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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Royal Wedding Jewels in Serbia

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ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

The former royal family of Yugoslavia (now Serbia) gathered this weekend for the wedding of Crown Prince Alexander’s son, Philip. Here’s a look at the jewels we saw worn at this almost-royal wedding!

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

Philip is the second son of Crown Prince Alexander and, therefore, a grandson of Peter II, the last King of Yugoslavia. Although he is a member of a former reigning family, Philip has a heck of a royal pedigree. Beyond his Serbian royal roots, Philip’s paternal grandmother, Queen Alexandra, was the daughter of King Alexander of Greece. And his mother, Maria da Gloria, is descended from two major royal families. Her father, Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, was a member of the Brazilian imperial family and a claimant of the (vacant) imperial throne. Maria da Gloria’s mother, Princess Maria de la Esperanza of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, was the sister of the late Countess of Barcelona.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

The bride, Danica Marinkovic, is a Serbian painter and sculptor. While she doesn’t have royal ancestry, she has major ties to Serbia’s artistic heritage. Her father, Milan Cile Marinkovic, is a famous Serbian painter. Danica didn’t wear a tiara for her wedding, but she did scatter pearls in her hair. She also wore earrings and a coordinating necklace set with diamonds and emeralds.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

Here’s a slightly better look at her diamond and emerald earrings.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

And here’s a view of the happy couple departing their wedding ceremony, which gives you a good look at the bride’s gown, made by Roksanda Ilincic, and flowers.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

Here’s a shot of the family and guests who attended the wedding. You’ll note a few familiar royal faces here.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

I’ve got closer views of a few key attendees. This is the groom’s mother. After her divorce from Crown Prince Alexander, Maria da Gloria married Ignacio de Medina y Fernández de Córdoba, 19th Duke de Segorbe. The necklace she wore for the wedding, including the large diamond and emerald pendant, reportedly came from the collection of her late mother-in-law, Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, 18th Duchess of Medinaceli.

Wikimedia Commons

Here’s another view of the Duchess and her jewels.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

The groom’s stepmother, Crown Princess Katherine, kept her jewelry minimal, letting the sparkling embellishments on her clothing take center stage instead. I believe the woman standing beside Katherine, with the green jacket and lovely brooch, is the bride’s mother.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

Queen Sofia of Spain, the groom’s godmother, wore pearls with the ruby and diamond pendant that had belonged to her mother, Queen Friederike of Greece. (Sofia is connected to both of the groom’s parents. She’s a cousin of Crown Prince Alexander through their shared Greek royal ancestry, and Maria da Gloria is a first cousin of Sofia’s husband, King Juan Carlos of Spain.) Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden was one of the witnesses at the wedding, along with Philip’s older brother, Hereditary Prince Peter. Victoria wore earrings by Kreuger for the ceremony; she’s worn these for several family events, including Prince Alexander’s christening.

ANDREJ ISAKOVIC/AFP/Getty Images

Not a bad royal showing for an almost-royal wedding, no?

The Brazilian Tiara

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The Braganza, or Brazilian, Tiara (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

With the world’s eyes on the Olympic Games in Rio, what better way to celebrate than by looking at a tiara once worn by a Brazilian empress? Today, Brazil is a republic, but from 1822-1889, the nation was the independent Empire of Brazil. Here’s how their grandest tiara — the Braganza, or Brazilian, Tiara — made its way from Rio to … Stockholm!?

Jean-Baptiste Debret’s portrait of the marriage of Pedro I and Amélie of Leuchtenberg (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1822, Emperor Pedro I of the Portuguese House of Braganza was crowned in Brazil. Four years later, Pedro’s empress, Maria Leopoldina of Austria, died in Rio de Janeiro. By 1829, Pedro was married again. This time, his wife was Princess Amélie of Leuchtenberg, a granddaughter of both King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Empress Joséphine of France.

