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Astrid wears the tiara for the pre-wedding gala in Luxembourg, 2012 (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images) |
Although we mostly associate it with Italy, the tiara’s history traces back to a French princess, Anne of OrlĂ©ans. She married her first cousin, Prince Amedeo of Savoy, in 1927. The tiara is an all-diamond piece, likely set in platinum; it features floral and scroll motifs in its design.
The first images of Anne wearing the tiara show her using it 1920s style, wearing it low across her forehead as a bandeau. Amedeo became Duke of Aosta on his father’s death in 1931. He commanded the Italian forces in East Africa during World War II, and he died as a prisoner of war in Kenya in 1942. Because he and Anne had only daughters, the Aosta title passed to his younger brother, but the tiara stayed with the women of the family.
Anne wore the tiara during the celebrations for the wedding of her eldest daughter, Princess Margherita, and Archduke Robert of Austria-Este (one of the sons of last rulers of Austria-Hungary, Emperor Karl I and Empress Zita) in 1953. Margherita later borrowed the tiara for another royal wedding: the nuptials of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium in 1960. Margherita would eventually inherit the tiara from her mother — and she would also find herself further connected with the Belgian royals. Robert and Margherita’s son, Lorenz, married Princess Astrid of Belgium in 1984.
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Astrid wears the tiara during the Hungarian state visit to Belgium, 2008 (Mark Renders/Getty Images) |
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Anna Therese of Arco-Zinneberg wears the tiara on her wedding day, October 2018 (Photo generously provided by Gabi; do not reproduce) |