The British royal family’s beloved diamond fringe tiara, made for Queen Mary and worn by three royal brides, was owned and worn for many years by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Today, we’ve got a closer look at one of her appearances in the tiara, which took place in December 1948.
On December 6, 1948, Queen Elizabeth led the royal party as they arrived at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London for a special reception given by the Anglo-Danish Society. The museum was currently showing an exhibition of Danish Art Treasures, and the concert and reception in the Tapestry Room at the museum celebrated all things Anglo-Danish. Sir Laurence Olivier read excerpts from Hamlet and from work by Hans Christian Andersen, and the Koppel String Quartet provided music.
The reception also took place at a particularly joyous time for the royals. Just a few weeks earlier, Princess Elizabeth had given birth to her first child, Prince Charles, securing the succession and giving the King and Queen their first grandchild. As she toured the exhibition, Queen Elizabeth was shown a particularly appropriate object on display: a small bed traditionally used by Danish royal children during their christenings.
Full evening gala dress was worn for the event. Queen Elizabeth’s gown was made of black velvet, while Princess Margaret wore a white dress embroidered with pearls.
Elizabeth accessorized with diamonds and pearls, wearing Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara, the Coronation Earrings, and Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace.
Princess Margaret wore a twisted five-stranded necklace of pearls.
The Princess Royal, the King’s sister, was also present for the reception. She wore a long sautoir-style necklace of diamonds.
The new proud father, the Duke of Edinburgh, was present. (Philip was born into the Greek royal family, which was originally from Denmark, hence the “Prince of Greece and Denmark” title. He stated during his life that he considered himself to be Danish.) And a member of the royal family of Denmark also traveled to be present for the reception. Sitting beside Philip here is Princess Margaretha of Denmark, the Swedish princess who married Prince Axel of Denmark. (Margaretha was the sister of Crown Princess Märtha of Norway and Queen Astrid of Belgium.) Princess Margaretha wore velvet with pearls.
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