The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh were blessed to live long enough to witness the weddings of six of their eight grandchildren—all glittering royal affairs with gorgeous wedding tiaras.
As you might expect, the highest-profile wedding of one of the Queen’s grandchildren was that of Prince William (now the Prince of Wales) on April 29, 2011. Because he is one day expected to inherit the throne, his wedding to Catherine “Kate” Middleton was a glittering affair held at Westminster Abbey in London.
For the wedding day, the Queen loaned Kate a special jewel: the Cartier Halo Tiara. The ’30s tiara had originally been a gift from the Queen’s father, King George VI, to her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother.
The Queen also wore a special diamond brooch with her pearls: Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Brooch, which she inherited from her grandmother in 1953.
The Queen’s other grandchildren had smaller, more intimate family weddings outside of the nation’s capital city. On May 17, 2008, the family gathered at Windsor for the wedding of Peter Phillips (Princess Anne’s son) to Autumn Kelly. Anne loaned her Diamond Festoon Tiara to the bride for the ceremony, which took place at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
Because the Phillips wedding was a late afternoon/evening affair, the Queen did not wear a brooch. Instead, she accessorized with some of her more significant pearl pieces: the Ladies of Devonshire Earrings and a double-stranded pearl necklace (I think the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline Pearls).
On July 30, 2011, Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Phillips, married Mike Tindall at Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. Zara borrowed another of her mother’s tiaras, Princess Andrew’s Meander Bandeau, for the ceremony.
The Queen wore her usual daytime pearls and the Courtauld Thomson Scallop-Shell Brooch for Zara’s big day.
The Duke of Sussex married his Duchess, Meghan Markle, at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor on May 19, 2018. The Queen loaned an heirloom jewel, Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau, to Meghan for the wedding day.
For the wedding, the Queen wore pearls with another of Queen Mary’s jewels, the Richmond Brooch, worn without its pendant.
St. George’s Chapel, Windsor was also the location for the wedding of Princess Eugenie of York and Jack Brooksbank on October 12, 2018. The Queen loaned another special jewel, the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, to Eugenie for her bridal tiara.
The Queen wore one of her most romantic royal jewels, the Cullinan V Brooch, for Eugenie’s wedding. (She also wore the brooch to celebrate her own golden wedding anniversary.)
In their final years, the Queen and the Duke were able to attend the wedding of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on July 17, 2020. The wedding was held at the Royal Chapel of All Saints on the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. The location allowed Beatrice’s royal grandparents, who were living at Windsor Castle during the pandemic, to be among the small number of guests at the ceremony.
The Queen loaned Princess Beatrice both a very special tiara and a very special wedding dress. Beatrice wore Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara, which had been worn by the Queen for her own wedding in 1947. She also wore a Norman Hartnell gown from the Queen’s archive. The dress was altered slightly to fit Beatrice and make it wedding-appropriate.
For the wedding ceremony (and the investiture that preceded it), the Queen wore the Rose of England Brooch. The gold brooch is set with white and pink diamonds. It was a Diamond Jubilee gift from the Sultan of Oman in 2012.
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