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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Queen Noor’s Floral Pearl Drop Earrings

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We’ve got a new Magpie of the Month for August, everybody! We’ll be spending part of every week this month delving into the jewelry collection of one of the world’s most interesting royal women, Queen Noor of Jordan. Today, we’re starting off with her gorgeous pair of floral pearl drop earrings.

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The stud portion of the earrings features a five-petaled flower, with pave-set diamond petals and an emerald center. From that flower, a golden bead, a cabochon emerald bead, and a pearl pendant are suspended.

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Queen Noor has had these in her jewelry box for more than a decade. In October 2004, she wore them for a benefit dinner for the Arab-American Family Support Center in New York.

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Three years later, Noor brought the earrings out again for the Unite for a Better World Gala Dinner, which was held in Monaco in September 2007.

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She paired the earrings with a black lace gown in October 2008 for the Save The Children Awards in Madrid.

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And in December 2009, she wore the earrings with a lovely caftan in Dubai for a fundraiser for amfAR during the 6th Annual Dubai International Film Festival.

Two Decades of Royal Wedding Jewels (Part 1)

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To celebrate my wedding weekend, I’ve got a bit of a tiara bonanza for you: a two-part flashback to some of the many royal wedding tiaras and jewels worn over the past two decades. Today’s post covers the first half, and the second will be up tomorrow morning. Enjoy!

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Sophie Rhys-Jones

For her wedding to the Earl of Wessex on June 19, 1999, Sophie wore a diamond tiara given to her by the Queen and a set of pearls designed for her by the groom. (The wedding tiara was recently revamped.) Edward and Sophie recently celebrated their twentieth wedding anniversary. They have two children, Louise and James.

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Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark

Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark wore the family’s traditional bridal diadem, the Khedive of Egypt Tiara, with diamond earrings for her wedding to Carlos Morales Quintana in London on July 9, 1999. The couple welcomed four children (Arrietta, Ana Maria, Carlos, and Amelia) in the twenty years that followed.

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Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz

Belgian aristocrat Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz borrowed Queen Elisabeth’s Art Deco Bandeau from her new mother-in-law, Queen Paola, for her wedding to the Duke of Brabant in Brussels on December 4, 1999. She paired the tiara with diamond and pearl drop earrings. The couple now reign as King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, and they have four children, Princess Elisabeth, Prince Gabriel, Prince Emmanuel, and Princess Eleonore.

Angela Brown

On January 29, 2000, fashion designer Angela Brown wore the Kinsky Honeysuckle Tiara for her wedding to Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein in New York. The sparkler was a loan from her new mother-in-law, Princess Marie Aglae. The couple have one son, Prince Alfons.

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Laurentien Brinkhorst

On May 19, 2001, Laurentien Brinkhorst married Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands in The Hague. For the ceremony, she wore the Dutch Laurel Wreath Tiara, part of the royal family’s jewelry foundation. The couple now have three children, Eloise, Claus-Casimir, and Leonore.

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Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby

Mette-Marit Tjessem Hoiby was the epitome of Nordic chic when she married Crown Prince Haakon of Norway in Oslo on August 25, 2001. She wore the Diamond Daisy Bandeau, an Edwardian-era tiara given to her by her new parents-in-law, King Harald V and Queen Sonja. The couple have three children, Marius Borg Hoiby, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, and Prince Sverre Magnus.

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Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti

Maxima Zorreguieta Cerruti wore diamonds, including the Dutch Star Tiara, for her wedding to the Prince of Orange in Amsterdam on February 2, 2002. The tiara is part of the Dutch royal family’s extensive jewelry foundation. The couple now reign as King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands, and they have three daughters, Princess Catharina-Amalia, Princess Alexia, and Princess Ariane.

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Princess Martha Louise of Norway

Princess Martha Louise of Norway wore the small setting of (the replica of) Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara for her wedding to Ari Behn in Trondheim on May 24, 2002. She paired it with additional diamond and pearl jewels. The couple had three daughters, Maud, Leah, and Emma, before divorcing in 2017.

