The Connaught Diamond Tiara

Margaret received the tiara as a wedding present from her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught and Strathearn. (Margaret’s father was a son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; her uncle was King Edward VII.) The Connaughts bought the tiara in 1904 from E. Wolff and Co. In the photograph above, Margaret is depicted official court dress with two tiaras: the Connaught Diamond Tiara on her head, and another wedding gift, the Boucheron Laurel Wreath Tiara, as a necklace.

Princess Margaret tragically died young, and the Connaught Tiara is one of the jewels that was inherited by her eldest son, Prince Gustaf Adolf. Within the family, the tiara is most frequently linked to his wife, Princess Sibylla. The tiara became so associated with her that it is sometimes simply called “Sibylla’s tiara.” Above, she wears it during the Nobel Prize celebrations in December 1935.

Like his mother, Prince Gustaf Adolf died young. He left behind his wife and their five young children when he perished in a plane crash in 1947. During her long widowhood, Sibylla continued to regularly wear the Connaught tiara at gala events in Sweden. Above, she wears the tiara during the Nobel ceremony in December 1948.

And here, she wears the tiara with the Bernadotte Emeralds for the opening of the Riksdag, Sweden’s parliament, in 1957.

Princess Sibylla passed away in November 1972, less than a year before her son ascended to the throne as King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. Her children felt her loss keenly. Sibylla’s youngest daughter, Princess Christina, wore the Connaught Tiara in 1974 when she married Tord Magnuson. Although many Bernadotte brides, including two of Christina’s sisters, have worn the family’s Cameo Tiara, Princess Christina almost certainly wore the Connaught as a tribute to her late mother.

Today, the tiara is owned by King Carl XVI Gustaf, who inherited it personally from Princess Sibylla. It is apparently a personally owned piece, not a part of the family’s jewel foundation. Shortly after he inherited the throne, the tiara became a touching link between Carl Gustaf’s late mother and his new wife. Then still Silvia Sommerlath, she donned the late Princess Sibylla’s tiara for the performance at the Royal Opera House on the night before her wedding in 1976. The tiara was chosen with the encouragement of the King’s four sisters, who wanted their mother’s memory to have a tangible presence during such an important moment.

Silvia has continued to wear the tiara regularly throughout her husband’s 40-year reign. She’s chosen the tiara for a wide range of gala moments, from Nobel Prize celebrations and government dinners to state banquets and royal weddings. Above, she wears the tiara at the Nobels in 1977.

And here, decades later, she wears the tiara for the Nobels in 2008.

In recent years, Silvia’s daughters have also begun wearing the tiara. Princess Madeleine has been wearing the tiara’s diamond drops as pendants on a simple necklace for decades. She paired that necklace setting with her aquamarine bandeau for the wedding of Princess Martha Louise of Norway and Ari Behn in 2002.

The entire tiara can also be taken off its frame and worn as a diamond loop necklace. Princess Madeleine wore it in this form for the King’s Nobel Dinner in December 2016, though the metallic fabric of her dress made the necklace’s details disappear a bit in still photographs.

Princess Madeleine famously wore the tiara setting of the jewel at Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding in 2010, pairing it with the family’s gorgeous Processional Necklace. The tiara choice was a last minute switcharoo, apparently. The press releases from the day had Madeleine’s tiara wrong, and as you can see in the photo above, the base of the tiara was still wrapped in dark material to match her mother’s hair. Some thought Madeleine might choose this one for her own wedding, but she ended up wearing her mother’s modern fringe tiara instead.

In 2015, Crown Princess Victoria also began wearing the tiara. She wore it in public for the first time at the wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia in June.

Since then, both sisters have regularly worn the tiara for gala events, and Queen Silvia has continued to share the piece with them as well. Above, Victoria wears the tiara for the Nobels in December 2015.

And here, Madeleine wears the tiara for the Nobel banquet a year later in 2016.

Delightfully, Princess Christina has continued to wear her mother’s favorite tiara on occasion as well. Here, she sparkles in the tiara during her brother’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in 2023.