Pearls, rubies, and diamonds were glittering in Denmark on New Year’s Day, as members of the royal family made their traditional appearance at the New Year’s Levee in Copenhagen.
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark led the royal party at the reception, giving us our first glimpse of royal tiaras for 2023. For the occasion, she reached into her closet for a light blue velvet evening gown, plus a warm gray fur stole. She also wore the insignia of the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog, plus the Royal Family Order of her father, King Frederik IX.
If the dress looks familiar, that’s because we’ve seen it recently on another sparkling occasion. Queen Margrethe wore it in September 2022 for the gala banquet celebrating her Golden Jubilee.
She paired the same jewels with the gown on New Year’s Day that she did for that previous jubilee banquet, wearing the Pearl Poiré Tiara and pieces from its married parure (though, this time around, she left off the large brooch from the suite). Queen Margrethe doesn’t have pierced ears, and one of the clips of her earrings twisted a bit as she arrived at Amalienborg for the reception on Sunday.
Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary were on hand to attend the reception as well. Crown Princess Mary’s New Year ensemble featured a gown that we’ve been waiting almost a year to see worn in public. This beautiful Lasse Spangenberg gown is embellished with sequins, beads, and pearls. It was originally intended to be worn at her 50th birthday gala in February 2022, an event that was canceled because of the pandemic. For Sunday’s reception, Mary wore the dress with the insignia of the Order of the Elephant and Queen Margrethe II’s Royal Family Order.
We have technically seen Mary wear the gown once before. She posed in the dress for a series of portraits celebrating her 50th birthday, which were released last February. She wore the Danish Rubies with the gown in the pictures.
The dress was also displayed at the Frederiksborg Museum in 2022, as part of a special exhibition about Denmark’s crown princesses.
On Sunday, Mary again paired the tiara and jewels from the Danish Ruby Parure with the gown. She wore a modified version of the earrings that feature black pearl drops. You’ll also spot a thin gold chain with a diamond pendant around her neck.
Mary added more pieces from the ruby parure, the hairpins, in the back of her updo.
And she finished off the look with the bracelet and ring from the set.
Prince Joachim of Denmark was also in attendance at this year’s New Year Reception. Princess Marie had been scheduled to make the trip to Copenhagen with him to attend the event, but she ultimately stayed behind in Paris to care for their son, Count Henrik, who came down with an illness.
One more tiara-wearer was on hand for the reception, though: Queen Margrethe’s sister, Princess Benedikte. She was lovely in scarlet red for the occasion, decorated with the insignia of the Order of the Elephant and the Order of the Dannebrog, plus the Royal Family Order of her father, the late King Frederik IX.
Benedikte’s gemstone of choice for the reception was the sparkling diamond. She wore the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Fringe Tiara with a diamond rivière necklace and Queen Victoria of Sweden’s gorgeous diamond star earrings. (Benedikte inherited the set of antique Swedish royal star ornaments from her mother, Queen Ingrid.)
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