Costume Jewels: Revisiting the Tiaras of Netflix’s The Crown

Happy Halloween, everyone! In honor of today’s holiday, I thought I’d delve back into the costume jewelry world of Netflix’s The Crown, the soapy drama based on the lives and loves of the British royal family. The plotlines sometimes veered into the unbelievable–and so did the jewelry replicas. Here’s an overview of some of the royal jewelry recreations worn by the actresses who played Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Margaret.

One of the first episodes of The Crown was devoted to the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. Claire Foy played the future monarch in the first two seasons of the show. The production attempted to precisely duplicate the Queen’s royal wedding jewels, including Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara and the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline Pearl Necklaces.

Season one also featured Elizabeth II’s coronation. In this production photo, Claire Foy wears a recreation of King George IV’s Diamond Diadem and the Coronation Earrings and Necklace. On the right, the real Queen wears the genuine jewels, which were all made during the nineteenth century, as she arrives at Westminster Abbey for her coronation.

Several of the tiaras that Elizabeth II inherited from her grandmother, Queen Mary, were also recreated for The Crown. Here, Claire Foy wears a replica of Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara. On the right, Elizabeth II wears the real tiara during the French state visit to London in 1960.

The production also sourced a recreated version of the Vladimir Tiara, and they used it with both faux pearls and faux emeralds. Here, Claire Foy wears the pearl setting with replicas of the Gloucester Pendant Earrings and Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace (which belonged to the Queen Mother, not Elizabeth II, at this point in time). On the right, the real Elizabeth II wears the Vladimir with its pearl pendants in public for the first time in October 1953.

An episode of the second season of The Crown was devoted to Elizabeth II’s memorable 1961 state visit to Ghana, including her dance with President Nkrumah. They worked to match the costume to the real ensemble worn by the Queen during the state dinner, including the jewels. Claire Foy wears the replica Vladimir Tiara, with “emerald” pendants, and recreations of the earrings and necklace from the Delhi Durbar Parure. The real Queen, dancing with the real Nkrumah, wears the genuine jewels in the photograph to the right.

This promotional photograph from the early seasons of The Crown shows Claire Foy wearing yet another replica of one of Queen Mary’s tiaras: the Lover’s Knot Tiara that Mary had made to mimic another similar tiara from her aunt’s jewelry collection. The real Elizabeth II wears Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara on the right at the premiere of the film Dunkirk in 1958.

Season two of The Crown also featured the visit by President and Mrs. Kennedy to Buckingham Palace in 1961. Claire Foy wore replicas of the George VI Sapphires and Prince Albert’s Brooch in scenes filmed for the episode. At right, Elizabeth II wears the real jewels during the Kennedy dinner.

This promotional photograph from the early years of The Crown show Claire Foy wearing the replicas of Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara (which belonged to the Queen Mother, not Elizabeth II, during this period) and the Delhi Durbar Earrings with a recreation of another fascinating royal jewel, the Godman Necklace. On the right, Elizabeth II wears the real Godman Necklace, which she accepted as a gift from the Godman sisters in 1965, during the French state visit at Windsor Castle in 2004.

The first actress to play Princess Margaret in the series was Vanessa Kirby. Here, she wears the production’s replica of the Cartier Halo Tiara in a production photograph taken during the early seasons of the show. On the right, the real Margaret wears the real Halo Tiara with the Lady Mount Stephen Necklace for a Royal Air Force anniversary dinner in 1958.

One storyline from the early years of the show featured a jealous Margaret imperiously demanding to wear the “Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara” that belonged to her sister. Incorrect name aside, the show depicted her in a replica of Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara. Because Margaret never wore that tiara in public, here’s a comparison photo showing the real Elizabeth II wearing the actual tiara in the early 1960s.

The second actress to play Elizabeth II, Olivia Colman, also wore a few replicas of real royal jewels during her tenure on The Crown. Here, she wears the production’s version of the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara. On the right, the real Elizabeth II wears the tiara in Singapore in 1989.

The show’s costumers also brought out their replica of Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara for Olivia Colman to wear in another bejeweled scene. The tiara was still with the Queen Mother during this period of time, so the only comparison photograph I can offer shows a much older Elizabeth II wearing the tiara in Trinidad in 2009, seven years after she inherited it from her mother.

The final actress to take on the role of Elizabeth II in The Crown was Imelda Staunton. Here, in a promotional photograph from one of the final seasons, she wears replicas of the Belgian Sapphire Tiara and the George VI Sapphire Earrings. The real Elizabeth II wears the tiara and coordinating sapphires in the photograph on the right, taken aboard the Royal Yacht Britannia in Singapore in 1989.

This production photograph shows Imelda Staunton wearing a replica of an entire ensemble worn by the Queen at Balmoral in 1991. Replica jewels shown include the production’s versions of the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara, the King Faisal Necklace, and Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Brooch. The real Queen wears the real outfit in a screencapture from the BBC documentary Elizabeth R on the right.

And finally, we’ll wrap things up with one more royal jewelry replica, worn by Lesley Manville as Princess Margaret in one of the later seasons of the show. She’s pictured wearing a production version of the Teck Hoop Necklace on the left. The real Princess Margaret wears the genuine necklace, which now belongs to her son, on the right.

So what do you think–which of these royal jewelry replicas impressed you with their accuracy, and which ones evoked a Halloween-worthy horror response?