Queen Silvia wears the tiara in 2006 (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

As Brazil’s empress, Amélie’s jewelry box included a stunning set of diamonds. Among these was a wedding gift from her new husband: an enormous diamond diadem composed of flowers and leaves. The tiara was new, but the diamonds weren’t. They’d actually belonged to Pedro’s first wife, Maria Leopoldina, and had been acquired by Pedro from their children. The tiara itself was reportedly made in France, but Amélie herself apparently stated that the diamonds were sourced from Brazil.

Queen Sofia wears the tiara, ca. 1902 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Amélie wasn’t Brazil’s empress for long. In 1831, her husband abdicated, and the two of them settled first in Paris and then in Lisbon, where Pedro died. Amélie kept her diamonds throughout all of this upheaval, and when she died in 1873, the tiara and its accompanying necklace, earrings, and brooch were left to her closest living family member: her sister, Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway.

Queen Victoria wears the tiara (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Historian Trond Norén Isaksen has carefully tracked the tiara’s journey from Portugal to Sweden, noting that the diamonds were “shipped to Kristiansand in Norway onboard the Norwegian naval corvette Balder and from there to Stockholm,” where they were delivered to Queen Josefina. But sadly, Josefina died only three years later. Her daughter-in-law, Queen Sofia, was the Brazilian tiara’s next wearer, and it has been worn by all subsequent Swedish queens, including Queen Victoria, Queen Louise, and the tiara’s current wearer, Queen Silvia.

Queen Silvia wears the tiara at Victoria’s wedding in 2010 (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The Brazilian Tiara is especially perfect for Silvia, not only because it’s a tiara befitting a queen but also because Silvia’s mother, Alice de Toledo, was born in Brazil. Silvia wore the tiara for one of her first portraits as queen, and in 2010, she chose the tiara for one of the most important Swedish royal events of the 21st century: the wedding of her daughter, Crown Princess Victoria.

Note: This is an updated version of an earlier post, with new text/images.

Saturday Sparkler: The Duchess of Braganza’s Bandeau

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Isabel wears the bandeau, 2004

Members of reigning royal houses aren’t the only people these days who need tiaras. With invitations to weddings, investitures, and other white-tie events showing up in the mailboxes of various pretenders to various thrones, members of former reigning houses need to have a diadem at their disposal as well. Today’s tiara is just such a sparkler: the diamond bandeau tiara worn by the current Duchess of Braganza, the wife of the pretender to the throne of Portugal.

Isabel wears the bandeau, 2011


The word pretender sometimes makes the position of these deposed royals sound more sinister than it actually is. The current Duke of Braganza, Dom Duarte Pio, doesn’t swan about Lisbon, pretending to be the king of Portugal. But if the monarchy were to be restored, he’d be the best candidate, and in Portugal, he actually has a degree of status that is recognized by the government. The president came to his wedding, which was royal in all but name; he also performs some official duties on behalf of the government. The Duke and his wife are also frequently invited to events by currently reigning houses.

Isabel wears the tiara, 2011

This tiara that the current duchess often wears to these events was first worn by the duke’s mother, Maria Francisca. She was actually a member of the Brazilian branch of the Portuguese royal family, and her marriage to Duarte Pio’s father reuinted the two lines. She married in 1942, and the design of the tiara suggests that it may also date to the middle of the twentieth century. It’s a small diamond bandeau that features floral elements interspersed with twisted diamond bands. Today, Isabel wears the piece both as a small enclosed circlet and as an open bandeau, the same way that her mother-in-law wore the tiara. It’s a small piece, considerably smaller than the heirloom tiara that Isabel wore to her wedding, but I’ll wager that this one is easier both to wear and to travel with.

Isabel wears the bandeau, 2011


Recently, Isabel gave an interview in which she hinted that family jewels like this one, which the Braganzas own personally, might be passed down to their daughter. That would mean the further dispersal of the collection — something that will no doubt dismay Portuguese monarchists, but unfortunately something that isn’t uncommon when a royal family is no longer reigning.