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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Gala Jewels: Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway

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Happy (belated) birthday to Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, who celebrated her 41st birthday yesterday! Mette-Marit, the commoner who found love with her country’s future king, has been a part of the Norwegian royal family for thirteen years, and in that time, she’s had a chance to attend quite a lot of glittering events. Today, we’re looking at the jewels she’s worn at gala occasions over the years. Enjoy!

24 August 2001: Pre-Wedding Gala at Akershus

On the night before her wedding, Mette-Marit wore major Norwegian heirloom jewels. Queen Maud’s Vifte Tiara, given to her by Queen Victoria as an eighteenth-birthday present, is worn here as a necklace. Her diamond chandelier earrings also have a sentimental family link. They were King Olav’s silver wedding anniversary present to his wife, Crown Princess Märtha — but sadly, Märtha died before she could wear them. King Harald and Queen Sonja gave the earrings to Mette-Marit as a wedding present.

25 August 2001: Royal Wedding

Mette-Marit became a crown princess when she married Haakon of Norway. Her bridal look was classic Nordic cool, with a low-profile wedding tiara and minimal jewelry. The Edwardian-era tiara was a gift from King Harald and Queen Sonja, who reportedly purchased it from Garrards in London; it may or may not be the same tiara worn by Cate Blanchett in the film An Ideal Husband. Her diamond and ruby engagement ring has a longer royal history: it is the same ring that was given to Crown Princess Märtha by King Olav, and to Queen Sonja by King Harald.

23 May 2002: Norwegian Pre-Wedding Gala

Pearls for the gala held the night before the wedding of her sister-in-law, Princess Märtha Louise; I believe the necklace and bracelet were wedding gifts from Crown Prince Haakon.

24 May 2002: Wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway

A few months after her own royal wedding, Mette-Marit went for the full princess look at her sister-in-law’s wedding, wearing her wedding tiara, Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings, a diamond bracelet, the Order of St. Olav, and a whole lot of tulle.

13 May 2004: Danish Pre-Wedding Gala

Mette-Marit wore her mother-in-law’s amethyst parure and the Order of St. Olav for the gala performance held the night before the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark

14 May 2004: Wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

For the wedding of her Danish counterparts, Mette-Marit wore her wedding tiara, Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings, and the Order of St. Olav.

27 June 2004: Official Visit to Iceland

Mette-Marit wore Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings for a dinner with the Icelandic president.

23 November 2004: Official Visit to Thailand

Colorful earrings (set with aquamarines and amethysts?) for a reception at the ambassador’s residence.

05 February 2005: Centenary of Norway’s Independence

Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings got another outing during the celebrations of a hundred years of Norwegian independence.

25 October 2005: State Visit to the United Kingdom

Mette-Marit borrowed Queen Sonja’s amethysts for a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, plus Harald V’s family order and the Order of St. Olav.

26 October 2005: State Visit to the United Kingdom

For a banquet at the Guildhall, Mette-Marit wore her diamond wedding tiara and Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings; she also wore the family order of her father-in-law, King Harald V, and the Order of St. Olav.

30 April 2006: 60th Birthday of King Carl XVI Gustaf

To celebrate the 60th birthday of the Swedish king, Mette-Marit wore her wedding tiara and Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings. (It looks like she’s also secured the sash of her order with a brooch from Queen Sonja’s amethyst parure.) She also wore a Swedish order, the Order of the Polar Star, and three small medals: the Order of St. Olav, the Royal House Centenary Medal, and the Olav V Centenary Medal.

13 June 2006: 60th Anniversary of Thailand’s King

Queen Sonja’s amethysts, the Order of St. Olav, and King Harald’s family order were Mette-Marit’s choices for a banquet in honor of the Thai king.

23 February 2007: 70th Birthday of King Harald V

Dramatic pendant earrings for a gala concert in Oslo in honor of her father-in-law’s birthday.