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Salma Bennani

This royal wedding was something of a first — a royal consort had never received public recognition in Morocco until King Mohammed VI married Salma Bennani in 2001. For their marriage celebrations in Rabat on July 13, 2002, she wore diamonds, including a meander tiara. The couple had two children, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan and Princess Lalla Khadija, but in recent years, there have been unconfirmed reports that the couple have divorced, and Salma is now rarely seen in public.

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Claire Coombs

In Brussels on April 12, 2003, Claire Coombs wore diamonds and pearls as she married Prince Laurent of Belgium. Her diamond wedding tiara was a gift from her new parents-in-law, King Albert II and Queen Paola. The couple have three children together, Princess Louise, Prince Nicolas, and Prince Aymeric.

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Mabel Wisse Smit

Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau married Mabel Wisse Smit in Delft on April 24, 2004. For the wedding, Mabel borrowed a diamond tiara from the Dutch royal vaults. The couple had two daughters, Luana and Zaria, but Friso sadly died in 2013, a year after his tragic skiing accident.

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Mary Donaldson

On May 14, 2004, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark married Mary Donaldson in Copenhagen. For her wedding, Mary wore a diamond tiara that had been given to her by her new parents-in-law, Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik, as well as diamond and pearl earrings. The couple have since welcomed four children, Prince Christian, Princess Isabella, Prince Vincent, and Princess Josephine.

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Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano

Journalist Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano wore diamonds for her wedding to the Prince of Asturias in Madrid on May 22, 2004. She borrowed the Prussian Tiara from her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia, pairing it with classic diamond earrings. The couple now reign as King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, and they have two daughters, Infanta Leonor and Infanta Sofia.

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Princess Noor bint Assem of Jordan

Two lines of the Jordanian royal family came together when Prince Hamzah bin Hussein married Princess Noor bint Asem in 2003. For their marriage celebrations in Amman on May 27, 2004, Noor wore minimal jewelry but lots of lace. The couple had one daughter, Princess Haya, before divorcing in 2009.

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Camilla Parker Bowles

The Prince of Wales married his companion, Camilla Parker Bowles, in a pair of ceremonies in Windsor on April 9, 2005. The new Duchess of Cornwall wore a Prince of Wales Feather Brooch for the civil ceremony, but for the religious blessing, she donned a pair of diamond floral earrings inherited from her family. The couple will soon celebrate their fifteenth wedding anniversary.

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Tessy Antony

Because she’d already given birth to their first child, Prince Gabriel, Tessy Antony’s wedding to Prince Louis of Luxembourg was a subdued royal affair. The ceremony took place on September 29, 2006, in Gilsdorf, and Tessy wore diamonds and pearls for the occasion. The couple welcomed another son, Prince Noah, before divorcing in 2019.

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Autumn Kelly

Peter Phillips became the first of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren to marry when he wed Autumn Kelly in Windsor on May 17, 2008. She borrowed his mother’s diamond festoon tiara for the ceremony, pairing it with diamond and pearl jewels that she received from the groom. The couple now have two daughters, Savannah and Isla Elizabeth.

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Marie Cavallier

Marie Cavallier became the second wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark when they married in Mogeltonder on May 24, 2008. She wore Princess Dagmar’s Floral Tiara for the ceremony; the tiara is on long-term loan to her from her mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe II. She paired it with long diamond earrings from Genève. The couple has two children, Prince Henrik and Princess Athena, who joined Joachim’s elder sons, Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix.

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Sophie Winkleman

Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, married actress Sophie Winkleman at Hampton Court Palace on September 12, 2009. For the ceremony, she wore pearl drop earrings and a sparkling hair ornament with a matching comb to secure her veil. The couple now have two daughters, Maud and Isabella.

Stay tuned tomorrow for part two of this post!

American Royal: 13 American Women Who Married Into Royalty

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We’re all familiar with Meghan Markle and Grace Kelly, but American women have been joining royal families all over the world for centuries. Here’s a look at thirteen American women who married into royalty.

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Elizabeth Patterson

America was still in its infancy when Napoleon Bonaparte’s rebellious little brother, Jerome, showed up unannounced in Baltimore. On Christmas Eve in 1803, he married Elizabeth Patterson, the daughter of a successful merchant. She was already pregnant by the time they headed back to Europe to face his brother, who demanded that the marriage be annulled. When the Pope wouldn’t grant an annulment, Napoleon declared one himself. Elizabeth gave birth to a son, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, while her erstwhile husband married a German princess and briefly reigned as King of Westphalia.

