Japanese Imperial Tiaras Worn for a Pair of British State Visits

Tomorrow, the Emperor and Empress of Japan will begin their long-awaited state visit to Britain. The program includes a glittering state banquet at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening. As we anticipate those tiaras, let’s look back at the tiaras worn during the last two Japanese state visits to London.

In October 1971, the present Emperor’s grandparents, Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako, arrived in London to start a state visit to Britain. The visit was an important diplomatic moment. The two nations had been enemies three decades earlier during World War II, and the trip was part of the healing process for the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Lord Mountbatten, who was Supreme Allied Commander of the Southeast Asia Theatre during the war, struggled to accept the reconnection between the two countries, but at the urging of the Queen, he privately met with the Emperor at Buckingham Palace for a 30-minute conversation during this visit.

Mountbatten was not present for the state banquet at Buckingham Palace on October 5, but a large number of other members of the royal family were present. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh were joined by the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, the Duchess of Gloucester with Prince William and Prince Richard, the Duke and Duchess of Kent, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, and the Duke and Duchess of Beaufort.

The Queen and the Empress were both elegant in elaborate gala jewels for the banquet. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wore the insignia of Japan’s Order of the Chrysanthemum. The Empress, who did not have a British order, wore Japan’s Order of the Precious Crown. It was Emperor Hirohito who made the most notable chivalric appearance during the banquet, wearing the insignia of the Order of the Garter. His Garter banner had been removed from St. George’s Chapel, Windsor in 1941, but in April 1971, just a few months before this state visit, the Queen ordered that his name be restored to the list of supernumerary knights of the order.

For the banquet, the Queen wore a white evening gown with a subtle pearl lattice design, paired with diamond and pearl jewels. She wore the original pearl setting of the Vladimir Tiara, the nineteenth-century Romanov relic acquired by Queen Mary after the Russian revolution. She paired the tiara with the Gloucester Pendant Earrings, an inheritance from one of the daughters of King George III, and Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace. She secured her order sash with one of the largest brooches in her jewelry box, Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Brooch.

Also, peek behind the Queen, and you’ll spot Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone wearing her diamond palmette tiara and diamonds and sapphires inherited from her husband’s mother, the Duchess of Teck.

Here, the Queen Mother and the Empress glitter at the front of the royal gathering ahead of the banquet. Empress Nagako wears the most important tiara in the Japanese vaults, the Meiji Tiara, with more glittering diamonds, including a fabulous triple-stranded diamond necklace. Beside her, the Queen Mother wears the Greville Tiara and the Greville Peardrop Earrings with Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Fringe Brooch.

There are also two more tiaras peeking out from the background of this picture. The Duchess of Kent is wearing the original tiara and jewels from the Cambridge Sapphire Parure, a legacy from Queen Mary. And just above the Empress’s head you’ll see the Cartier Halo Tiara floating on the bouffant hairdo of Princess Anne.

On the third night of the state visit, the Emperor and Empress hosted a return dinner at the Japanese embassy. Another big contingent of British royals was present for the dinner, including the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen Mother, Princess Anne, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon, the Duchess of Gloucester with Prince William and Prince Richard, and the Duke and Duchess of Kent. For the dinner, the Empress wore a traditional kimono with a jeweled accent piece at the waist.

The Queen arrived wearing sparkling sapphires. She paired the Belgian Sapphire Tiara, which she had acquired herself in the 1960s, with the suite of Victorian sapphire and diamond jewelry given to her by her father, King George VI.

She also used Queen Mary’s Kensington Bow Brooch, complete with its pearl drop pendant, to secure the sash of the Order of the Chrysanthemum.

The Queen Mother wore Victorian jewels for the banquet as well. Her tiara, the Indian Circlet, was designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria. She paired the tiara with the coordinating Crown Ruby Necklace and Earrings, and she completed the look once again with Queen Victoria’s Fringe Brooch.

Here’s a look at Princess Anne and her father on their arrival at the embassy for the banquet. Anne wore a very dramatic evening cape to ward off the chilly October air.

Her tiara, Princess Andrew’s Meander Bandeau, once belonged to her paternal grandmother, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

Nearly three decades later, another generation of the Japanese imperial family headed to London for a state visit. Emperor Akhito, son of Emperor Hirohito and Empress Nagako, arrived in Britain with his wife, Empress Michiko, for the start of the visit on May 26, 1998. That evening, the Queen hosted a state banquet in their honor at Buckingham Palace.

The royals wore essentially the same chivalric decorations that they (and their counterparts) had worn in 1971. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh wore the Order of the Chrysanthemum, while the Emperor wore the Order of the Garter (bestowed on him by the Queen earlier that afternoon) and the Empress wore the Order of the Precious Crown. The Queen Mother, as she had done thirty years before, wore the Garter as well.

The Queen’s evening gown for the banquet featured sequin bow embellishments. She accessorized with diamonds, wearing Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik with the Coronation Necklace and Earrings. She used Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Brooch to secure her order sash, just as she had done for the 1971 banquet.

Empress Michiko, one of the most elegant royals of her generation, wore the Imperial Chrysanthemum Tiara with additional diamond ornaments. Beside her, the Queen Mother wears three jewels from the Greville Bequest: the Greville Tiara, the Greville Peardrop Earrings, and the Greville Festoon Necklace in its three-strand setting.

On the second evening of the state visit, the Emperor and Empress headed to the Guildhall in London for a banquet. For the occasion, Empress Michiko again wore the Imperial Chrysanthemum Tiara with diamond earrings and a diamond necklace.

And on the third night of the state visit, Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko hosted a return dinner for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The Empress wore a kimono for that event, but the Queen was in full gala attire once again. She echoed jewels that she’d worn when the Emperor’s parents had visited in 1971: the pearl setting of the Vladimir Tiara, the Gloucester Pendant Earrings, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace, and the Kensington Bow Brooch.

I’ll be back here tomorrow with jewels from Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako’s official arrival in Britain, as well as the state banquet later in the evening. In the meantime, tell me: which jewelry pieces are you hoping to see come out of the vaults tomorrow?