Queen Letizia’s Heirloom Diamond and Pearl Tiara

On April 16, 2018, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain hosted a state dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid for one of their most important allies: their Portuguese neighbors, represented by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa.

Letizia arrived at the banquet wearing glittering heirloom jewels and a very modern evening gown. The navy blue dress, made by Spanish designer Ana Locking, was a fun take on the traditional polka dot motif, with round pearls of various sizes sewn all over the entire gown. The piece also featured daring slits on the bodice and the sleeves. The red sash and gold star of her Portuguese order, the Military Order of Christ, provided a lovely color contrast.

Royal jewelry watchers rejoiced when they saw Letizia’s choice of tiara. For the first time in public, she wore Queen Ena’s Pearl and Diamond Tiara. The classic tiara features leafy diamond scrolls with round pearl buttons in their centers. As the name suggests, the tiara originally belonged to King Felipe’s great-grandmother, Queen Ena of Spain. The jewel was most recently worn by Queen Sofia, and the base looked to still be wrapped in light gray-brown velvet to match Sofia’s hair.

Letizia paired the tiara with another set of jewels from Queen Ena’s collection. She wore the impressive diamond drop earrings from the joyas de pasar collection, a suite of jewels earmarked by Queen Ena to pass from monarch to monarch in Spain.

The tiara, earrings, and pearl-encrusted gown provided plenty of interest, so Letizia sensibly did not wear bracelets or rings with the ensemble.

Over the past several years, watching the newest queens and empresses consort of the world—Letizia, as well as Mathilde of the Belgians, Maxima of the Netherlands, and Masako of Japan—try out heirloom pieces of jewelry from the family vaults has been such a joy. So much fun to see the way that a new generation of women wears these antique jewels!