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Alice Heine

Born in New Orleans, Alice Heine was part of a prominent French banking family that helped finance Napoleon III’s military exploits. Alice converted from Judaism to Catholicism when she married the Duke of Richelieu in 1875, but he died young. She later became the mistress of Prince Albert I of Monaco. The couple married in 1889, making Alice a princess. Their relationship was tumultuous; when her affair with a composer was discovered, Albert slapped her in front of an audience at the opera. The couple separated but never divorced, and Alice lived out the rest of her life in Paris.

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Anita Rhinelander Stewart

Anita Stewart was born in New Jersey to a prominent attorney with significant social connections in Gilded Age New York. Her parents’ divorce, however, diminished her social standing. She moved to Europe with her mother, where she met Miguel de Braganza, the son of a claimant to the Portuguese throne. The couple married in Scotland in 1909, but even her dowry couldn’t keep them out of financial trouble. They had three children and remained married until Miguel’s death in 1920.

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Nancy Leeds

Born in Zanesville, Ohio, Nancy Leeds inherited a fortune after the death of her second husband in 1908. She lived in Europe as a wealthy widow, catching the eye of Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark, part of the exiled and penniless Greek royal family. They married in 1920 in Switzerland, and she took on a new name: Princess Anastasia. The marriage wasn’t to last, however — she died of cancer only three years after their wedding. He married a French princess six years after her death.

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Wallis Simpson

Wallis Warfield Simpson is perhaps the most notorious American to marry a king. Born in Pennsylvania, she was still married to her second husband when she began an affair with the Prince of Wales. When he became King Edward VIII, their relationship was one of the factors that led to his eventual abdication. The new Duke of Windsor married his American bride in France in 1937, and after a stint in the Bahamas during the war, the couple lived out the rest of their lives in Paris.

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Rita Hayworth

The American actress Rita Hayworth (born Margarita Carmen Cansino) was fresh off her divorce from Orson Welles when she met Prince Aly Khan, son of the Aga Khan. They married in 1949, and she left her film career behind. After the birth of their daughter, though, the couple divorced, with Hayworth citing “extreme mental cruelty.”

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Grace Kelly

Oscar-winning actress Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier III of Monaco for the first time in May 1955, and less than a year later, the couple married in Monaco’s cathedral. Princess Grace gave birth to three children, including the present Prince of Monaco. She longed to restart her acting career, but just as she began to take steps to work again, she died of a stroke while driving.

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Lisa Halaby

Born in Washington, D.C., Lisa Halaby met King Hussein of Jordan while working with Alia Airlines in their facility design department. The friendship turned to romance, and the couple married in 1978. She converted to Islam, becoming Queen Noor of Jordan. The couple had four children together before King Hussein’s death from cancer in 1999.

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Marie-Chantal Miller

Born in London, Marie-Chantal Miller is the daughter of an American businessman. She was raised all over the globe, but she was studying at New York University when she became engaged to Crown Prince Pavlos, the eldest son of the last King and Queen of Greece. The couple married in 1995, and they have five children together. She now runs a successful children’s clothing line.

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Sarah Butler

Houston-born Sarah Butler was educated in her father’s native Britain. While working at the United Nations, she met and married Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Zeid al Hussein, a cousin of the King of Jordan. Prince Zeid served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2014 until 2018, and Princess Sarah has continued extensive work as a global health advocate, especially for women and children.

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Kelly Rondestvedt

Kelly Rondestvedt, a Pensacola-born investment banker, met Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in New York while working for Morgan Stanley in 2007. The couple married two years later. They have three children, and they often attend royal events hosted by their Swedish royal cousins.

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Kendra Spears

Born in Seattle, Kendra Spears was a successful model before her 2013 marriage to Prince Rahim Aga Khan, the eldest son of the current Aga Khan. After her marriage, she became known as Princess Salwa. The couple have two sons.

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Meghan Markle

Meghan Markle was already well-known to television fans for her role on Suits when she met Prince Harry in the summer of 2016. By the following November, the couple were engaged. She became the Duchess of Sussex when they married in Windsor in May 2018, and almost exactly a year later, they welcomed their first child, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor.