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Queen Margrethe’s 75th Birthday: Fredensborg Dinner

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The last event of Queen Margrethe’s big 75th birthday bash was a black-tie dinner at Fredensborg. No tiaras, unfortunately, but still some interesting jewels on show!

The birthday girl flaunted the no-tiara dress code a bit, nestling one of the pieces of her mother’s Floral Aigrette Tiara in the back of her hair.

She also wore pieces from her turquoise collection. The gold and turquoise necklace is new addition to the set, a birthday gift from Prince Henrik.

Crown Princess Mary wore diamond earrings and a bow brooch at the neck of her gown.

Not sure if the piece is a part of the dress or an independent item of jewelry, but it does add a good bit of sparkle either way.

Here’s one more look at the brooch and Mary’s earrings, which she wore at Princess Madeleine’s wedding in 2013 with the tiara from the Midnight Parure.

Princess Marie wore very little jewelry — just earrings and a bracelet — at the dinner.

Princess Benedikte wore pearls to the dinner, where she was seated beside her first cousin, the King of Sweden, and Denmark’s prime minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

Queen Anne-Marie also opted for pearls, plus a brooch pinned to the neck of her gown. King Harald of Norway needed no embellishment, obviously.

More pearls, this time on Queen Silvia of Sweden, although her set also has a jeweled clasp and matching earrings.

Small earrings were Crown Princess Victoria’s choice, although the gown (which was previously worn by her sister, Princess Madeleine) did a pretty good job of glittering all on its own. I’ve not yet seen photos of Crown Princess Mette-Marit; the Norwegian and Swedish royals apparently did not step outside before the beginning of the dinner, so photos are limited.

Queen Margrethe’s 75th Birthday: Balcony and Town Hall Reception

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The celebrations for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who turned 75 on Thursday, continue! Let’s rundown the jewels worn to the daytime events on Thursday, shall we?

After the traditional “morning wake-up call” to the Queen (at which jewels were largely few and far between), the royals gathered at Amalienborg Palace for a balcony appearance and then traveled to the town hall in Copenhagen for a reception. Margrethe selected one of her most precious pieces of jewelry to wear on her birthday: the diamond daisy brooch that was given to her by her mother, Queen Ingrid. You can read about the brooch’s sentimental history — it honors Margrethe’s grandmother, also called Daisy — over here!

The next Queen of Denmark was crown princess levels of perfection, even if she kept the jewels to a minimum, wearing stud earrings, a simple bracelet, and her brand-new commemorative medal in honor of her mother-in-law’s 75th.

Even the littlest members of the DRF got a fancy new medal. Here’s Princess Josephine wearing hers.

And here’s the entire crown princely clan in theirs, looking extremely color-coordinated and ready for their family photos.

The Prince Joachims were also be-medaled and ready to wave.

Princess Marie wore an intriguing new bird brooch with her outfit for the daytime festivities. She also wore earrings with square green stones — perhaps peridot?

Prince Henrik was still too ill to attend, but Margrethe was flanked by her heir and her spare as she greeted the public.

Princess Benedikte paired pearls with her pink ensemble. It looks to me like her ring and earrings also include red or dark pink stones.

Queen Anne-Marie was wrapped up tightly against the wind, but we can still see that she also has red stones in her earrings and the bracelet on her right wrist. You can also sneak a peek at her gold bracelet, worn by all female descendants of Queen Ingrid, just above her wristwatch.

Queen Silvia of Sweden, who is married to Margrethe’s first cousin, King Carl XVI Gustaf, wore small pearl earrings, her usual stack of rings, and a collection of bracelets.

Here’s a good look at her rings. She also had a small ribbon pinned to her coat — I could be wrong, but I believe this is an Order of the Elephant ribbon.

The Scandinavian crown princely couples attended the Thursday festivities, replacing the Benelux royals, who headed home. Crown Princess Victoria paid a nifty tribute to her cousin with a daisy brooch. I’m not sure if this is a piece of jewelry made by Georg Jensen, or just one in a similar style, but either way, I love this little nod to Margrethe. Crown Princess Mette-Marit wore an interesting headpiece, pairing it with teeny little stud earrings in the shape of a human skull. You can take the princess out of the rock music festival, but…

Stay tuned later today for jewels from the last event of the celebrations: the dinner at Fredensborg!

