Breaking Jewel News: A New Tiara for Princess Marie

Fall state visit season kicked off with a surprise! And from one of the people who needed some additional tiara variety the most, doubling the good news at hand here.

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That's right, tiaras were out in Denmark this evening as the Danish royal family hosted a state banquet for the President and First Lady of France during their state visit, and Princess Marie - French herself, you know - used it as an occasion to debut a NEW TIARA!!!! (Caps and exclamation points entirely necessary.) The tiara appears to be an intricate floral design with a central blue stone, looks like sapphire. I don't place it as one from the Danish vaults; perhaps it is a new acquisition (just speculation). Princess Marie and Prince Joachim did celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary earlier this year.

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Marie almost always wears her Diamond Floral Tiara, so a little variety is great news for her. (She supposedly has use of the Flora Danica Tiara as well, but she's only worn it once.) This is a winner of an appearance all around - that's the best gala dress she's worn in a long time, definitely best of the year level. Heaven at Princess Marie's Closet confirms it is from Rikke Gudnitz.

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No one else was slacking in the gem department for this state visit from the late Prince Henrik's home country, either. Queen Margrethe chose the Pearl Poire Tiara and picked up the red sash of France's Legion of Honor with a set of diamonds, rubies, and pearls (necklace, earrings, brooch) from the Danish crown jewels.

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Crown Princess Mary wore the Danish Ruby Parure Tiara, which is still a rare choice for her for a state visit, although she's been using it more frequently. Her dress is a revamped repeat; she added an over the shoulder sash to an existing Lasse Spagenberg dress. I love the tiara and I loved that dress the first time around, but together...this is not working for me. Combined with the blue of the French National Order of Merit, there's just too much going on.

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And finally, a floaty floral Princess Benedikte added her two sparkly cents with her own largest tiara option, the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Fringe Tiara. You know I never say no to a good fringe.

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Here's the arrival. Always such a comedown when I stick that after the gowns n' sparkle. Sorry, arrival looks. It's not your fault. This is interesting, though: Mary's dress is also owned by Crown Princess Mette-Marit. And maybe some more once word gets out, I can think of a number of royal ladies who go for this style right now.


UPDATE: Princess Marie's new tiara is a mystery no more! Heaven at Princess Marie's Closet discovered the details. Called the "Nuits Claires" Tiara, it was a collaboration between French jeweler Mauboussin, who wanted to make a royal tiara, and Princess Marie, who was a part of the design process. The tiara is made of palladium white gold and features a floral background of diamonds and sapphires, with a central pear-shaped 6.82 carat sapphire. Mauboussin owns the tiara and will loan it to Marie for gala occasions, similar to the arrangement behind the Midnight Tiara worn by Crown Princess Mary. Princess Marie also wore a matching ring on loan from Mauboussin. Her earrings are not part of the set; she has been wearing them for a few years now.

Check out full details and pictures from Princess Marie's Closet here!

EXCLUSIVE: Mauboussin sent me a photo of Princess Marie’s ‘Nuits Claires’ tiara (Lyse Nœtter Diademet) with a press release pic.twitter.com/BpweSXDM2d

— HeavenLM (@HeavenQRF) August 30, 2018

August 28, 2018

Royal Flashback of the Day: Peter and Autumn's Windsor Wedding

As the year of Windsor weddings continues, it's time for another look back. This couple just celebrated their tenth anniversary: Peter and Autumn Phillips.

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The Princess Royal's son married Canadian Autumn Kelly on May 17, 2008 at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Following the service, the couple departed via open carriage for their reception at Frogmore House.

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Autumn's wedding gown was a bespoke design from Sassi Holford made of Italian duchesse satin and Chantilly lace. The dress featured a three-tier sash above an A-line skirt with a cathedral train decorated with bows and lace inserts. A beaded lace bolero covered the bride's shoulders.

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Autumn wore the Festoon Tiara on loan from her new mother-in-law in her hair. The classic pearl and diamond earrings and matching necklace were the perfect basics for a new royal jewelry collection; fittingly, they were gifts from Peter.

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The bridesmaids wore strapless Vera Wang, and Princess Anne? Well, we just saw her festive brown outfit again earlier this month. No one-and-done special occasion outfits for her, thankyouverymuch.

Peter and Autumn's wedding kicked off the list of weddings of the Queen's grandchildren that's still growing. Of course, it was also the wedding where then-Kate Middleton flew solo as a guest (with Prince Harry's then-girlfriend) while Prince William was off at a different wedding, so some of the rest of this got a little overshadowed.

Psst: The blog will be back on Monday!