24 February 2007: 70th Birthday of King Harald V

Full white-tie attire for a ball at the Royal Palace — Mette-Marit wore her wedding tiara, Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings, a diamond bracelet, the Order of St. Olav, and her father-in-law’s family order.

24 May 2008: Wedding of Prince Joachim of Denmark

Mette-Marit wore her own wedding tiara to the Danish royal wedding, along with Crown Princess Märtha’s silver wedding earrings, King Harald’s family order, the Order of St. Olav, and a petite diamond and pearl brooch used to secure her order sash.

15 April 2010: 70th Birthday of Queen Margrethe II

Mette-Marit wore her mother-in-law’s amethysts, her father-in-law’s family order, and the Order of St. Olav at the gala in honor of the 70th birthday of the Danish queen.

18 June 2010: Swedish Pre-Wedding Gala

Mette-Marit added glitter to her pink gown for this black-tie theater gala in the form of diamond and ruby pendant earrings. The earrings can be worn at various lengths and with various pendant stones, including various pearls.

19 June 2010: Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden

An exciting tiara debut for Mette-Marit at the Swedish royal wedding: for the first time, she wore the smaller version of (the recreation of) Queen Maud’s pearl tiara. Her brooch is also an heirloom from Maud’s collection — like the tiara, it was one of her wedding gifts in 1896. Mette-Marit’s also wearing diamond and pearl drop earrings (shorter versions of the same earrings she wore the evening before), a pair of diamond bracelets, and the sash and star of the Order of the Polar Star. She also appears to be wearing the star of her Norwegian order, the Order of St. Olav.

15 January 2012: Queen Margrethe II’s Ruby Jubilee

To celebrate 40 years of the Danish queen’s reign, Mette-Marit chose a familiar pairing — her wedding tiara and Crown Princess Märtha’s earrings — plus King Harald’s family order, and the Order of St. Olav. She also added a gorgeous geometric brooch to secure her order sash.

19 October 2012: Luxembourgish Pre-Wedding Gala

The night before the wedding of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, Mette-Marit accessorized with her wedding tiara, a diamond bracelet, her father-in-law’s family order, and a gorgeous smiling prince.

08 June 2013: Wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden

Queen Sonja’s amethysts and Mette-Marit’s Swedish order, the Order of the Polar Star, were the crown princess’s choices in Stockholm.

10 June 2014: amfAR Gala in New York

Pendant earrings and a glittering diamond bracelets were Mette-Marit’s adornment of choice for the amfAR Inspiration Gala.

Saturday Sparkler: The Maltese Cross Tiara

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We’ve been talking quite a lot recently about the Norwegian royal jewels with British connections. Today, we’ve got yet another example: the Maltese Cross Tiara. It belonged to Queen Alexandra, whose daughter, Princess Maud, became queen of Norway in 1905. Trond Norén Isaksen notes that Alexandra had the diamond circlet made as a lighter alternative to the George IV State Diadem, which is still worn today by Queen Elizabeth II.

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Here’s Alexandra in the simpler diamond circlet (with Queen Victoria’s small diamond crown placed inside). The tiara takes its name from the Maltese crosses that are placed atop its bandeau base. As you can see in the photo of Alexandra, the circlet originally also had four fleur-de-lys elements situated between the Maltese crosses. It also was originally able to take the Cullinan VI stone, though that diamond was never permanently incorporated into the piece.


According to Hugh Roberts, Queen Maud inherited the Maltese circlet when Alexandra died in 1925. Isaksen says that Maud is the one who removed the fleur-de-lys elements, as she did not want the tiara to look too much like the original British version. She wore the piece frequently, and brought it back to Britain with her for the 1937 coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Maud also had the tiara with her when she returned to the UK in the following autumn. We’ve been over this story before — she brought her jewels to Britain with her so that they could be cleaned, but she died unexpectedly, and then the jewels didn’t make it back to Norway until 1953. Because of this, Maud’s daughter-in-law, Crown Princess Märtha, never wore the circlet.

