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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Saturday Sparkler: The Bavarian Sunburst Tiara

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The Bavarian Sunburst Tiara (Photo: Sotheby’s)

I’ve got quite the Saturday Sparkler to share with all of you today — there are few tiaras in the world that are as interestingly composed as this one, to say the least. With a royal history that began in Spain and ended a few years ago in Germany, this sunburst tiara is a truly intriguing piece.

The diamond tiara entered the Bavarian collection in 1883, when Infanta María de la Paz of Spain married Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, a first cousin of the nation’s last king, Ludwig III. The tiara was one of María’s wedding gifts from her mother, Queen Isabella II of Spain. The large fleur-de-lys element in the center of the tiara served as a reminder of Maria’s Bourbon heritage; it is a symbol of the royal house. The central element, including the fleur-de-lys, is unusual in that it is set en tremblant, which means that it moves slightly as the wearer moves.

The women of the family continued to wear this tiara to major royal events in the years before they decided to put it up for sale. Ursula of Bavaria, who is married to Maria’s great-grandson, Leopold, wore it to Albert and Charlene of Monaco’s wedding reception in 2011. Her daughter-in-law, Anna (who was born into the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family), wore the tiara to the big royal wedding in Sweden in 2010.

The tiara even graced the head of a Bavarian bride, Felipa, in 2012. But for reasons unknown (though likely financial), the family decided to put the tiara, as well as some other jewels, up for auction in May 2013 at Sotheby’s. Auction estimates noted that the tiara was expected to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000, but when the hammer fell, a lucky buyer had splashed out more than $180,000 on the piece. If it was you, congrats! But be careful — I really think this tiara could be classified as a weapon!

Saturday Sparkler: The Aquamarine Pineflower Tiara

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Today’s aquamarine tiara is one that generally falls into either “love it” or “hate it” camps: the British aquamarine tiara with pine cone/flower motifs that is owned today by Princess Anne.

The tiara itself dates back nearly a century to Anne’s grandparents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. The king commissioned Cartier to make the tiara for his wife as an anniversary present in the 1940s. She was photographed in it a few times, but it was never used as much as many of her other jewels. In 1973, Elizabeth (by then better known as the Queen Mother) gave the tiara to her granddaughter, Princess Anne, as a wedding gift.

Older photographs of the tiara compared with more current pictures make it clear that changes were made to the piece some time after Anne took possession of it. The large circular element in the center of the tiara was removed; today, one of the large rectangular aquamarines sits in the center of the piece.

Anne still wears the tiara occasionally, including at the Irish state banquet in 2014. To my knowledge, this is one of the only royal tiaras (maybe one of the only pieces of royal jewelry, period) that uses pine cones as a central motif. Pine cones are a symbol of fertility, which is always a good thing in marital terms, I suppose. But Anne’s tiara isn’t the only British piece to include tree-parts in its design: remember that the Duchess of Cambridge wore earrings to her wedding that included tiny acorns in their design.

Saturday Sparkler: Princess Margaretha’s Floral Tiara

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Princess Margaretha [source]

We’ve talked quite a bit around these parts about the jewels that belonged to a pair of royal sisters, Queen Astrid of Belgium and Crown Princess Martha of Norway. But did you know that there was actually a third princess in the family? Astrid and Martha’s elder sister, Princess Margaretha, is the wearer primarily associated with today’s diamond floral tiara.

Princess Marie of Denmark [source]

The sparkler actually goes back at least one generation further in royal history. It was owned by Prince Axel’s mother, Princess Marie of Denmark (born Princess Marie of Orleans). Some have suggested that its first owner was Marie’s mother-in-law, Queen Louise of Denmark, but to my knowledge, that claim has never been substantiated.

Princess Marie of Denmark (and friend) [source]

Marie wore the tiara with a gorgeous diamond necklace in a series of portraits, including the image above, which is one of my very favorite royal portraits of all time. That dog! Look at that collar! Marie was free-spirited and Bohemian (as much as a princess could be, anyway), and this portrait really encapsulates her wit.

When Marie died in 1909, the floral tiara faded from sight for several years. It reappeared in 1919, when her second son, Prince Axel, married Princess Margaretha of Sweden. Margaretha was the eldest of the four children of Prince Carl of Sweden and his Danish-born wife, Princess Ingeborg. After her wedding, Margaretha began wearing the floral tiara, placing it low across her brow in 1920s-era style.

Princess Margaretha’s extensive family connections to the royals of Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, and Norway meant that she had plenty of opportunities to wear tiaras during her lifetime. She wore the sparkler at the grand royal wedding of her sister, Queen Astrid, in 1926. Above, she also wears the tiara during the Nobel Prize festivities in Stockholm in 1968.

And here, she wears the tiara at an event also attended by her (very pregnant) niece-in-law, Crown Princess Sonja of Norway (who is wearing the grand emerald parure that belonged to Margaretha’s mother). When she died in 1977, Margaretha left the tiara to her elder son, Prince Georg. He did not have (biological) children, and some royal writers noted that the tiara was passed along to the family of his brother, Count Flemming of Rosenborg. Flemming’s (late) wife, Countess Ruth, told royal historian Trond Noren Isaksen that Georg actually sold the tiara. What happened to it after the sale isn’t known. Was it broken up? Is it still hanging around in a private collection today? Yet another tiara mystery…