Our week highlighting tiaras worn by ladies with late July birthdays and anniversaries continues with a sparkling jewel worn by a model and socialite who has an impressive royal pedigree.
Princess Maria-Olympia of Greece and Denmark—who goes by a simpler version of her name, “Olympia of Greece,” in her day-to-day life—is a granddaughter of the last King of Greece. Olympia’s family hasn’t reigned in Greece since the 1970s, but her extensive royal family connections—links to the reigning families in Denmark, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom in particular—mean that she’s regularly spotted at big royal celebrations, including galas that call for ballgowns and tiaras.
Princess Olympia is the only daughter of Crown Prince Pavlos, the eldest son of the late King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, and Marie-Chantal Miller, the second daughter of the noted businessman Robert Miller. Olympia was born in New York on July 25, 1996. At the time, her family was still barred from entering Greece, so her Greek Orthodox baptism had to be celebrated in another country.
Members of the former Greek royal family gathered in Istanbul, Turkey for the celebration of Olympia’s baptism a few days before Christmas in 1996. (St. George’s Cathedral in Istanbul is the seat of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.) Among those present were her godparents: King Charles III, then Prince of Wales (who is holding her in this image); Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark (a first cousin of her great-grandfather, King Paul); Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark (her paternal aunt); and Pia Getty (her maternal aunt).
One of the gifts presented to the young princess to commemorate her baptism came from her grandmother, Chantal Miller, pictured above during the ceremony with Queen Sofia of Spain (Olympia’s great-aunt).
The present was an antique diamond fringe tiara, something that baby Olympia would need one day for attending family celebrations, especially white-tie events in her grandmother’s native Scandinavia. The jewelry historian Vincent Meylan wrote in December 2012, “That tiara was bought at auction by Mrs. Miller who gave it to her granddaughter, Princess Maria Olympia as a christening present. It is worn by Princess Marie Chantal until her daughter wears it.”
Crown Princess Marie-Chantal began wearing the tiara not long after her daughter’s christening. Above, she wears the fringe in June 1998 during the wedding celebrations for Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Crown Prince Pavlos’s first cousin) and her first husband, Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth.
In May 2004, Marie-Chantal wore the tiara for a gala concert in Copenhagen held on the night before the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (another of Crown Prince Pavlos’s first cousins) and Mary Elizabeth Donaldson.
Two years later, in April 2006, she wore the tiara (with JAR earrings) in Stockholm for the 60th birthday celebrations for King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.
Crown Princess Marie-Chantal wore the tiara again for a concert in Copenhagen in January 2012, this time to celebrate Queen Margrethe II’s Ruby Jubilee. She again paired the tiara with JAR earrings for the occasion.
A few months later, in October 2012, she wore the tiara for the pre-wedding gala held the night before the wedding of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy.
And in June 2013, she wore the tiara for the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden (Crown Prince Pavlos’s second cousin) and Christopher O’Neill in Stockholm.
In May 2017, she took the tiara with her to Oslo for the joint 80th birthday celebrations for King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway.
A year later, it was finally Princess Maria-Olympia’s turn to wear her diamond fringe tiara. She made her first public appearance in the jewel at a 50th birthday dinner for Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in Copenhagen on May 26, 2018.
Her father, Crown Prince Pavlos, posted this elegant portrait of his daughter wearing the tiara at the gala dinner on his Instagram account.
More recently, we saw Olympia wear the tiara again in Oslo during the 18th birthday celebrations for Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway in June 2022.
But Olympia is clearly still willing to share her christening tiara with her mother. Crown Princess Marie-Chantal wore the tiara in September 2022 during the Golden Jubilee celebrations for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in Copenhagen.
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