Today, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark celebrates her birthday—a perfect occasion to talk about some newly-unearthed information about her most-worn tiara!
During her early gala years, Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark—daughter of King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark—wore just one tiara: this classic diamond jewel. The curving shape of the piece almost resembles a kokoshnik, but it rises to a distinctive peak at its center point. The lacy design is busy, featuring elipses and navettes punctuated by round stones, giving the piece an almost solid appearance from a distance.
No provenance information about the tiara has been formally shared, but many have guessed that it could have its roots with Alexia’s maternal family in Denmark. That theory was further supported last month when a poster at The Royal Forums spotted a photograph of Alexia’s aunt, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, wearing the tiara while receiving an honorary degree from the University of London in December 1980.
Princess Alexia was first pictured wearing the diamond tiara in 1990, around a decade after Margrethe’s university appearance. For the next two decades, with only one exception, the diamond tiara was the only one she was pictured wearing.
The tiara popped up frequently during the rush of Scandinavian royal weddings that took place in the first 15 years of the century, because Alexia’s Danish royal roots mean that she is related to the reigning families of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, as well as several other royal families in Europe.
Above, Alexia wears the tiara for the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (her first cousin) in May 2004. She also wore it for the weddings of the Crown Prince of Norway in 2001 and the Crown Princess of Sweden in 2010.
Alexia has sported the tiara for other family weddings as well. Here, she wears the tiara with Queen Alexandrine’s Ruby Bow Brooch for the wedding of Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark in 2008.
And the tiara has also been spotted for other family events celebrating milestones like birthdays and jubilees. Alexia wears the tiara here for a concert celebrating the 70th birthday of her aunt, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, in April 2010.
She also wore the tiara again the following evening for a banquet celebrating the monarch’s birthday.
Princess Alexia’s most recent appearance in the tiara came in June 2010, when she wore it for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden in Stockholm. On that occasion, she paired it with a diamond bow brooch that belonged to her paternal grandmother, Queen Friederike of the Hellenes.
More recently, Alexia’s younger sister, Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, has been spotted in the diamond tiara. She wore it with modern pearl drop earrings and the small brooch from the Antique Corsage Parure at the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Chris O’Neill in 2013.
Theodora also wore the tiara last September for a concert celebrating Queen Margrethe II’s Golden Jubilee in Copenhagen.
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