This weekend, the daughter of the King and Queen of Norway was married near the picturesque Geirangerfjord, wearing a tiara that was given to her 35 years ago by her beloved royal grandfather.
Princess Märtha Louise, the only daughter of King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, married her American fiancé, Durek Verrett, in Geiranger on Saturday. The couple began dating in 2019 and announced their engagement in 2022.
With a dress by the Norwegian designer Tina Steffenakk Hermansen, Märtha Louise wore diamonds and pearls, including her own tiara, which features ears of wheat as a design motif.
The tiara was an eighteenth-birthday gift to Märtha Louise from her paternal grandfather, King Olav V of Norway. In the photograph above, Märtha Louise wears the tiara as she arrives on King Olav’s arm for a gala celebrating that milestone birthday in September 1989.
Märtha Louise has continued to wear the tiara regularly at royal events ever since, even after agreeing to give up the style of Royal Highness in 2002. (Though she still retains the title of Princess of Norway, Märtha Louise has been increasingly separated from her official role over the last two decades. She no longer undertakes royal duties and is not allowed to use her title in connection with her business ventures.) Above, she wears the tiara during the celebrations of the wedding of King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark in May 2004.
Twenty years on, she wore the tiara for her own second wedding ceremony. (For her first, to the late writer Ari Behn, she wore the smaller setting of the replica version of Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara.) She also added pearl drop earrings and a diamond necklace to her bridal ensemble.
Though the wedding ceremony was a private one, with rights to photography and videography sold to Hello! and Netflix, this official photograph of the couple with their wedding guests was released afterward.
Märtha Louise has three daughters, Maud, Emma, and Leah, from her marriage to the late Ari Behn. Here’s a look at the coordinating dresses that they wore as they arrived for the wedding ceremony. UFO No More tells us that all three dresses were made by Rikke Bøe, and that their matching necklaces come from a brand called Who Is She.
Märtha Louise’s parents, King Harald and Queen Sonja, were on hand for their daughter’s wedding. So were her brother and sister-in-law, Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, and her niece and nephew, Princess Ingrid Alexandra and Prince Sverre Magnus. The King and the Crown Prince wore black tie for the wedding, while the rest of the family opted for traditional folk-inspired attire. (The royal ladies changed for the evening reception that followed the ceremony, but I don’t have the publication rights to those photographs, so we’ll keep our focus on the ceremony outfits here today.)
The King’s sister, Princess Astrid, was also present for her niece’s wedding. She also chose to wear a Norwegian bunad for the ceremony, along with traditional jewelry and accessories.
I thought you’d all like a closer look at the tiara-style headpiece that Astrid wore on the wedding day.
There were a handful of foreign royal guests present for the wedding as well. Here’s a look at Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden arriving for the ceremony. We most recently saw her wear this orange evening gown during her father’s Golden Jubilee celebrations in Sweden last September.
Just as she did for the jubilee opera performance, Victoria wore a pair of costume statement earrings from the brand Shourouk with the orange dress.
Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden were also present for the wedding. (Congratulations are in order for these two, who announced this week that they’re expecting their fourth child next February.) Sofia also reached into her wardrobe archives for the wedding, wearing an orange and white gown that we previously saw her wear in 2022 for the King’s Dinner given for the Nobel Prize laureates.
For the wedding, she accessorized with a pair of royal earrings owned and loved by several royal ladies: modern girandoles from the brand Ole Lynggaard Copenhagen. (Queen Mary of Denmark and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands also own pairs of the same style.)
The royal guest list was rounded out with two royal friends from the Netherlands: Prince Constantijn, a younger brother of King Willem-Alexander, and his wife, Princess Laurentien. She wore a green Missoni gown for the ceremony.
Laurentien is known for her love of bold clothing and accessories, and this occasion was no exception. She wore a pair of green and gold statement earrings, plus a gold choker necklace, with the green gown.
As I wrap up today’s article, a word of caution to guide our discussion of the event. Märtha Louise and her new husband have faced intense criticism in Norway and abroad for their controversial views and statements, as well as their various commercial ventures, over the past several years. There are plenty of places online to discuss those aspects of their lives, but this is a place to discuss jewelry and the way it’s worn. Please keep your commentary focused on that topic today.
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