Min Stora Dag (“My Special Day”) is a charity that helps fulfill wishes for Swedish children suffering from illnesses. Their patron, Princess Madeleine, held a special tea party for several children at the palace recently. The children dressed up, and Madeleine appeared in full gala dress, including the lovely Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik. Yesterday, the charity released video from the event. Enjoy a double-whammy of glorious royal jewels and happy children!
The Top Ten: Royal Aquamarine Tiaras
As March draws to a close, so does our month-long discussion of various royal jewels set with aquamarines. To wrap things up, here’s a look at my ten favorite royal aquamarine tiaras. Add your own top ten list in the comments below!
10. The Aquamarine Pineflower Tiara: Made in the 1940s by Cartier, this diamond and aquamarine tiara was originally owned by the Queen Mother. She passed the piece along to her granddaughter, Princess Anne, who had it remodeled; she now wears the new version occasionally at state events.
9. The Swedish Aquamarine Bandeau: Princess Madeleine received this petite diamond and aquamarine bandeau for her eighteenth birthday; the piece was an heirloom that had been in the family for at least one generation. Madeleine occasionally wears the bandeau à la Josephine — that is, low across the brow in a style influenced by Empress Josephine and the Empire period (and later revived in the 1920s).
8. The Luxembourg Aquamarine Bandeau: The vast Luxembourgish grand ducal jewelry vaults includes a lovely diamond and aquamarine bandeau, which features large aquamarines set between elements that look like diamond knots. Like most of the family’s bandeaux, this piece seems to have originated with Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte.
7. The Countess of Wessex’s Aquamarine Necklace Tiara: Sophie debuted this modern, convertible jewel in 2005; some have attributed the piece to Collins and Sons. Last year, she chose the diamond and aquamarine tiara for the royal wedding of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden.
6. The Spanish Wedding Gift Tiara: Queen Fabiola of Belgium’s endlessly-convertible tiara can be worn with small aquamarines set in the center of each of its diamond “leaves.” The piece was a gift from the Francos, who governed Fabiola’s native Spain at the time of her wedding to Belgium’s king.
5. The Small Brazilian Aquamarine Tiara: This diamond and aquamarine tiara, said to be made using stones gifted to Queen Elizabeth II by Brazil, was worn briefly by the Queen earlier in her reign. In recent years, she has often loaned the piece to her daughter-in-law, the Countess of Wessex.
4. The Dutch Aquamarine Tiara: Part of a married parure of aquamarine jewels amassed by Queen Juliana, the Dutch royal family’s diamond and aquamarine tiara features seven large aquamarine briolettes. The tiara, which was made by Kempen, Begeer, and Vos, has been worn by a number of Dutch royal ladies, including Queen Maxima, Princess Laurentien, Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet, and Princess Irene.
3. The Brazilian Aquamarine Tiara: Queen Elizabeth II commissioned this tiara of diamonds and aquamarines to accompany various aquamarine pieces she’d received over time from the people and the government of Brazil. That original tiara was remodeled, turning it into the enormous diamond and aquamarine sparkler worn by the Queen today.
2. Queen Ena’s Aquamarine Tiara: This tiara of diamonds and aquamarines originally belonged to Queen Ena of Spain. Its original incarnation looked very different; it was eventually remodeled by Bulgari at the request of Ena’s daughter, Beatriz. The new tiara, which resembles the Vladimir Tiara in shape, was most recently worn in public by Ena’s great-granddaughter, Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg.
1. The Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik: My favorite royal aquamarine tiara is the lovely diamond and aquamarine kokoshnik that belongs to the Swedish royal family. A favorite of the late Princess Sibylla, the tiara now belongs to Princess Margaretha, who has loaned it out recently to her sister, Princess Christina, and her niece, Princess Madeleine.
Read more about royal aquamarine jewels…
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.
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| 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.
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| 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…
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