Tiara Timeline: The Prussian Tiara
1892: Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany's wife, Augusta Victoria (known as "Dona"), gives birth to the couple's seventh and final child: Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia. The little girl is the couple's only daughter. Her parents are on the throne of Germany, and her great-grandmother and namesake -- Queen Victoria -- rules the competing British Empire.
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Victoria Louise of Prussia (source) |
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Ernst August and Victoria Louise (source) |
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Ernst August and Victoria Louise (source) |
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Victoria Louise of Prussia, Duchess of Brunswick (source) |
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Victoria Louise of Prussia, Duchess of Brunswick (source) |
1917: Victoria Louise gives birth to her third child and only daughter, Princess Friederike. At birth, Friederike is both a princess of Hanover and a princess of Great Britain and Ireland. However, only a few months after she was born, the British parliament passed the Titles Deprivation Act, stripping all British titles from those German royals who sided with the Central Powers during the war. Ernst August's British titles, including the Cumberland dukedom, were officially removed two years later. A year later, with the end of the war, he loses his German titles too, including the Brunswick dukedom.
1936: Friederike is in Berlin with her family attending the infamous 1936 Olympics. Also present in Germany is Prince Paul of Greece, whose mother, Sophie, was Kaiser Wilhelm's sister. Paul is the heir to the Greek throne, as his brother, King George II of the Hellenes, has no children. Friederike and Paul fall in love, and that summer, she accepts his proposal of marriage, although their engagement is not officially announced until the next year.
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Paul and Friederike of Greece (source) |
1947: After years of uncertainty and exile, Paul and Friederike become King and Queen of the Hellenes. The Prussian Tiara now belongs to a reigning queen consort.
1954: Fond of matchmaking, Queen Friederike organizes a cruise through the Greek islands and invites a number of young royals along. There, Princess Sophia meets Infante Juan Carlos of Spain. The Spanish royal family is in exile following the country's civil war, but Juan Carlos is the son of the man who would be Spain's king, the Count of Barcelona.
1961: King Paul and Queen Friederike announce Princess Sophia's engagement to Juan Carlos. After her wedding, Sophia will make two significant changes. She switches the spelling of her name to the Spanish "Sofia," and she converts from Greek Orthodoxy to Roman Catholicism.
1962: Sofia and Juan Carlos marry in Athens. Her wedding gift from her mother is, in keeping with family tradition, the Prussian Tiara. Sofia, who had worn the tiara at various events before her engagement and wedding, wears the tiara on her wedding day. (She also receives the Mellerio Shell Tiara, the Spanish Floral Tiara, and the Niarchos Rubies as wedding gifts.)
1969: Generalissimo Franco, who has decided to skip over the Count of Barcelona and make Infante Juan Carlos the heir to the Spanish throne, gives Juan Carlos and Sofia a new official title: Prince and Princess of Spain. The titles were reportedly Sofia's suggestion.
1975: Franco dies, and Juan Carlos and Sofia become King and Queen of Spain. For the second time, the Prussian Tiara is owned by a reigning queen consort. Even so, the tiara is one of the smallest in Sofia's collection, and she often wears larger tiaras, including the Mellerio Shell Tiara, the Spanish Floral Tiara, and other pieces from the Spanish royal collection.
1985: Sofia lends the Prussian Tiara to her younger daughter, Infanta Cristina, for a state banquet honoring President and Mrs. Reagan of the United States.
1988: Cristina borrows the tiara again to wear at a state banquet for Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
1994: Infanta Elena, eldest daughter of King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, borrows the Prussian Tiara at a state banquet for the Belgian royal family.
2004: Queen Sofia's only son, Prince Felipe, marries Spanish journalist Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano in Madrid. The tradition of the Prussian Tiara as a bridal diadem extends to another generation when Sofia lends it to her new daughter-in-law to wear on her wedding day.
2004: Now Princess of Asturias, Letizia wears the Prussian Tiara at a state banquet for the President of Peru.
2004: In September, Letizia wears the tiara for a third time in a year at a state banquet for the Czech president.
2005: Letizia borrows the tiara again for a state banquet for the President of Hungary.
2007: Sofia lends the tiara to Letizia for a state banquet honoring the Slovakian president.
2008: Letizia wears the tiara at a state dinner for the President of Mexico.
2009: Letizia wears the Prussian Tiara at a February gala dinner for the President of Argentina.
2009: The Prussian Tiara is Letizia's choice for an April state banquet for the President of India.
2009: Less than a week later, the Spanish royals welcome President Sarkozy of France to Madrid for a state visit, and Letizia borrows the Prussian Tiara again for the state banquet.
2009: In October, Letizia wears the tiara at a state dinner for the President of Lebanon.
2009: In December, Letizia wears the tiara for the fifth time in a year, at a state banquet for the President of Vietnam.
2011: Letizia wears the tiara at a gala banquet for the President of Chile in March; this is also, I believe, the most recent time the tiara was seen in public.