July 25, 2018

Monday Tidbits for May 14: Wedding Gowns and More

Less than a week to go before royal wedding time. Other stuff first:

--Just in case you need something to get you in the royal wedding mood: Sweden's royal wedding gown exhibition from 2016/17 is now a documentary! You can stream it here. The exhibition featured the dresses of Queen Silvia, Princess Lilian, Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Sofia, and Princess Madeleine. The documentary features more details on each dress, including comments and inside stories from the brides and some of the designers. Where did Sofia find her dress inspiration? What had Madeleine worrying as the church bells rang? Watch and see. (It's in Swedish, obviously; if you turn on the subtitles and use a browser with automatic translation, you can read along in your preferred language.) [SVT]

--Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia now have an official Instagram account. There's quite a bit posted already, with some new personal photos. [Instagram]

Välkomna till vårt officiella instagramkonto. Som ni märker har vi redan lagt upp foton under en tid för att ge er en inblick i vårt arbete, de uppdrag vi genomför och framförallt de frågor vi brinner för. Hoppas att ni vill följa oss!

A post shared by Prinsparet (@prinsparet) on May 12, 2018 at 1:26pm PDT

--The Duke of Edinburgh made his first public appearance since his hip operation last month to drive around the Royal Windsor Horse Show. Over at the Jewel Vault, you can check out what the Queen was up to during the horse show. [Hello]

--And finally, Christie's is auctioning a magnificent emerald and diamond necklace with stones of possible royal heritage. The necklace was made by Tiffany & Co. around the 1880s-1890s, not long after the jeweler opened, using circular-cut emeralds and old-cut diamonds. The emeralds may have come from the collection of Queen Isabella II of Spain; some of her emeralds were auctioned in Paris in 1878, at a time when Tiffany was known to be buying up gems of significant heritage for use in pieces for wealthy American families. The necklace includes fleur de lys motifs, a Bourbon symbol. It will be auctioned May 16 and has an estimate of $700,000 - $1,200,000. [Christie's]

Christie's

 

Coming up this week: The results of our Meghan Markle wedding tiara poll and more...

Tidbits is your spot for royal topics we haven't covered separately on the blog, all week long. Please mind the comment policy, and enjoy!

May 14, 2018

Tiara Watch of the Day: The Dutch Diplomatic Corps Gala Dinner

It's about time we saw some Máxima tiara action around here.

King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima, with Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet, and Pieter van Vollenhoven, hosted their annual gala dinner for the Diplomatic Corps yesterday.

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I've never been wild about the combination of textures and colors and shine on this old Natan outfit, so that's all the more reason to focus on the gems: the Dutch Aquamarine Tiara plus earrings and an aquamarine pendant on a diamond rivière necklace. Starting small to build up to larger things later on, like the state visit to Luxembourg next month, I hope.

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Princess Margriet also had an interesting combination going on with her dress, business at the top and party at the bottom. More classic is her use of the Pearl Button Tiara - her wedding tiara! - with a pearl necklace and diamond and pearl earrings.

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Princess Beatrix stuck to her trademark tiara, Queen Emma's Diamond Tiara. Forever a great match for her, since the shape works just right with her trademark 'do.

They were entertaining in the evening and entertaining during the day, yesterday; the King and Queen received the President and First Lady of Mexico for an official visit and hosted a luncheon.

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Just in case the tiaras weren't enough, Máxima offers you something else: the return of your #1 favorite day dress of 2017! Still glorious, do you think?

April 25, 2018

Bonus Tiara Watch: The CHOGM Dinner, Plus Meghan's Latest

Let's dig into the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) festivities for the second time today, because a couple highly anticipated events occurred this evening.

The first, of course, is the tiara-filled dinner hosted by the Queen at Buckingham Palace!

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The monarch got things started in a very sparkly way by piling on the diamonds and the rubies, including surprising us by wearing the Ruby and Diamond Floral Bandeau Necklace last seen on the Duchess of Cambridge and not seen on the Queen herself since the 1980s. Her tiara is the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara (her fave). You can, as always, see a complete rundown of her jewel selections right here at the Jewel Vault.

All available hands were on deck for the dinner, except Kate (for obvious reasons) and Meghan (who did attend a different reception with Harry earlier in the evening, keep scrolling for that). Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were present...

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...and we'll cut to the chase, there were no first tiara appearances for the sisters tonight. Although unmarried princesses have certainly worn tiaras in the past (Anne and Margaret most recently in the British royal family; plenty more outside of that), I'm not surprised that they didn't go digging through the vaults for this black tie occasion. My condolences to those of you nursing deep disappointment!

Plenty of other tiaras on display to soothe that disappointment, though. CHOGM provided a livestream which you can replay here; I have some shots below (just glimpses, mostly, so apologies for quality. We're lucky we got a livestream at all!).

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Typical selections for the Duchess of Cornwall and the Princess Royal. We just saw this whole look on Anne during last year's Spanish state visit, with the Festoon Tiara, and her diamond demi-parure. It's the Greville Tiara and the Pear Drop Diamond Demi-Parure for Camilla.

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The Wessex Aquamarine Necklace Tiara was looking splendid on the Countess of Wessex, who paired it with a colorful gemstone necklace that's part of a set of unknown origin that she's had for a few years. She appears to be wearing the dress she wore to the Swedish royal wedding in 2015.