Instead, it was Maud’s granddaughter-in-law, Sonja, who would wear the tiara next. The current queen has altered the piece, reducing its circumference, and she most frequently wears it just as a bandeau, without any of the crosses.

Occasionally, however, she wears the piece with three of the four crosses placed at the very front of the circlet, in an attempt (I think) to make the piece look a bit more like a traditional tiara. Today, Queen Sonja is the only member of the family who wears the circlet, though there were two occasions in the early 1990s when she has loaned the bandeau, sans crosses, to her daughter, Princess Märtha Louise.

The Norwegian Diamond Pendant Earrings

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To cap off our month-long foray into the jewelry collection of Queen Sonja of Norway, let’s have a look at one of the sparkliest items in the royal vaults: the diamond earrings that Sonja often pairs with Queen Josefina’s elaborate diamond tiara.

Like most of the heirloom pieces in the Norwegian royal collection, the earrings can be traced back to the United Kingdom, birthplace of Queen Maud. Norwegian royal historian Trond Noren Isaksen notes that the earrings “were originally pendants on a necklace worn by Queen Alexandra of Britain.”

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Indeed, Alexandra is depicted wearing this particular pair of diamond pendants on several necklaces throughout her time as Princess of Wales and Queen. Above, she wears the pendants attached to a diamond necklace in an 1883 portrait by Bassano. The pendants are visible to the left and the right of the large central pendant element.

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At the wedding of her second son, the future King George V, in 1893, Alexandra attached the diamond pendants to her own wedding necklace (made by Garrard ca. 1862, and given to Alexandra by her husband). Again, the twinned diamond pendants are seen to the left and right of the central pendant piece.

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Here Alexandra wears the pendants again in 1896, in an image from a series of portraits taken shortly before the Diamond Jubilee of her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria. (Note: this photograph is flipped.)

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And, of course, Alexandra wore the pendants at her coronation in 1902, along with virtually every other piece of jewelry she owned. Above is a detail of a portrait of the newly-crowned queen consort in her coronation robes; as before, the diamond pendants are to the left and the right of the largest pendant on the lowest necklace.

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You’ll sometimes see another explanation for the provenance of the earrings: that they’re the diamond earrings worn by Queen Victoria on her wedding day. She called her wedding earrings the “Turkish diamond earrings,” as they were a gift from the Sultan of Turkey. (So was the necklace of diamond rosettes that she also wore on the wedding day.) There are no photographs of Queen Victoria’s actual wedding, though she sat for Winterhalter in her wedding attire seven years later. You can see her wedding jewels: the Turkish necklace and earrings, plus the sapphire Albert brooch, in the portrait.

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There are definitely some stylistic similarities between the Norwegian earrings and Queen Victoria’s Turkish earrings, which are also pictured above in an 1850s-era photograph of the Queen in court dress. But to me, Victoria’s earrings look considerably larger than either Queen Alexandra’s pendants or Queen Sonja’s earrings. To my knowledge, there is also no documentation that shows the Queen Victoria gave the earrings to Queen Alexandra. I suppose it’s possible they were remodeled and reused by Alexandra, but I also think it seems unlikely that Victoria’s wedding earrings, part of a day that was extremely sentimental to her, would have been refashioned during her lifetime.

Ultimately, the connection to Queen Victoria seems unlikely, but regardless, these British heirloom earrings have become a staple of the Norwegian royal women, as they form a neat pairing with the family’s most impressive diamond tiara. I’ve never found an image of Queen Maud wearing the earrings, but they were worn by Crown Princess Martha, mother of the present king, in a portrait. Today, Queen Sonja wears the earrings quite frequently at white-tie events, pairing them with Queen Josefina’s tiara, with the replica of Queen Maud’s pearl tiara, and even with Queen Maud’s tiny Vifte tiara.