Queen Margrethe’s 75th Birthday: Christiansborg Gala

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The celebration of a milestone birthday for one of Europe’s best-loved monarchs, plus a glittering assembly and the surprise appearance of a brand-new tiara? Not a bad way to start off a Thursday! Here’s a rundown of the guests who attended Queen Margrethe’s birthday gala at Christiansborg Palace.

The birthday girl wore a tiara that she’s worn at a number of important events in her life: her mother’s Floral Aigrette Tiara. She arranged the three parts of the tiara in an interesting configuration: one of the pieces was nestled in her hair just like a normal tiara would be, while the other two were arranged on the sides of her hair.

Margrethe paired the aigrette with jewelry from one of the four sets of Danish crown jewels: the ruby, diamond, and pearl parure, most of which was made in 1840 by C.M. Weisshaupt. The pearl necklace that Margrethe wore at the gala is even older: it belonged to Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, who was Denmark’s queen consort from 1670 to 1699. She’s also wearing the earrings and the top part of the large devant de corsage from the set.

Crown Princess Mary wore pieces from Desiree Clary’s ruby set, including the tiara, the hairpins, the earrings, the bracelet and the ring.

Here’s a view of the way that Mary incorporated the hairpins into her ‘do.

Princess Marie wore familiar pieces of jewelry: Princess Dagmar’s Floral Tiara, sapphire and diamond earrings, and Queen Alexandrine’s sapphire and diamond pendant.

Princess Benedikte wore the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Fringe Tiara, pairing it with the diamond necklace made from part of one of Queen Alexandrine’s sautoirs. The floral brooch she wears can also be used as a pendant on a necklace. Her diamond earrings are from Queen Ingrid’s collection.

Queen Anne-Marie wore the diamond necklace that is the twin of Benedikte’s necklace — both come from Queen Alexandrine’s sautoirs. She’s incorporated the necklace into the jewels from the Greek emerald parure, which features stones that Queen Olga brought with her from Russia.

Princess Elisabeth, as usual, wore the diamond and sapphire tiara that once belonged to Princess Thyra of Denmark.

Countess Sussie of Rosenborg, from the junior branch of the Danish royal family, wore Queen Alexandrine’s Fringe Tiara, pairing it with modern jewelry.

Queen Silvia of Sweden led the parade of foreign monarchs and consorts, wearing the glittering Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure.

Queen Maxima of the Netherlands wore the family’s diamond bandeau tiara and diamond earrings.  

At her waist, she secured her order sash with the large diamond bow brooch from the Stuart parure.

Queen Mathilde of the Belgians glittered for the first in the full version of the Nine Provinces Tiara. She’d previously only worn the bandeau base. She paired the tiara with her diamond and pearl wedding earrings.

But the biggest surprise of the evening by far came courtesy Queen Letizia of Spain, who debuted a brand-new tiara at the gala. She wore the diamond and pearl tiara made for her by Ansorena, which features a large, detachable fleur-de-lis at the center. She’d previously worn that part of the tiara as a brooch, but we’d not seen the entire piece until this event.

As I wrote on the blog last night, the tiara’s genesis has been shrouded in mystery a bit, but we know that it was made for Letizia and acquired around 2009. Some reports say that Felipe bought the tiara for his wife as a wedding present, but Ansorena has gone on record that they made the tiara and gave it to the princess as a gift from the firm. Accepting presents from outside entities has always been a tricky business for royals — especially royals reigning in a country dealing with economic instability — so there may be a reason that Letizia waited for a foreign, non-state event to debut the piece.

Letizia wore the new tiara with earrings made of diamonds with pendant pearls, as well as her Cartier diamond bracelet and a small diamond brooch pinned to her sash. And, even more intriguingly for Letizia’s jewel-watchers, she also appears to be wearing a wedding ring, something she hasn’t done in public for quite some time.