Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s State Banquet Tiara Debut in Norway

I’m back at The Court Jeweller HQ, and it’s time to catch up on some of the grand sparkle that happened last week while I was away. First up: a special state banquet debut, complete with a tiara, for the princess who will one day become Queen of Norway.

On April 8, the Norwegian royal family gathered at the Royal Palace in Oslo to welcome two esteemed visitors: President Halla Tómasdóttir of Iceland and her husband, Björn Skúlason. King Harald V and Queen Sonja were joined by Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, and Princess Astrid during the welcome ceremony.

Both Queen Sonja and Princess Astrid wore blue for the first event of the state visit program. Sonja accessorized with modern jewelry, including a silver necklace and a brooch that I think may be an abstract representation of an oyster, complete with a pearl. Princess Astrid opted for classic pearl and diamond pieces, but the most adorable part of her ensemble was definitely the little dog that was curled up in her lap.

The crown princely family looked elegant during the welcome ceremony, with Crown Prince Haakon in uniform and Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Princess Ingrid Alexandra, participating in the formal events of a state visit for the first time, in neutrals. Mette-Marit wore small cluster earrings, a petite brooch, and a glittering bracelet with her outfit, while Ingrid Alexandra opted for pearl drop earrings (the same ones, I believe, that she wore for her eighteenth-birthday gala), a small diamond brooch (hidden beneath her hair in most photos), a gold bracelet (or perhaps a watch, per Trond Norén Isaksen), and rings as accessories.

In the evening, a state banquet with a white-tie dress code was held at the Royal Palace, with the royal men in uniform and the ladies all in gala gowns. Queen Sonja opted for a favorite yellow gown with the tiara and jewels from the Norwegian Emerald Parure for the evening, while Princess Astrid wore pink with rubies, diamonds, and pearls, including her striking ruby floral aigrette tiara. All of the Norwegian royals wore the insignia of Iceland’s Order of the Falcon, while President Tómasdóttir wore the Royal Norwegian Order of Saint Olav and Mr. Skúlason wore the Royal Norwegian Order of Merit.

But, of course, it was the attire and jewelry of the crown princely family—and of Princess Ingrid Alexandra, specifically—that drew most of the interest during the dinner. Her mother, Crown Princess Mette-Marit, wore a pale pink evening gown with floral cut-out detailing on the sleeves. (UFO No More tells us that the dress comes from Dundas.) Ingrid Alexandra also wore a dress from her mother’s wardrobe archives: the famous pale blue ruffled evening gown that Mette-Marit wore for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden back in June 2010. This is the dress that is said to have inspired the artists who created the character of Queen Elsa for Disney’s Frozen. (My daughter thanks them for that.)

Mette-Marit accessorized with jewels from the Norwegian Amethyst Parure, a modern set of jewels made by Garrard in the 1990s. Isaksen has shared that the suite was given to King Harald and Queen Sonja as part of the repayment for the family jewels that were lost in the famous theft at Garrard in 1995. For the banquet, Mette-Marit wore the set’s necklace on its tiara frame, and she joined together the bracelets and brooch from the set to form its secondary necklace option. She also added silvery-black pearl drops to the studs from the parure’s earrings.

Ingrid Alexandra wore the tiara that most jewelry-watchers expected her to wear: the diamond and pearl circle tiara that once belonged to her great-great-grandmother, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden. The tiara was later passed down to Ingrid Alexandra’s great-aunt, Princess Ragnhild, whose children inherited the jewel in 2012. When Ingrid Alexandra celebrated her eighteenth birthday in 2022, Ragnhild’s children gave the tiara to the princess. So far, it’s the only tiara she has worn in public.

Ingrid Alexandra’s jewelry ensemble also included several more special pieces of jewelry, including more pieces that were once worn by Princess Ragnhild. Her diamond and pearl earrings (difficult to see behind her hair in most photos) belonged to Crown Princess Märtha. Isaksen shares that they may have a much longer history within the larger Scandinavian royal family. They’re more recent arrivals in Ingrid Alexandra’s jewelry box, though: King Harald and Queen Sonja gave them to her as an eighteenth-birthday present in 2022.

Also part of that same birthday gift was the diamond rivière that Ingrid Alexandra wore for the banquet. It previously belonged to Princess Ragnhild and Queen Maud. Isaksen posits that it might be the diamond necklace given to Maud as a wedding present by her late godmother, the Duchess of Inverness.

The princess also wore a pair of special bracelets. The diamond bracelet on her left wrist also comes from the collection of the late Princess Ragnhild, and was another part of Ingrid Alexandra’s eighteenth-birthday present from her royal grandparents.

And on her right wrist, Ingrid Alexandra wore a unique bracelet given to her as a confirmation present by her great-aunt, Princess Astrid, in 2019. The cameo badge mounted on the bracelet is that of the Royal Order of Victoria & Albert. It was given to their granddaughter, Queen Maud of Norway, by Queen Victoria in 1887. She wore it for the first time at court at her drawing room debut in May 1888. The insignia of an order can only be worn by the person to whom it was given, which is why Princess Astrid had the badge mounted on a bracelet.