Queen Josefina’s Diamond Tiara

The Norwegian royal vaults contain a smaller collection of jewels than many of their Scandinavian contemporaries, but there are some stunning tiaras tucked away, including today’s jewel, a classic diamond tiara with French imperial roots.

When you first dig into the history of the Scandinavian royal families, one of the first things you notice is the plethora of empresses, queens, and princesses named “Josephine” in the family tree. Because of that, there are many opportunities to confuse the royal Josephines with their various tiaras. But the Josephine associated with this lovely diamond tiara is clear: it comes from Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway (née Princess Joséphine of Leuchtenberg), the wife of King Oscar I and the granddaughter of another famous Josephine (that would be Napoleon’s Empress Joséphine). So many Josephines!

Although some have suggested that this tiara first belonged to Queen Désirée of Sweden, the Norwegian royal jewelry historian Trond Noren Isaksen argues that the tiara first belonged to Empress Joséphine, who was the grandmother of Queen Josefina. The maker is also uncertain, but the design is beautiful and typical of the first half of the nineteenth century, with its intricate diamond floral and laurel wreath elements. In the portrait above, painted by Friedrich Dürck, Queen Josefina wears the tiara with traditional Swedish court dress.

When Queen Josefina died, the tiara was inherited by her granddaughter, Lovisa, who married King Frederik VIII of Denmark. After Queen Lovisa’s death in 1926, the tiara passed to her unmarried son, Prince Gustav.

Prince Gustav did not marry and had no children of his own. When he died in 1944, he left the tiara to his niece, Princess Märtha of Sweden, who had married Crown Prince Olav of Norway in 1929. Crown Princess Märtha wears the tiara in this post-war gala portrait, paired with other family diamonds, including pendant earrings that belonged to Olav’s grandmother, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom.

Crown Princess Märtha died before she could become queen of Norway. After her death, her daughter, Princess Astrid, frequently wore the tiara while serving as Norway’s de facto first lady. Today, it’s Märtha’s daughter-in-law, Queen Sonja, who wears Josefina’s tiara. She has been sparkling in the tiara for more than half a century!