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Now that there are officially two-and-a-half days to go before Princess Ingrid Alexandra turns 18, the countdown to when she will make her official tiara debut, and debate over which tiara will be the first one she wears, is on.

In no particular order, here are my top four picks for Ingrid Alexandra’s first tiara:

The Vifte Tiara

The sole tiara on this list to come from Ingrid’s British ancestors, the Vifte tiara was a wedding gift from the Rothschild family to Queen Maud. Its name comes from the fact that it resembles a fan, or vifte in Norwegian. Made of diamonds set in silver and gold, the tiara can be worn either as a tiara or as a necklace. Queen Sonja inherited the tiara when she married King Harald in 1968, and she passed it down to her daughter-in-law Crown Princess Mette-Marit shortly before her wedding to Crown Prince Haakon in 2001. Mette-Marit has worn this as a tiara exactly once, during the 80th birthday celebrations in honor of Harald and Sonja in 2017. Since Mette-Marit favors her other tiaras, maybe she will pass this along to Ingrid so it can get some more love.

The Vasa Tiara

This tiara was a wedding gift from the people of Stockholm to Princess Märtha when she left home to marry Crown Prince Olav in 1929. Known as the Vasa tiara due to its central elements evoking the sigil of the House of Vasa, a former ruling family of Sweden, it was one of Crown Princess Märtha’s favorite tiaras. She shared it with her daughters, Princesses Ragnhild and Astrid, and after Märtha’s death in 1954 and her Harald’s marriage 14 years later, Princess Astrid became the sole wearer of the tiara. Astrid has stated that she considered the tiara to be a lifetime loan, and it will go back to the main line of the royal family after her death. She has already begun passing along some valuable family history to Ingrid with her gift of the badge of the Order of Victoria and Albert that belonged to Queen Maud for Ingrid’s confirmation - maybe she will pass the Vasa along as an 18th birthday present to her great-niece, so she can enjoy seeing her beloved mother’s tiara on the head of a future queen before she passes.

The Amethyst Necklace Tiara

This tiara, made of amethysts, can be worn as a necklace and a tiara, hence its name. The origins of this tiara are still unknown; depending on the source it was a gift from King Harald to Queen Sonja, or it was Garrard’s “we’re sorry your tiara was stolen” gift following the theft of Queen Maud’s Diamond and Pearl Tiara. Queen Sonja has worn it as a tiara and a necklace, and passed it along to Crown Princess Mette-Marit in 2004, likely as a push present following the birth of Ingrid Alexandra. Mette-Marit has also loaned this tiara out to her sister-in-law, Princess Märtha Louise, for the 2010 wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel and the 2021 Dutch State Visit to Norway. Maxima passed along her push present from Willem-Alexander following the birth of their heir to Amalia for her 18th birthday; maybe Mette-Marit will take some inspiration from her Dutch friend and pass this tiara to Ingrid.

A Brand New Tiara

A recent tradition has been to gift princesses turning 18 or marrying into the family a brand new tiara. King Olav began this when he gifted a brand-new tiara to Princess Märtha Louise on her 18th birthday in 1989, and King Harald and Queen Sonja continued the tradition, giving Crown Princess Mette-Marit the Diamond Daisy Tiara when she married Crown Prince Haakon in 2001. Both of these tiaras have come from Norwegian court favorite Garrard, and I don’t see Harald and Sonja going to a different jeweler for something as important as their heir’s 18th birthday tiara. It would be interesting to see what comes out of the Garrard vaults for Ingrid!

Other Tiara Options