride in 2011, when Princess Sophie of Isenburg, the wife of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, surprised many by donning it at her wedding reception. (You’ll remember that she wore her family’s tiara for the ceremony.) Georg Friedrich is the grandson of Louis Ferdinand and Kira — and he’s also the stepson and nephew of the aforementioned Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg. Have a bit of fun with Google on that subject after you’ve finished marveling at this meander! [2]

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Detail of Portrait of Crown Princess Cecilie of Prussia (1908) by Caspar Ritter. Available on Wikimedia Commons; source here.
2 A version of this post originally appeared at A Tiara a Day in June 2013.

This Week in Royal Jewels: December 27-January 2

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December 27, 2013 – January 2, 2013
Happy New Year, readers! This week’s royal jewel update sees royals from around the world making appearances to ring in 2014, including tiaras in Denmark and Japan.
For her annual televised New Year’s speech, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark chose a golden floral brooch to contrast with her red jacket. You can read the full text (in English) of the queen’s speech here.
At the first of the annual New Year’s courts, the Danish royal ladies paired the golden collar of the Order of the Elephant (which we discussed earlier this week) with glittering jewels. Queen Margrethe wore the tiara, necklace, and earrings from the Danish emerald parure with a lime green gown and a silvery gray fur. Crown Princess Mary innovated with the jewels from the ruby parure; along with the tiara and small earrings, she placed the brooch on a velvet band worn as a choker. Princess Marie once again wore Princess Dagmar’s floral tiara, as well as diamond earrings and a diamond bracelet. The men of the royal family, Prince Henrik, Crown Prince Frederik, and Prince Joachim, all wore their insignia with shining medals on their military uniforms.
To mark the new year, the Japanese imperial family released a new set of photographs. Crown Princess Masako and Princess Kiko kept their jewelry simple, wearing stud earrings and understated necklaces; Kiko also accessorized her ivory jacket with a small brooch. Kiko’s daughters, Princess Mako and Princess Kako, also appear to be wearing single-stranded pearl necklaces. For the traditional public appearance of the imperial family, Empress Michiko also chose a simple necklace and earrings, but added a more elaborate diamond brooch; the other Japanese ladies also wore simple jewels.
The Japanese ladies brought out considerably more glitter for their annual New Year’s court. Empress Michiko did not wear a tiara to this year’s event, but she wore earrings, long strands of pearls, and two diamond brooches pinned to her gown. Her daughter-in-law, Princess Kiko, was decked in diamonds, including her wedding tiara and a diamond necklace, brooch, and earrings. Kiko’s elder daughter, Princess Mako, who has been attending official events since 2011, wore her diamond tiara and other diamond jewels. Although she did not appear during the reception, Crown Princess Masako was filmed in the car as the crown princely family arrived for the event; she wore the Pearl Sunburst Tiara.

Most of the British royal family is on break during the holiday season, but Princess Beatrice of York was spotted celebrating New Year’s Eve in St. Barts with long-time boyfriend Dave Clark. She kept her jewelry minimal, opting for a blingy bracelet on her left wrist to accessorize a simple black dress.

And finally, ’tis the season for year-in-review royal documentaries. Enjoy a recap of the Danish royal family’s activities for 2013, including several glittering occasions, here (in Danish). And relive 2013 for the Bernadottes — which, of course, included one of the most bejeweled events of the year, the wedding of Princess Madeleine — in this hour-long review (in Swedish).

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS

1. Banner image: detail of The Marriage of George, Duke of York to Princess Mary of Teck (1894) by Laurits Tuxen. Image in the public domain; source here.