As July draws to a close, let’s have another look at a recent ruby debut (and ruby repeat!) from a new tiara wearer: the Princess of Orange, the future Queen of the Netherlands.
Princess Amalia, the eldest daughter of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, joined her parents in June at the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan in Amman. The festivities included an elaborate banquet where tiaras were worn.
With a red evening gown by one of the family’s favorite couturiers, Jan Taminiau, Amalia wore the insignia of her highest order of chivalry, the Order of the Netherlands Lion. (You can read more about Queen Máxima’s gown and jewels here.)
Princess Amalia also wore pieces of ruby and diamond jewelry from the royal vaults. The Dutch royals own not one but two magnificent, complete parures of ruby and diamond jewelry, both of which date to the nineteenth century. Amalia combined pieces from both sets with her evening gown for the banquet.
Her tiara, which has a distinctive design based on a peacock’s tail, dates to 1897. It was made by Schürmann using rubies that belonged to Queen Sophie (1818-1877), the first wife of King Willem III.
The tiara and its coordinating necklace and brooch were made during the reign of Queen Wilhelmina. She wears the tiara and the large brooch (really more of a stomacher) in an interesting portrait above. The image is a fascinating mix of formality (jewels, clothing) with informality (the pose, the drape of the fabric, the exposed shoulder).
Queen Wilhelmina gifted the peacock parure to her granddaughter, Princess Irene, when she turned 18 in the 1950s. Irene wore the set exclusively for many years.
Eventually, the tiara and jewels began to appear on other members of the royal family, suggesting that Irene has placed the parure in the family foundation, or at least decided to share it with others, including her sister, Princess Beatrix.
Queen Máxima has also worn the tiara on several different occasions.
And now, Amalia is part of the roster of wearers of the tiara.
She paired the tiara with earrings and a brooch that come from the family’s second major ruby parure. That set, the Mellerio Ruby Parure, was made in 1888. It was given as a Christmas present by King Willem III to his second wife, Queen Emma.
She also wore a brooch on her right wrist that comes from the Mellerio Ruby Parure as well.
Wat een verrassing! Een aangekondigd tiaramoment voor Máxima en AMALIA! https://t.co/OPxa5P3rsF pic.twitter.com/RdWd0v1WBG
— Josine Droogendijk (@josineevers) July 17, 2023
Recently, Amalia made a second surprise appearance in the rubies and the Taminiau gown. In mid-July, she and Queen Máxima traveled to Austria to attend the wedding of Prince Ferdinand zu Schwarzenberg and Marie Friling. Amalia repeated the same gown and jewels for the wedding in Austria, while Máxima opted for a different look: the Dutch Diamond Bandeau and a Taminiau gown from her archives.
As an interesting post-script: the banquet in Amman and the wedding in Austria were technically the second and third times that Amalia has been pictured in one of the family’s ruby tiaras. A charming photograph of the young princess, taken in 2012, shows her wearing the grand tiara from the Mellerio Ruby Parure. Here’s hoping we’ll see her wear it again soon!
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