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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Saturday Sparkler: Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s Daisy Bandeau

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At the state banquet in Norway this week, Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore a tiara that has been her signature piece of jewelry since her wedding day more than a decade ago: a delicate bandeau tiara featuring daisy designs studded with diamonds.

Mette-Marit wears the tiara at the Danish royal wedding, 2004

The tiara, which fits in perfectly with Mette-Marit’s minimalist Nordic style, was made in 1910. Exactly how the family got their hands on the
sparkler has never been made clear. Some think they may have bought the
piece from Garrard in London, but the family has never released any
information on the maker or the means by which it was acquired. (I have always seen a major resemblance between this tiara and another Scandinavian sparkler: Queen Margrethe’s turquoise bandeau.)

Mette-Marit wears the tiara at Princess Martha Louise’s wedding, 2002

Some have speculated that the bandeau is actually the same tiara worn by Cate Blanchett in the 1999 film An Ideal Husband. It’s certainly possible that the pieces could be the same: film companies often borrow real jewels for productions. Either the film features an extremely similar piece (or a copy), or Cate’s movie tiara ended up on an actual princess shortly after the movie was released.

Mette-Marit on her wedding day, 2001

Regardless of the way that the tiara made it into the Norwegian vaults, we know for sure that it was a wedding gift to Mette-Marit from her
new in-laws, King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway, in 2001. She wore the tiara on her wedding day, and although she’s worn two other tiaras since (the family’s amethyst tiara and their copy of Queen Maud’s pearl tiara), this is the tiara that she’s worn most frequently since then.

Mette-Marit wears the tiara at the Luxembourg royal wedding, 2012

The bandeau is undoubtedly easier to
wear than most grand tiaras, so comfort is probably a factor, along with
sentimental wedding/family reasons. It would not surprise me even a
little bit, though, if this tiara is eventually passed along to her
daughter, Princess Ingrid Alexandra. It seems like a perfect first tiara
for a future queen.

Saturday Sparkler: Queen Máxima’s Wedding Tiara

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One of the more useful terms for you to have in your royal jewelry vocabulary arsenal is “Frankentiara” — a rather colorful way of referring to a sparkler that is cobbled together from parts of other pieces of jewelry. Today, we’re looking at one of the Frankentiaras that graced the head of a royal bride: Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti, now Queen Máxima of the Netherlands.

Queen Beatrix wears the Pearl Button Tiara, 1980

The base of this starry sparkler comes from another Dutch royal treasure: the Pearl Button Tiara. There’s a debate about the actual age of the base: some think that it was made in the twentieth century, while others argue that it was a part of a coronet worn by Queen Sophie of the Netherlands, which would make it an earlier creation.

Máxima wears the tiara on her wedding day, 2002

When selecting a tiara to wear to marry the future Dutch king, Máxima chose to innovate. For her wedding day in 2002, she wore the button tiara’s base with five of the diamond stars that belonged to Queen Emma. Emma had been given two sets of diamond star brooches when she married King Willem III in 1879. One set has stars with ten points; the other has stars with twelve.

Máxima wears the tiara at the Norwegian royal wedding, 2002

Máxima chose the ten-pointed stars for her wedding tiara. She wore the starry version of tiara frequently during the early years of her marriage, and although she has graduated to some of the largest diadems in the Dutch vaults, she still pulls this one out now and again. Máxima’s the only member of the family so far to wear this particular Frankentiara, but I can sort of see why: the star version of the tiara is bright, fun, and inventive — just like this particular queen!

Queen Alia’s Cartier Tiara

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It’s hard to find a more collectively glamorous group of royal women than the ladies of the Jordanian royal family. Today’s tiara, the Cartier tiara that belonged to the late Queen Alia, has been worn by three of the country’s queens and princesses.

Alia and Hussein of Jordan at their wedding, 1972

Alia Baha Ad-Din Touqan was the third of the four wives of King Hussein of Jordan. (The first was Princess Dina; the second, Princess Muna, is the mother of the current king, Abdullah II; and the fourth is the American-born Queen Noor.) Alia was the daughter of a Jordanian diplomat and had lived and studied all over the world before marrying King Hussein in 1972.

Rania wears Queen Alia’s tiara, 1999

The diamond Cartier tiara that Alia wore was given to her by the king. It’s reminiscent of a fringe tiara, but really the design is quite abstract and very modern, more linear than floral. (The Jordanian royals seem to favor this kind of contemporary design; Queen Noor also has a tiara that is similar to this one.) The tiara is also intriguing in that it has an exceptionally tall base, requiring serious tiara hair.

Hussein and Alia of Jordan with President Ford, 1974

Just like her tiara, Alia was a rather modern Jordanian queen; she supported women’s suffrage and was a great supporter of children’s charities and the arts. Unfortunately, her tenure as queen consort was short. In 1977, she died in a helicopter crash in Amman. To celebrate the late queen’s life, the country’s international airport was named for Alia — in fact, it’s one of only a few international airports named for a woman.

Princess Haya of Jordan, Sheikha of Dubai ca. 2005

Alia’s only daughter, Princess Haya, inherited her mother’s tiara. (Here’s a portrait of her wearing the sparkler.) The Jordanian royal family doesn’t have a crown jewel collection, and all of their jewels are apparently personal property, generally handed down from mother to daughter rather than retained for the use of future queens.

Rania wears the tiara at a gala dinner in Madrid, 1999

However, this tiara has been worn several times by a subsequent queen consort. Haya, who is now married to the Sheikh of Dubai, loaned the tiara on various occasions to her sister-in-law, Queen Rania, shortly after she became queen. Rania even wore the tiara at her husband’s coronation in 1999, linking Alia’s heirloom tiara with the next generation of Jordanian royals. Rania’s jewel collection has since grown to include other sparklers, but the images from the coronation provide a lovely connection between the country’s past and its future.