Royal Wedding Tiaras: the Queen and Princess Anne

Royal Wedding Tiaras: the Queen and Princess Anne

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The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh on their wedding day

A tiara worn by the longest reigning monarch in British history and her only daughter for their marriages is going to take some beating as a royal wedding diadem and this delight of diamonds is pretty hard to top. The sparkling fringe tiara chosen by the then Princess Elizabeth and her daughter, Princess Anne, for their weddings had plenty of royal pedigree before its starring role in their big days. And now it's known just as much for its part in the weddings of Elizabeth II and Anne, Princess Royal. This really is a royal wedding tiara.

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This fringe tiara is now most often called after that diamond queen of the House of Windsor, Mary, who collected gems like most of us collect cups of tea and who has bequeathed a truly stunning collection of stones to her descendants. At the time this tiara was first worn for a royal wedding, Mary was still alive and no doubt had something to say about the jewels being worn on November 20th 1947 when her granddaughter, Elizabeth, married Prince Philip.

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The bride chose to wear this sparkling set of diamonds perhaps to provide a link to her grandmother, Queen Mary, and possibly even her great, great grandmother, Queen Victoria. For this tiara was created from a diamond necklace given to Mary by Victoria for her own marriage in 1893.

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There were two things Mary did really well in life - diamonds and duty. And true to form, when her own husband, George V, died in 1936 she did her duty and passed these diamonds to the new queen consort, Elizabeth, who on November 20th 1947 was mother of the bride.

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It's perhaps not surprising then that with all these family links, Princess Anne chose to wear it for her own wedding in 1973. Her first marriage, to Captain Mark Phillips, was a global affair and she was the most famous royal bride of the decade so the tiara had to pack a punch, both sparkler wise and history wise. What better than this diadem decked with diamonds and filled with sentimental value?

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It's a rather pretty tiara, modern without being avant garde and easy to match to just about any wedding dress design going. But it's the family history behind it that really turns this one into something special. Linked to two of the most famous royal women of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it now has an even bigger part in regal history with its associations with Anne, Princess Royal and Elizabeth II.

Royal Wedding Tiaras: Stephanie of Luxembourg

Royal Wedding Tiaras: Stephanie of Luxembourg

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A family tiara for Stephanie of Luxembourg on her wedding day

(photo By Denis Probst - Own work, archive Denis Probst, CC BY-SA 3.0 lu, Link)

The royal family that Stephanie de Lannoy married into on October 20th 2012 has one of the best collections of tiaras around. But on her big day, the new Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg chose a tiara much closer to home - her family diadem, worn by her sisters on their own wedding days. This royal bride followed her own tradition with a tiara filled with sentimental value.

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That's not to say that her sparkler isn't really rather lovely. It's made of platinum and diamonds with the stones shaped into leaves that scroll in an arch towards a centre point which is topped with an inverted pear shaped gem. There are 270 diamonds in this diadem and although it's delicate and demure, it packs its own weight in gem power.

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The Lannoy family can trace its history back to the 13th century nobility of Hainault but it acquired this sparkling example of aristocratic standing about 100 years ago when the tiara was created by the Belgian jeweller Altenloh of Brussels. In this generation, Stephanie's sisters and sisters-in-law wore the piece for their weddings. Stephanie was also mourning her mother on the day she got married - Alix de Lannoy had died that August, just weeks before the wedding of her youngest child.

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Stephanie's tiara might not be as grand or glittering as some of those worn by royal brides at recent weddings but its sentimental attachment and the way it honours her family make it a real stand out diadem choice. It also suits this bride down to the ground and given that she has decades to enjoy the Luxembourg tiara collection there was no need to rush into its gem studded vaults just yet. There is something romantic and touching about this tiara choice and it look spectacular too. A sparkling success all round for Stephanie.

Royal Wedding Tiaras: Infanta Cristina of Spain

Royal Wedding Tiaras: Infanta Cristina of Spain

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It all started so well. The marriage of Infanta Cristina and Inaki Urdangarin on October 4th 1997 was a sparkling event with a royal guest list, a handsome couple and enough public support to make any monarchy feel rather comfortable in its ermine clad skin. The next twenty years saw that fairytale put to the test and then some. The marriage of Cristina and Inaki has endured even if it hasn't always been the glittering jewel in the Spanish royal crown. But on their 20th wedding anniversary, let's enjoy a little bit of sparkle as we look back at the tiara Cristina wore on the day she said 'I do'.


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The diamond diadem in question is a familar one to royal watchers. The Spanish Floral Tiara has been a regular on the regal scene since 1962 when Franco gave it to the then Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark as a wedding present from the people of Spain. It can actually trace its history back to the late 19th century and another set of royals. King Alfonso XII (Cristina's great great grandfather) had it made for his second wife, Maria Christina of Austria (great great granny to Cristina) but it left royal possession before Franco bought it as a wedding gift.

