Royal Jewel Rewind: Pre-Wedding Gala in Luxembourg (Part 1)

Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

Five years ago this week, one of the last great royal weddings of a generation took place in Luxembourg. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, the last eligible heir in Europe, married his Belgian-born fiancee, Countess Stephanie de Lannoy. But before their big cathedral wedding, they hosted a grand gala for their guests. Here’s the first (of four!) posts for the day looking back at the astonishing jewels worn for the occasion.

Christian Aschman/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

Earlier the same day, Guillaume and Stephanie were married in a civil ceremony at the Hotel de Ville in Luxembourg. Like many European countries, a civil ceremony is required to make the marriage legal, but as Guillaume and Stephanie are Roman Catholic, they wouldn’t have considered themselves married until after their religious wedding, which was held the following day.

Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

For the pre-wedding gala, Stephanie stepped out for the first time in one of the grand ducal family’s tiaras: the classic Diamond Vine Leaves Tiara. (Read more about it over here.) She paired it with lovely diamond earrings, which she would wear again on her wedding day. These are family jewels as well. According to our friends over at Luxarazzi, the earrings were a wedding gift to Grand Duchess Maria Teresa from her parents in 1981. Maria Teresa wore them at her wedding, and Princess Claire wore them for her wedding in 2013, too.

Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

Stephanie also wore two diamond rings. On the third finger of her left hand, she wore her mother’s diamond engagement ring. (Alix de Lannoy, Stephanie’s mother, sadly died between the engagement announcement and the wedding.) Her own diamond engagement ring was situated on her right hand. She also wore a necklace, but she tucked it beneath the neckline of her Elie Saab gown.

Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

Guillaume’s mother, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, wore a diamond and pearl sparkler from the family collection: the Chaumet Choker Tiara. (More over here!) She paired the tiara with long diamond and pearl drop earrings.

Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

Guillaume’s sister, Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg, wore one of the smaller tiaras from the family vaults: the Nassau Floral Tiara. The tiara has often been worn by Nassau family brides, so wearing it for a wedding celebration seems fitting. Alexandra also wore a glittering bracelet.

Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images

Today, she’s in the midst of divorce proceedings, but in 2012, Princess Tessy of Luxembourg was still Guillaume’s sister-in-law. For the pre-wedding gala, she wore one of the family’s most important historical jewels, the Grand Duchess Adelaide Tiara. (Much more over here!) She appears to have paired the sparkler with diamond and sapphire earrings.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Guillaume’s aunt-in-law, Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg, brought a big bejeweled surprise with her to this gala: a suite of diamond and aquamarine jewels that belonged to her great-grandmother, Queen Ena of Spain. (More on the set over here!)

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Grand Duke Henri’s elder sister, Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria, wore the Emerald Peacock Tiara, one of the jewels that belonged to her late mother, Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte. The tiara is convertible; it can also be worn as a necklace. She paired it with bezel-set diamond earrings and a gem-set evening watch.

NICOLAS LAMBERT/AFP/Getty Images

Also in a tiara from the late Josephine-Charlotte was Henri’s younger sister, Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein. She wore her mother’s diamond and aquamarine bandeau, pairing it with earrings from the same suite (one of which she accidentally wore backwards!).

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Here you can see a bracelet from the aquamarine suite as well.

Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Another of Guillaume’s aunts-in-law, Countess Diane de Nassau, borrowed Princess Sibilla’s Art Deco Tiara for the event, wearing its smaller setting. (More about the tiara here!) She also added a dramatic pair of diamond and pearl earrings and a double-stranded pearl choker with a diamond and sapphire cluster clasp.