Archives for 2016
The Dutch Star Tiara
Queen (then Princess) Maxima of the Netherlands wears the star tiara (Sion Touhig/Getty Images) |
The year is 2002, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti is preparing to marry the heir to the Dutch throne. If you’re a royal bride, you can play the wedding tiara game a few ways: you can opt for a safe choice (like the Duchess of Cambridge), you can wear an heirloom tiara (like Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden), you can go for no tiara at all (never something I’d personally advise), or you can go big. Máxima, being Máxima, went for major sparkle.
(Michel Porro/Getty Images) |
Máxima chose something of a frankentiara — a piece that features elements of two different items of jewelry mixed together to make a new tiara — for her wedding day. First, she selected the base of one of the Dutch royal family’s existing tiaras: the Pearl Button Tiara (worn above by Princess Margriet). There’s a debate about the actual age of the Pearl Button: some think that it was made in the twentieth century, while others argue that its base was a part of a coronet worn by Queen Sophie of the Netherlands, which would make it an earlier creation.
(OLAF KRAAK/AFP/Getty Images) |
Rather than wearing the tiara with the pearl buttons (like Princess Margriet did at her wedding), Queen Máxima chose to wear it on her wedding day with five of the diamond stars that belonged to Queen Emma. Emma had been given two sets of diamond star brooches when she married King Willem III in 1879. One set has stars with ten points; the other has stars with twelve.
(Sean Gallup/Getty Images) |
Máxima chose the ten-pointed stars for her wedding tiara. On occasion, she also wears the twelve-pointed stars in other ways, including as pins on order sashes. Above, she wears the tiara at the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in 2004.
(JERRY LAMPEN/AFP/Getty Images) |
Máxima wore the tiara frequently in the early years of her marriage, but in more recent years, she’s only worn it for one public outing: a dinner during the 2013 Israeli state visit.
So far, only three members of the Dutch royal family have worn the star version of this tiara: Máxima, Princess Beatrix (who wears it above at a diplomatic reception in 2015), and Princess Margriet. It’s not a tiara that every princess could pull off — you need an element of pizzazz about you to make the stars work. But it’s practically perfect for Máxima, who absolutely oozes joie de vivre.
The Best Royal Jewels of 2016: #1 (Madeleine’s Tea Party)
(DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP/Getty Images) |
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In February, Princess Madeleine of Sweden pulled off the very best bejeweled royal appearance of the year: attending a tea party for Swedish children dealing with medical issues, all while wearing full white-tie attire. The kids got a real-life princess in all her glory for this party!
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Madeleine wore a look worthy of the Nobels (in fact, repeated from the 2015 Nobels!): the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik and other pieces of diamond and aquamarine jewelry. She even donned her Order of the Seraphim sash and her father’s family order! Her daughter, Princess Leonore, also came along for the fun.
(screencap) |
The aquamarine kokoshnik is one of my favorite tiaras, and Madeleine looks absolutely smashing in it, so this look would hit the top of my list on its own. But add in an event to celebrate kids who deserve a little extra brightness in their lives? How could I choose anything else??? (See the video from this event over here!)
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