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It was made by that powerhouse of royal jewellery makers, Mellerio, and it features a rather pretty floral design made entirely of diamonds. There is a large, central flower flanked on either sides by smaller floral designs and lots of leaves.

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The link to Cristina's mother make it an extra special wedding choice, too. The now sixth in line to the Spanish throne kept this as a go to until she stopped attending royal events following the financial scandal that surrounded her and her husband. The fairytale ending may still elude Spain's royals but this tiara, very pretty and very bridal, remains a regal wedding star turn even now.

5 royal brides who didn't wear tiaras....

5 royal brides who didn't wear tiaras....

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Royal brides wear tiaras, we all know that to be true. And if you're hubby is a) a ruling sovereign or b) quite likely to end up as one then a diadem is all but compulsory. However, several very important royal brides have bucked that trend including one who celebrates her 49th wedding anniversary today and walked down the aisle with only flowers in her hair. Here are five famous royal consorts who didn't wear tiaras to their weddings.



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Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

April 26th 1923

When Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon married Albert, Duke of York at Westminster Abbey she wasn't expected to be queen. She was also marrying into a royal family that hadn't really done bridal tiaras for a while. So the lack of diamond diadem was less surprising than it might have been. Instead, the woman who would end up as Queen Mother chose to wear myrtle in her hair with a white York rose on either side of her headdress. Yep, even then, Elizabeth knew just how to do things right. This dress is very 1920s and really rather simple for a woman who would become one of the last empresses of the 20th century. Not many of those just wear flowers in their hair.

Embed from Getty Images  Princess Astrid of SwedenNovember 1926

Just three years later, one of the most popular royal brides of the twenties swerved a wedding tiara chance not once but twice. Astrid of Sweden's marriage to Leopold, heir to the throne of Belgium, was one of the love stories of the time. The couple were hugely popular with massive crowds gathering for both their civil wedding in Stockholm on November 4th 1926 and again for their religious ceremony at the Cathedral of St Michel and St Gudula in Brussels on November 10th that year. Astrid didn't wear a tiara to either celebration. She kept things very traditional for her home wedding, choosing a Swedish crown of myrtle to top her lace veil. There was even less adornment for her Belgian wedding even though just about every female guest at the ceremony was wearing a tiara. Astrid was marrying an heir to the throne but chose to do things her way. She would become Queen of the Belgians in 1934 on her husband's accession as Leopold III. Queen Astrid died following a car accident on August 29th 1935.

Grace KellyApril 19th 1956
Grace Kelly wasn't just marrying a sovereign when she walked down the aisle in Monaco to say 'I do' to Prince Rainier III on April 19th 1956. She was creating the image of the perfect princess. The Hollywood superstar turned royal bride was dressed to impress by Helen Rose of MGM and the two of them decided to ditch the diadem. Instead of a tiara, the bride the world wanted to see wore a beaded lace Juliet cap. But then Grace didn't need diamonds to sparkle. Her wedding look was iconic from the moment it appears and remains the same today. 
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Paola Ruffo di CalabriaJuly 2nd 1959
Like Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Paola didn't think she was marrying a future king when she said 'I do' to Albert of Belgium in Brussels in July 1959. Her new husband was the younger brother of King Baudouin of the Belgians who, at that time, was expected to wed and have children himself. So Paola's marriage - which she had wanted to have in Rome - was a lower key affair although still packed with royalty, a huge train and epic amounts of flowers. And the bride's decision to wear orange blossom in her hair rather than a tiara was a bit of a departure from the expected norm at the time although all eyes were on her Brussels lace veil, a family heirloom of hers. Paola ended up Queen of the Belgians when Albert succeeded his brother in 1993 after Baudouin and his wife, Fabiola, had no children of their own. Albert abdicated in favour of his son, Philipppe, in 2013.
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Sonja HaraldsenAugust 29th 1968
Like many a 1960s bride before and after her, Sonja Haraldsen went fake flowers for her hair ornament. Never mind that she was marrying the future King of Norway. Never mind that their royal romance had caused all kinds of controversy as the Crown Prince was meant to marry regally. Never mind that on saying 'I do' Sonja became the leading lady of Norway as her new father-in-law, King Olav, was a widower. None of that was enough to persuade Sonja to drop her dream look and swap a (rather pretty) artificial flower arrangement for a tiara. She chose a small spray of white flowers to top her simple veil and dress. Sonja, who became Queen of Norway in 1991, has never knowingly shied away from a tiara since her wedding but on the day she became a royal bride she chose to do things her way and keep the flowers unreal.