Made by Cartier in 1902, it was given to her by her parents on the occasion of her wedding to Nicholas of Greece and Denmark. It was inherited by her daughter Olga of Greece and Denmark, Princess Paul of Yugoslavia, but its whereabouts are unknown.
The tiara was made by Boucheron in 1900 for their display at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. Prince Carl of Sweden saw the tiara and bought it for his wife Princess Ingeborg. It was later adapted to include three pearl elements that may have belonged to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Younger.
Princess Ingeborg (above left) gave the tiara to her granddaughter, Princess Ragnhild (above right), but before that it was worn by two of her daughters, Crown Princess Märtha of Norway (below left) and Princess Margaretha of Denmark (below right). Princess Ingeborg is Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s great-great grandmother.
The story was always that of Princess Ragnhild’s two tiaras, Queen Maud’s Diamond Tiara would go back to the mainline of the family and the Pearl Circle Tiara would stay with her descendants since it was never really part of the Norwegian collection. It’s unclear if the tiara was inherited by King Harald after Ragnhild died in 2012 or if he bought it from his sister’s family. If anyone lives in Norway and reads Se og Hør, let me know if there’s any more information.
I generally don’t believe these kinds of stories in magazines but Isaksen is very trustworthy. I hope it’s true because I want this it to belong to the Norwegian royals going forward. It’s decent size tiara but the design is so light that I think it will work well for a young princess so long as she has some good tiara hair. I can’t wait for Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s 18th birthday gala on June 17th!
The tiara is inspired by Flora, the Roman goddess of flowers, with flowers and ribbons gently flowing in the spring breeze. It is part of the 2017 Mikimoto High Jewelry “Praise to Nature” Collection which pays homage to vibrantly changing faces of nature in the form of beautiful jewelry.
Napoleon gave the Diadem to his second wife, the Empress Marie-Louise, on the occasion of their marriage. Originally the diadem, commissioned in 1810, was set with emeralds, which were replaced in the mid-1950s with turquoise. It was made by Etienne Nitot et Fils of Paris. The diadem was one piece of a parure that also included a necklace and earrings (now in the Louvre) and comb (disassembled), all in emeralds, diamonds, silver and gold. Marie-Louise bequeathed the diadem and accompanying jewelry to her Hapsburg aunt, Archduchess Elise.
The jewelry was acquired by Van Cleef & Arpels from one of Archduchess Elise’s descendants, Archduke Karl Stefan Hapsburg of Sweden, in 1953, along with a document attesting to their provenance. During the period from May 1954 to June 1956, the emeralds were removed from the diadem by Van Cleef & Arpels and sold individually in pieces of jewelry. A newspaper advertisement placed by the company in 1955 promised: “An emerald for you from the historic Napoleonic Tiara…” Sometime between 1956 and 1962, Van Cleef & Arpels mounted the turquoise into the diadem. In 1962, the diadem with turquoise, was displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris along with the necklace, earrings, and comb, as part of a special exhibition on Empress Marie-Louise. Marjorie Merriweather Post purchased the diadem from Van Cleef & Arpels and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1971. The diadem* is an elaborate design of scrolls, palmettes and medallions and contains 79 Persian turquoise stones (totaling 540cts) and 1,006 old mine cut diamonds (totaling 700cts) set in silver and gold.
*A crown encircles the head in a complete circle and can be worn by men and women; diadems and tiaras are forms of crowns: a diadem is not a complete circle (usually ¾ way around), it has an opening in the back and can also be worn by men and women; a tiara (semi-circular high crown) is a smaller headpiece worn at the front of the head, by women only.
TIARA ALERT: Queen Maxima of the Netherlands wore Queen Juliana’s Aquamarine Tiara for the banquet during the state visit from India at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam on 5 April 2022.
Tiara from a parure owned by Stéphanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Napoleon I. Originally a belt, Princess Josephine of Hohenzollern Sigmaringen, her middle daughter, had it remounted to a tiara.
TIARA ALERT: Isabelle Junot wore a pearl and diamond tiara at her wedding to Álvaro Falcó Chávarri, 4th Marqués de Cubas, at the Palacio del Marqués de Mirabel in Plasencia, Spain on 2 April 2022.
The tiara was a gift to Carlota Maximiliana de Escandón y Barrón, Duquesa de Montellano, from her mother when she married Felipe Falcó y Ossorio, 8th Duque de Montellano, in 1891. Chaumet made her corbeille de mariage and it wouldn’t surprise me if they also made this tiara. It looks like the top diamonds and pear shaped pearls have been removed. I don’t know who in the Falcó family currently owns the tiara but it was also worn by the groom’s cousin, Alejandra ‘Xandra’ Falcó y Girod, 13th Marquesa de Mirabel, at her wedding to Jaime Carvajal Hoyos in 1998.
