This week, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway celebrated her 50th birthday! To help mark the important milestone, we’ve got a closer look at the royal tiaras she’s worn at gala events over the past few decades. Enjoy!
Martha Louise is the daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway. In September 1989, her grandfather, King Olav V of Norway, presented her with this diamond and pearl tiara as an eighteenth-birthday present. The modern tiara features an interesting natural-inspired design, with diamond-studded blades of grass (or ears of wheat, depending on how you interpret it) topped by small pearls. This has been Martha Louise’s primary tiara for the last three decades, though she has loaned it to her mother on at least one occasion. Above, Martha Louise wears the tiara in Luxembourg during the wedding celebrations for Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie in October 2012.
This diamond bandeau is actually the base of a much larger circlet with a fascinating royal provenance. The complete piece originally belonged to Martha Louise’s great-great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, who wore it as a crown. Later inherited by Queen Maud, the piece is primarily worn today by Queen Sonja, with its Maltese cross toppers affixed in various configurations. Both Sonja and Martha Louise, however, have also worn the base alone as a bandeau. Above, Martha Louise wears it in this setting, paired with Crown Princess Martha’s Silver Wedding Earrings, during the Swedish state visit to Norway in 1993.
On her wedding day in May 2002 (pictured above), Martha Louise wore another tiara linked to previous generations of Norwegian royals. This is the small setting of Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara—or, more accurately, of the replica of Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara, made after the original jewel was stolen in the 1990s. The original piece belonged to Martha Louise’s great-grandmother, Queen Maud of Norway. Martha Louise has worn the replica tiara on at least one other occasion since: the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O’Neill in 2013 (pictured at the top of this article).
The Norwegian Amethyst Parure Tiara
Martha Louise’s dark hair was a wonderful background for one of the family’s modern tiaras on this particular occasion. For the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden in 2010, Martha Louise wore the tiara and coordinating jewels from the Norwegian Amethyst Parure. Though the tiara is most often worn by Crown Princess Mette-Marit these days, many have argued that Martha Louise has so far been the most successful royal wearer of the piece.
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