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Princess Alexandra of Kent chipped in with the pearl setting of her Ogilvy Tiara, nicely accessorized with an intricate pearl and diamond choker.

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I was thrilled to see the Iveagh Tiara, such an interesting and intricate piece, make an appearance on the Duchess of Gloucester. She's also doing something interesting with a pair of jeweled clip brooches on her dress, too, so Birgitte's keeping up the good work.

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Wrapping things up on the tiara front, Princess Michael of Kent brought the Kent City of London Fringe Tiara out to play, another piece we haven't seen in a while.

While we're on the CHOGM evening topic, just before the big Buckingham Palace dinner, Harry and Meghan attended a Women's Empowerment reception. Meghan wore a power dress, basically:

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That's a great LBD. It's by Black Halo. Not too dressy, not too casual, all purpose as a great LBD should be. And that's as formal as she got today; Harry made a quick change for the Queen's dinner and Meghan will wait for the many such dinners she has in her future.

Phew! These kids are going all out for CHOGM. Gotta soak it up while we can.

April 19, 2018

Royal Jewels of the Day: The Fife Tiaras at Kensington Palace

We updated the status of the Fife Tiara back in January here, after news broke in 2017 that the tiara had been given to the U.K. government in lieu of inheritance tax and was scheduled to be displayed at Kensington Palace. That display - part of the reopened Victoria Revealed exhibition - opens today (March 30) and includes not just the big diamond Fife Tiara but two other Fife family tiaras. And, well:

BE STILL MY HEART. You can check out our entry on the Fife Tiara's history here.

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

Here's what the exhibition press release has to say about it:

"The majestic Fife tiara, given to Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Louise on her wedding day, is today considered one of the finest works produced by celebrated Parisian jeweller Oscar Massin, and represents the very zenith of tiara design. A gift from Louise’s husband the Duke of Fife, it comprises hundreds of diamonds ranging in weight from one to ten carats, and features a spectacular row of pear shaped ‘swing set’ diamonds, which would have dazzled onlookers when worn."

We also now have an opportunity to see those diamonds move:

But wait, there's more! As was also previously announced, the Fife estate has loaned Queen Victoria's Emerald and Diamond Tiara to the Victoria Revealed exhibit - plus its accompanying parure of a necklace, earrings, and brooch!

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

You can check out our last entry on the tiara here. And this is what the exhibition has to say:

"Comprising a magnificent diamond and emerald diadem, emerald necklace, earrings and brooch, this parure – or matching suite of jewels – showcases both the exquisite workmanship of nineteenth century goldsmiths, and Prince Albert’s own flair for design. Albert was fascinated by jewellery, and personally designed this dazzling headpiece for his wife. Created by the Queen’s Jeweller, Joseph Kitching, the tiara is set with cushion-shaped diamonds and step-cut emeralds, and surmounted by a graduated row of 19 inverted pear-shaped emeralds, the largest of which weighs an astonishing 15 carats. As a testament to Albert’s own creative talents, the pieces he designed for Victoria now constitute the only known examples of a tiara design by a consort for his Queen. Victoria, clearly delighted with the gift, wrote in her journal of her husband’s ‘wonderful taste’, and her delight at wearing this ‘lovely Diadem of diamonds and emeralds designed by my beloved Albert’.

Presented to Victoria in 1845, the tiara provided both the centrepiece and finishing touch to an existing emerald suite. It was created to complement a necklace formed of 9 oval emerald clusters, each set within a border of cushion-shaped diamonds, its accompanying pendant earrings and an impressive 20ct emerald and diamond brooch, all of which were gifts from Albert, and also go on display at Kensington Palace. Victoria would select these gems for Franz Xavier Winterhalter’s intimate 1846 painting of the royal family, for her son Prince Alfred’s christening (when she paired them with the lace from her wedding dress) and again for a striking Winterhalter portrait of 1859, which depicts the pieces in stunning detail."

A little glimpse of this tiara's sparkle, from The Jewellery Editor:

The way the light shines through those emeralds is absolutely magnificent.

And there's still more!

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

You can also see a classic diamond fringe from the Fife family, another piece that belonged to Princess Louise and was a gift from her parents on her marriage. Here's the press release description:

"Another of Louise’s jewels, a remarkable kokoshnik style tiara with graduated pavé-set rays of diamonds in white and yellow gold, takes inspiration from the cockscomb style headdresses of the Romanov court, and reflects the familial web created by Queen Victoria’s descendants throughout Europe; Louise could count the Emperor and Empress of Russia as cousins, while among her aunts were both the Dowager Empress and a Grand Duchess. A gift from her parents the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra), its clever construction means it could be worn as a tiara or converted into a necklace, and it became one of Louise’s favourite pieces of jewellery."

Princess Louise wears the fringe tiara

Both the fringe and the emerald tiara are on long-term loan from the estate of the 3rd Duke of Fife. Victoria Revealed runs at Kensington Palace throughout 2018.

March 30, 2018