Twenty years ago today, Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece married British-born heiress Marie-Chantal Miller in a Greek Orthodox ceremony at St. Sophia’s Cathedral in London. Two decades and five children later, the pair are still happily married. Let’s have a look at the jewels worn on their wedding day — especially those donned by the bride.
Marie-Chantal’s diamond and pearl bridal tiara was a loaner from her new mother-in-law, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. The tiara, which is known as the Antique Corsage Tiara, was Anne-Marie’s eighteenth birthday gift from her parents, King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark.
As you may have guessed from its name, the tiara was made by repurposing a corsage ornament (or stomacher) that belonged to Queen Victoria of Sweden, who was Queen Ingrid’s grandmother. The tiara was also later worn as a wedding tiara by Tatiana Blatnik, who married Pavlos’s brother, Prince Nikolaos.
Marie-Chantal also wore small diamond earrings with her wedding ensemble.
The new princess paired her wedding jewelry with a gown by Valentino.
For whatever reason, there are very few photographs of the wedding guests available for me to include here. But we do have a good snap of three of the most important royal ladies at the wedding: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, and Queen Silvia of Sweden. All wore pearls; Queen Silvia appears to be wearing the two-stranded pearl necklace that belonged to Princess Sibylla, while Queen Elizabeth is wearing the Kensington Bow Brooch that belonged to Queen Mary.
Luckily for us, the wedding ceremony is available to watch on YouTube. What other royal jewels can you spot on the guests? (Also, for fun: can you name all of the crown bearers?)
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