Royal Wedding Jewels in Amorbach

Photo kindly provided by Svenja; do not reproduce.

This weekend, two descendants of the former royal families of Germany were married in Amorbach, and a major royal tiara was included in the celebrations.

Photo kindly provided by Svenja; do not reproduce.

The wedding was a rare union between members of Germany’s former royal families: Viktoria Luise of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich Wilhelm and Ermengard of Prussia, married Ferdinand of Leiningen, son of Andreas and Alexandra of Leiningen. Ferdinand’s father is the head of the House of Leiningen; his mother is the younger sister of Ernst August of Hanover. Viktoria Luise’s father was the eldest son of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, the son of Germany’s last crown prince, and Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia. Both Viktoria Luise and Ferdinand are great-grandchildren of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and his second wife, Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, and both are also descendants of Queen Victoria.

Photo kindly provided by Svenja; do not reproduce.

For her bridal diadem, Viktoria Luise wore one of the heirloom tiaras from the Hohenzollern collection: the Prussian Meander Kokoshnik. The tiara was made in 1905 by Koch as a wedding present for the bride’s great-grandmother, Crown Princess Cecilie.

Grand Duchess Kira, pictured with Kaiser Wilhelm II, wears the tiara on her wedding day in 1938 (Wikimedia Commons)

The kokoshnik has been used as a wedding tiara several times by Cecilie’s descendants; notably, Grand Duchess Kira, the bride’s grandmother, wore the tiara at her wedding in 1938. We most recently saw a Hohenzollern bride wear it in 2011, when Sophie of Isenburg wore it during the reception following her wedding to Viktoria Luise’s first cousin, Georg Friedrich of Prussia. (Read a more detailed history of the tiara over here.)

Photo kindly provided by Svenja; do not reproduce.

I love seeing the kokoshnik as a wedding tiara — it’s a personal favorite tiara of mine. But I think the tiara would have been a bit more flattering on Viktoria Luise if she had worn it further back on her head. It’s an imposing piece of jewelry, and it almost overpowered her.

Photo kindly provided by Svenja; do not reproduce.

Here’s one more view of the tiara that underscores the size of the piece. When worn at a certain angle, the kokoshnik provides a sort of halo of diamonds for the wearer.

Photo kindly provided by Svenja; do not reproduce.

And here’s a look at the entire wedding gown, plus the happy couple!