Made in 1856 for Maria, Countess Granville, to wear in Moscow to celebrate the coronation of Tsar Alexander II. The set has 88 gems and intaglios in total including carnelian, amethyst, garnets, emeralds, sapphires, and diamonds some of which dates back to ancient times
Sotheby’s will be showing fifty tiaras from British aristocratic families as part of their Jubilee Arts Festival celebrating the 70th anniversary since Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation. The ‘Power & Image: Royal & Aristocratic Tiaras’ exhibition runs from May 28th to June 15th and is free to attend. You can find out more about visiting here. In addition to the aristocratic tiaras on display there will be contemporary tiaras by British jewelers available for sale.
THE FÜRSTENBERG TIARA HITS THE AUCTION BLOCK AT CHRISTIE’S
A very versatile tiara from a European princely collection will be sold next week at Christie’s in Geneva next week—and we’ve got all the details on the sparkling jewel!
The diamond and pearl tiara dates to the nineteenth century. It was originally part of the jewelry collection of the Prince and Princess of Fürstenberg, heads of a princely house from Germany. You’ll recognize the von Fürstenberg name from some of its more famous bearers. Members of the extended family include the socialite Ira von Fürstenberg, fashion designer Diane von Fürstenberg (who was married to a member of the family), and Alexandra von Fürstenberg (sister of Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece, and also a former wife of a member of the extended family).
And other gemstones could be placed where the pearls would normally sit as well. Here, in a portrait painted by that master Philip de Laszlo, Princess Irma wears the all-diamond version of the tiara with a large emerald addition. The picture was painted around 1899.
The auction house also demonstrates how the diamond sections look when removed from the frame and placed in a necklace setting. Each individual diamond element can be worn separately as a brooch or a hairpin.
Here’s one more look at the way the necklace would sit when worn. The remarkable jewel is being offered for sale by “a lady of title.” It will be auctioned in Geneva on May 11, and the estimate is currently set at 400,000-600,000 Swiss francs (about $408,000-613,000 USD). Which royal lady do you think this tiara would suit best?
The theme of this year’s Met Gala and accompanying exhibition is ‘In America: An Anthology of Fashion’ which apparently means they are taking inspiration from the Gilded Age (∼1870-1900) in the United States. According to the invitations, the dress code is 'gilded glamour, white tie.’ We usually see at least a couple of tiaras at the Met Gala but this year I’m hoping for a lot of them!
Tiaras were very popular for wealthy women in the Gilded Age which I love because most people think that tiaras are just for royalty and that is not true at all. The trouble is that non-royal tiaras are so much more difficult to find information about than their royal counterparts and I’m always on a mission for info into American tiaras. Here’s a few Gilded Age tiaras to get us exited!
Mary-Louise Hungerford MacKay’s Trefoil Arabesque Tiara by Boucheron, 1889
Alva Smith Vanderbilt’s Pearl Tiara by Boucheron, 1890
Julia Kemp’s Diamond Tiara by Tiffany & Co., 1894
Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney’s Diamond Tiara by Boucheron, 1896
Cornelia Sherman Martin’s Diamond Flame Tiara, before 1897
JP Morgan’s Diamond Winged Tiara by Cartier, 1901 (I’m assuming he bought this for someone else and wasn’t just wearing it around the house but you never know)
Lila Vanderbilt Sloane Field’s Diamond Tiara by Cartier, 1902
Mary Morgan Burn’s Ruby Tiara by Boucheron, 1903
Harry Payne Whitney’s Wreath Tiara by Cartier (I assume he bought this for his wife, Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, but his sister-in-law, Gladys Vanderbilt Széchenyi, was photographed wearing a very similar tiara in all diamonds)
Mary Scott Townsend’s Diamond Tiara by Cartier, 1905
“This ornate headdress and pair of earrings were found with the body of Queen Puabi in the Royal Cemetery at Ur. The headdress is made up of 20 gold leaves, two strings of lapis and carnelian, and a large gold comb. In addition, she wore chokers, necklaces, and large lunate-shaped earrings. Her upper body was covered by strands of beads made of precious metals and semiprecious stones that stretched from her shoulders to her belt. Ten rings decorated her fingers. A diadem or fillet made up of thousands of small lapis lazuli beads with gold pendants depicting plants and animals was apparently on a table near her head. Two attendants were in the chamber with Puabi, one crouched near her head, the other at her feet. Various metal, stone, and pottery vessels lay around the walls of the chamber.”
