Let’s get the voting started in round three of our Nobel Tiara Prize tournament! Our first contest in the race for the ultimate Tiara Laureate matches up antique sapphires and modern turquoises.
Queen Silvia’s 2004 Nobel appearance in the incredible Leuchtenberg Sapphires sailed past the competition once again last round.
For the Nobel Prize ceremony and banquet on December 10, 2004, Queen Silvia selected a shimmering gown by the couturier Jacques Zehnder. The color often reads “white” to me, but it’s apparently actually a very pale, icy green.
With the dress, she wore a parure of sapphire and diamond jewels that was almost 200 years old. The Leuchtenberg Sapphires, as they are known, were given to Princess Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg by her mother-in-law, Empress Joséphine of France, in the winter of 1810-11. The sapphires were a gift to mark the birth of Augusta’s son, Prince Auguste. The set came to Stockholm with Augusta’s daughter, Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway.
The set includes a fabulous diamond tiara with sapphire and diamond clusters arranged across the top of the piece. It’s a flexible diadem: it folds flat for storage, and it can be worn in various degrees of openness. The tiara is considered one of the most important jewels in the Swedish royal vaults, and it is currently reserved for Queen Silvia’s exclusive use.
Silvia also wore the grand necklace from the set, plus the large diamond and sapphire cluster brooch. She also added the suite’s earrings, a later addition made by repurposing a set of hair pins. (The original earrings from the parure were discarded during the reign of King Gustaf V of Sweden.)
She finished off the look with several bracelets and rings and an evening watch.
Princess Sofia’s 2019 Nobel appearance in the turquoise setting of her palmette tiara triumphed over the three other settings we featured in the tournament.
Princess Sofia arrived for the Nobel Prize celebrations in Stockholm on December 10, 2019, wearing a bright blue gown from Emelie Janrell.
She coordinated the color of her jewelry with the zippy blue shade of the dress, wearing yet another new setting of her royal wedding tiara.
This time around, she added a pair of electric blue turquoise toppers to her diamond palmette tiara.
She also wore diamond and turquoise earrings for the Nobel ceremony and banquet.
She secured her order sash with a small diamond bow brooch, part of the Bernadotte jewelry collection, and a modern diamond ring with a criss-cross design.
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