Sophie of Prussia as Queen of the Hellenes, ca. 1913 [1] |
Archives for March 2014
Saturday Sparkler: The Ruby Olive Wreath Tiara
Olga of the Hellenes wears the olive wreath tiara [1] |
Through all of their trials and tribulations (and assassinations and exiles, etc., etc.), the Greeks really have done a remarkable job of keeping their hands on (or, rather, getting their hands back on) their tiaras. Today’s sparkler, the Ruby Olive Wreath Tiara, is an example of an heirloom piece that has been reunited with the former royal family and remains with them today.
The olive wreath’s first royal wearer was Queen Olga, who was born a Russian grand duchess and became queen at the tender age of 16. The rubies in the tiara and the rest of the parure, which some think may have been sourced from her native Russia, are pigeon’s blood rubies, which sometimes look pinky-purple in certain lights. Apparently Olga’s husband, King George I of the Hellenes, purchased the rubies and had them set in the parure for his wife. When Olga died in 1926, she left the rubies to her son, Prince Nicholas. His wife, Elena Vladimirovna of Russia (AKA the woman who sold the Vladimir tiara to Queen Mary), wore the ruby set in a portrait. They also loaned the tiara to their daughter, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who wore it to the State Opening of Parliament in October 1937.
Olga of Yugoslavia [2] |
Nicholas’s daughter, Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, was the next lucky person to own the tiara; she inherited the sparkler from her father in 1938. She wore the ruby parure in a portrait; she also, unfortunately, wore it during a visit to Berlin in 1939. Olga had several other tiaras, from both her own family and from the family of her husband, and this tiara apparently wasn’t one that she wore very often. The war years were not particularly kind to the Yugoslavian royals, who were exiled, and the tiara was sold.
But this was a good tiara sale, because the buyer of the tiara was none other than King Paul of Greece, Olga’s cousin. His wife, Queen Friederike, put the olive wreath tiara to good use during her husband’s reign, and after his death, she passed it along to the new queen, Anne-Marie. Anne-Marie brought the tiara with her when the monarchy was deposed for a final time, and she still wears the tiara and the rest of the ruby parure regularly today, along with many other pieces from the Greek royal collection [3].
2. Cropped version of a photograph available via Wikimedia Commons; source here.
3. A version of this post originally appeared at A Tiara a Day in April 2013.
Victoria Melita’s Meander Kokoshnik
Victoria Melita of Edinburgh (as a Russian grand duchess) wearing her kokosnik, ca. 1913 [1] |
Victoria Melita — who got her unusual middle name because she was born in Malta — was the third child of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh (and later also Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; he was a son of Prince Albert and Queen Victoria) and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. The princess, who was called “Ducky” by her family, was married twice. Her first marriage to Prince Ernst of Hesse (her first cousin, and the brother of Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna) was a disaster, and she had to wait until their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria, died before she could divorce him. Tainted by the scandal, Ducky was a bit of an outcast in royal circles, but she ended up making another royal marriage, this time to a Romanov. Her 1905 wedding to yet another first cousin, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich — the son of Maria Pavlovna the Elder, owner of the famous Vladimir Tiara — caused further outrage, but the pair were in love. Unfortunately, their marriage wasn’t exactly an unqualified success either, but so goes the story of so many royal marriages from a century ago.
Today’s piece of jewelry, her meander tiara, is from the time of her second marriage. Befitting a Russian grand duchess, this tiara started off as a kokoshnik. (We talked yesterday about the definition of kokoshnik — head over that way if you need a refresher!) Look closely at the photo of Victoria Melita above; you can see the thinner bands of diamonds that mark the top of the kokoshnik shape. Those bands are set atop the fabric backing that is attached to the diamond meander, or “Greek key,” design. You can even see a bit of the ribbon used to secure the kokoshnik; it’s tied in a bow at the nape of Ducky’s neck. She’s wearing Russian court dress in the photograph, which is why you can also see a veil attached to the back of her headpiece.
Carol and Helen’s marriage was, sadly, just as disastrous as Ernst and Ducky’s had been a generation earlier. But their son, Michael, did end up reigning as Romanian king before finally being compelled to abdicate in 1947. Even though he lost his throne, his family was able to retain this tiara. His wife, Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma, wore the tiara to their wedding in 1948. Their daughter, Princess Maria, also wore the tiara at her wedding in 1995. Today, the piece is worn most frequently by Michael and Anne’s eldest daughter, Margarita. She often represents her father at European royal events, giving her plenty of opportunities to show off the family’s only remaining heirloom tiara.
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