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| TORU HANAI/AFP/Getty Images |
New Year’s Eve is swiftly approaching, and you all know what that means: it’s time for our annual countdown of the best royal jewels of the year! We’re kicking off the 2018 review with some unexpected sparkle out of Japan…
#10: Princess Ayako’s Wedding Tiara
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| Kei Moriya and Princess Ayako following their traditional Japanese wedding ceremony, October 2018 (JIJI PRESS/AFP/Getty Images) |
As we’ve discussed so many times here on the site, Japanese princesses give up their imperial status (and their imperial jewels!) when they marry commoners. This year, Princess Ayako of Takamado became the latest princess to leave the imperial family when she married Kei Moriya. She wore her parure of imperial jewels for the last time at a farewell ceremony, and many of us expected that to be the last time she wore a tiara in public.
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| TORU HANAI/AFP/Getty Images |
But we were very happily wrong! For a reception in Tokyo the day after her wedding, Ayako Moriya glittered in diamonds, including a tiara. (Our original post on the reception can be found here!)
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| TORU HANAI/AFP/Getty Images |
The tiara was especially wonderful because it was such an innovative choice. It’s a converted diamond floral necklace from the collection of Ayako’s mother, the Princess Takamado.
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| HENRIK MONTGOMERY/AFP/Getty Images |
Here’s a view of Hisako wearing the necklace during a gala in Sweden in 2016.
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| TORU HANAI/AFP/Getty Images |
Ayako’s earrings for the occasion also appear to have been borrowed from her mother. Note the similarities in the earrings and the tiara worn by Hisako in the picture above. They seem to be from the same parure. I just love when the imperial ladies of Japan step outside of their carefully-prescribed jewelry boxes!
