![Queen Paola of Belgium attends a gala on the eve of the wedding of the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg on October 19, 2012 (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-154431012-crop.jpg?resize=1200%2C829&ssl=1)
The Belgian royal tiara collection may be small, but the pieces they have are fascinating. Today we’re discussing one of the most classic sparklers of the bunch: the diamond art deco bandeau that has been worn by generations of Belgian queens.
![Jos Damien's portrait of Queen Astrid of Belgium (Wikimedia Commons)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/Jos_Damien_et_Anna_Rutten_-_Astrid2C_Queen_of_Belgium.jpg?resize=978%2C1667&ssl=1)
The tiara was made for Queen Elisabeth of Belgium in the early twentieth century. It’s relatively small, featuring a simple diamond zig-zag design punctuated by round diamonds and crossed by diamond laurel wreath. It’s also a convertible tiara — it can be worn as a necklace (a choker, more specifically), atop the head as a traditional tiara, or across the forehead as a bandeau.
Queen Elisabeth seemed to prefer some of her other tiaras to this simpler bandeau, and she eventually gave the tiara to her daughter-in-law, Queen Astrid, who wears it in the portrait pictured above. Sadly, Astrid didn’t have long to make use of the piece; she died in a car accident at the age of only 29.
The next wearer of the tiara was Princess Lilian, the second of wife of Astrid’s husband, King Leopold III. Along with wearing the bandeau as a tiara (supplemented with extra diamonds, likely the large round diamonds from the Nine Provinces Tiara), Lilian sat for a portrait wearing the piece as a choker.
![The Prince and Princess of Liege dance at the Waterloo Ball in Brussels on June 6, 1965 (Keystone Press/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/E0X5C5.jpg?resize=1200%2C1536&ssl=1)
But again, the tiara was passed along to another member of the royal family relatively quickly. Queen Paola, then Princess of Liège, began wearing the tiara in the 1960s, nestling the sparkler in her fashionable bouffant hairstyles.
![The Prince and Princess of Liege are pictured in August 1968 (Trinity Mirror/Mirrorpix/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/B4R2HK.jpg?resize=1200%2C813&ssl=1)
This photograph of Paola, taken in the summer of 1968, gives you an idea of the length of the bandeau.
![Queen Sofia of Spain and Queen Paola of Belgium attend the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in Copenhagen on May 14, 2004 (SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/GettyImages-50838095.jpg?resize=1200%2C853&ssl=1)
Queen Paola wore the tiara regularly both before and after her husband’s accession to the Belgian throne. Here, she wears it during the celebrations of the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in 2004. (You’ll also notice that she’s wearing the base of the Nine Provinces Tiara as a choker necklace!)
![Queen Paola of Belgium attends a banquet at Laeken given for the visiting President of Portugal on October 18, 2005 (Mark Renders/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-55950728.jpg?resize=1200%2C1570&ssl=1)
While she often chose the Nine Provinces for diplomatic gala events, she wore the Art Deco Bandeau sometimes on those occasions, too. Here, she wears the tiara during a state visit from the President of Portugal in 2005.
![King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium attend the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden in Stockholm on June 19, 2010 (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-102229124.jpg?resize=1200%2C1803&ssl=1)
In 2010, Queen Paola chose the tiara for another major royal wedding: the nuptials of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden.
![Queen Paola of Belgium attends a gala on the eve of the wedding of the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg on October 19, 2012 (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-154430688.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
She also chose it for an important family affair two years later: the pre-wedding ball held for her great-nephew, Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg, in October 2012.
![The Duchess of Brabant is pictured on her wedding day in Brussels, December 4, 1999 (PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP via Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/2022-0907-mathilde02.jpg?resize=1200%2C1738&ssl=1)
Paola has also generously lent the tiara to other family members on multiple occasions. In December 1999, she loaned the sparkler to her new daughter-in-law, Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz, for her royal wedding.
![Elisabetta Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein arrives for her wedding to Prince Amedeo of Belgium in Rome on July 5, 2014 (Elisabetta Villa/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/GettyImages-451737172.jpg?resize=1200%2C1796&ssl=1)
And in July 2014, she loaned the tiara to Elisabetta Rosboch von Wolkenstein for her wedding to Prince Amedeo of Belgium (Paola’s grandson).
![Princess Astrid of Belgium attends a banquet at Laeken given for the visiting President of Germany on March 8, 2016 (Patrick van Katwijk/DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/FKH8H6.jpg?resize=1200%2C1799&ssl=1)
Queen Paola is, by all accounts, still the owner of the bandeau tiara today. She passed the Nine Provinces along to Queen Mathilde in 2013, but the Art Deco Bandeau remains in her collection, even though she’s no longer wearing tiaras in public. Most recently, Paola has loaned the bandeau to her daughter, Princess Astrid, who wears it above for the German state banquet at Laeken in March 2016.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.