How about a couple of lovely tiaras to brighten up the middle of the week? Last Wednesday, the royals in Luxembourg celebrated the new year with a glittering reception at the palace, complete with gowns, decorations, and jewels.
For the past several years, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg have hosted a gala reception in January to celebrate the start of the new year. The event is a newer one on the royal calendar. The gala was previously held in June as part of the country’s National Day celebrations, but to offer a bit more breathing room in that schedule, it was moved to January in 2020.
The Luxembourgish court noted that, during the reception, “the Grand-Ducal Couple and the Hereditary Grand-Ducal Couple received best wishes from the President and members of the office of the House of Deputies, the Prime Minister and members of the Government, members of the State Council, senior representatives of the judiciary and the diplomatic body accredited by the Head of State and representatives of European institutions.”
The reception is the last New Year gala of the current reign. Grand Duke Henri transferred some of his duties and powers to Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume last autumn, and during his Christmas address, Henri announced that he will abdicate in favor of his son on October 3. The abdication means that Henri will depart the throne just a few days before his Silver Jubilee, but that almost-milestone will be celebrated anyway in June during the National Day festivities.
While we sometimes see other members of the extended grand ducal family attending this reception, this year the attention was focused squarely on the “core four” who will be in the spotlight during the abdication/accession year. Grand Duke Henri was accompanied by his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, as well as their son, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, and his wife, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie, at the gala.
The event was a glamorous one, with the men wearing uniforms and decorations and the ladies in gala gowns, decorations, tiaras, and jewels.
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa chose a daring halter-neck gown from her wardrobe archives for the gala. She previously wore the dress, which comes from Oscar de la Renta, during last year’s state visit to Belgium. This time, she added the sash and star of Luxembourg’s Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau.
Her bejeweled accessories for the occasion included the Belgian Scroll Tiara, pearl drop earrings, a diamond bracelet, and a pearl bracelet.
The diamond scroll tiara has become Maria Teresa’s very favorite royal jewel, but its history goes back even further. Maria Teresa’s mother-in-law, Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, received the tiara as a wedding present when she wed Grand Duke Jean in April 1953. The diamond and platinum tiara was a gift from the Société Générale, a French bank.
Joséphine-Charlotte also treasured the tiara, wearing it for gala functions over the next fifty years. Here, she wears the tiara for a gala celebrating the 50th birthday of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden in Stockholm. The two are cousins through Joséphine-Charlotte’s mother, who was born Princess Astrid of Sweden.
Today, the tiara is worn exclusively by Maria Teresa. We see her in the jewel often, including multiple appearances last year. It came as no surprise that she decided to wear it for the first tiara occasion of 2025. I’m interested to see whether she passes the tiara along to Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie after the abdication or keeps it in her own jewelry box for now.
Stéphanie wore an ivory gown for the gala, paired with the sash and star of the Order of Adolphe de Nassau. She accessorized with pieces from a favorite jeweled parure: the bandeau, earrings, necklace, and bracelet from the family’s citrine and pearl suite.
The parure, which features honey-colored citrines and seed pearls set in gold, was made during the reign of the present Grand Duke’s father, Grand Duke Jean. His wife, Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, wore the jewels occasionally in the 1980s and 1990s.
Other members of the family have worn pieces from the parure as well. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa has made a handful of appearances in the suite over the years, and Princess Margaretha and Princess Alexandra have worn the bandeau and its coordinating jewels, too.
But it has been Stéphanie who has embraced the citrines most warmly, wearing parts of the parure for a host of occasions since her royal wedding in 2012. Above, she wears the suite for another Swedish royal family event, the wedding of Princess Madeleine and Chris O’Neill, in 2013.
For my money, Stéphanie’s most successful and glamorous outing in the citrines to date came in October 2019, when she wore the tiara, earrings, and bracelet for a state banquet during a visit from the King and Queen of the Belgians. Her styling on this occasion was particularly good, showing off the bandeau-style tiara beautifully.
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