A Sparkling Heirloom Wedding Tiara for a Royal Goddaughter in Spain

The royals in Norway weren’t the only ones celebrating a family wedding on Saturday. In Spain, members of the royal family were on hand to witness the marriage of a royal great-granddaughter and her beau.

On August 31, King Felipe VI of Spain attended the wedding of his goddaughter, Victoria López-Quesada y Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and Enrique Moreno de la Cova Ybarra on an estate owned by the Duke of Albuquerque. Felipe was joined by his mother, Queen Sofia, and his sisters, Infanta Elena and Infanta Cristina, at the wedding. (Queen Letizia was away cheering for Spanish athletes at the Paralympics in Paris.) Infanta Elena’s daughter, Victoria de Marichalar y de Borbon, was also present, as were two of Infanta Cristina’s children, Juan and Irene Urdangarin.

Enrique, the groom at the wedding, is the son of a Spanish businessman. His maternal grandfather was the Count of Ybarra. The bride, Victoria, is a member of the extended Spanish royal family and a descendant of royals from Spain, Italy, France, and Austria. She’s the daughter of Princess Cristina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Pedro López-Quesada y Fernández-Urrutia. Through her mother, Victoria is a great-granddaughter of Infante Alfonso of Spain, who was a grandson of King Alfonso XII and Queen Maria Cristina of Spain. For a time in the early twentieth century, Infante Alfonso was the heir presumptive to the Spanish throne. (If the assassination attempt on King Alfonso XIII on his wedding day in 1906 had succeeded, Infante Alfonso would have become King of Spain.) Infante Alfonso married a second cousin, Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma, in 1936.

Infante Alfonso and Infanta Alicia had three children, including Infante Carlos of Spain. Carlos was a cousin and close friend of King Juan Carlos. The two princes were even roommates at school. At King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia’s wedding in 1962, Infante Carlos struck up a romance with a French princess, Anne d’Orleans, whom he’d known since they were children. They were married in France in 1965 and had five children, including Princess Cristina, the mother of the bride at this weekend’s wedding. The two branches of the family have maintained their close ties throughout the years. As one of his goddaughters, Victoria was even a bridesmaid at Felipe and Letizia’s wedding in 2004.

Along with his Spanish royal heritage, the bride’s grandfather was also descended from the Kings of the Two Sicilies, who reigned in the Italian kingdoms of Sicily and Naples during the 18th and 19th centuries. Both Infante Carlos and his father, Infante Alfonso, claimed to be heads of the former royal house and used the (disputed) title “Duke of Calabria,” as well as that of Prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. (They’re considered to be the “senior” line claimants, while another branch of the family, led by the Duke of Castro, is considered to be the “junior” line. They nearly reconciled their differences ten years ago, but the agreements they made fell through.)

Victoria, who has been wearing a lovely diamond and emerald ring since her engagement, opted for a bridal gown from the Spanish designer Lorenzo Caprile, who also designed her mother’s wedding gown and has made clothes for Queen Letizia, too. While her dress was a new creation, both her diamond tiara and lace veil are family heirlooms borrowed for the day.

The tiara comes from the collection of the bride’s great-grandmother, Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma. When she married Infante Alfonso of Spain in 1936, the diamond button tiara was one of her wedding presents. According to the jewelry historian Vincent Meylan, the jewel was made by Köchert, the firm that once served as court jewelers to the Habsburgs. (Alicia’s mother was Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, whose tiaras were auctioned at Sotheby’s back in 2018.)

Meylan tells us that the history of the jewel actually goes back even further. The diamond buttons used to make the tiara belonged to Infanta Alicia’s grandmother, Archduchess Isabelle of Austria, who was born a princess of Croÿ. Isabella also owned a famous suite of peridot jewels.

Victoria’s mother, Princess Cristina, wore the diamond button tiara on her wedding day in 1994. For Victoria and Enrique’s wedding this weekend, the tiara was altered slightly. The central diamond button was removed and replaced with a diamond fleur-de-lis, the famous emblem of the House of Bourbon. Meylan tells us that the fleur-de-lis was a wedding gift to the bride from the groom.

The antique lace veil that Victoria wore comes from a different part of her family. Royal historian Marlene Koenig shares that the veil was loaned to Victoria for the day by her grandmother, Princess Anne, the Dowager Duchess of Calabria. Anne is a descendent of the last Kings of France, and her nephew, Prince Jean, Count of Paris, is the Orleanist claimant to the French throne. Anne wore the veil when she married Infante Carlos at the Royal Chapel of Dreux in 1965. Her daughters, including Princess Cristina, also wore the veil on each of their wedding days.

For her granddaughter’s wedding, Princess Anne (on the right in this photo) wore a lovely set of aquamarine jewels. Princess Cristina, the mother of the bride (on the left) wore green with diamonds, emeralds, and pearls. She pinned a brooch in the shape of a royal cypher to her dress. (The initial looks like an M to me, but I’m not sure whose cypher it is. Perhaps Mercedes, Princess of Asturias?) Between Cristina and Anne is Infanta Elena, who wore a sapphire and diamond necklace that has been in her collection for many years.

Update: one of our lovely community members, Guillaume, reached out to let me know that Cristina’s brooch is in the shape of the cypher of Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain (1848-1919), the wife of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. The jewel was a badge worn by Maria Isabel’s maids of honor. It was later owned by Princess Cristina’s grandmother, Princess Isabelle, Countess of Paris. The brooch was sold at Christie’s in Paris in 2008, and Cristina is thought to have been the one who acquired it in that sale.

And here’s a look at the jewels worn by Queen Sofia, who wore multicolored pearls, and Infanta Cristina, who opted for diamonds. Cristina also pinned a brooch to her white blouse for the ceremony. Would love a better look at that piece!