Nobel Tiara Prize: Silvia’s Sofia vs Silvia’s Cameos

In December 2018, Queen Silvia paired one of her favorite Nobel Prize tiaras with a grand set of emerald jewels from the Bernadotte vaults.

Queen Silvia arrived for the Nobel Prize ceremony and banquet on December 10, 2018, wearing a green evening gown with a lace bodice and sleeves from Georg et Arend.

With the gown, Silvia wore several important antique diamond and emerald jewels from the Swedish royal vaults.

She chose Queen Sofia’s Tiara, a nineteenth-century diadem that once belonged to Queen Sofia of Sweden, for the 2018 Nobels. For many years, Silvia wore only this tiara or the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Tiara for this event, often rotating between the two.

She also added the Vasa Earrings, gorgeous eighteenth-century jewels that belonged to Queen Lovisa Ulrika of Sweden. She tied in the emerald green color of her gown by wearing the necklace and large brooch from the Bernadotte Emerald Suite, which belonged to King Carl XIV Johan, the first Bernadotte king in Sweden. The necklace was originally worn as a belt, and the large brooch was used as a belt buckle.

Here’s one more look at Silvia’s sparkling diamond and emerald jewels from the 2018 ceremony.

Next up in our tiara tournament is a brilliant appearance from the Swedish royal family’s elegant cameos on Queen Silvia in December 2005.

Queen Silvia was a vision in blue as she attended the Nobel Prize festivities on December 10, 2005, wearing a gorgeous, textured ballgown from Jacques Zehnder.

She accessorized with one of the oldest and most delicate suites of jewelry in the Bernadotte vaults: the antique cameos, which originally belonged to Empress Josephine of France.

The Cameo Parure was made for Empress Josephine around 1810, not long before she was divorced by Napoleon Bonaparte. He loved cameos (and anything that reminded him of the ancient world of Greece and Rome), and the set features numerous pieces carved by some of his favorite cameo-makers. The brooch in the parure even features a cameo portrait of Napoleon himself.

The entire suite came to Sweden with Josephine’s granddaughter, Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway, in the 1820s. The set features a grand tiara, a necklace, a pair of earrings, a bracelet, and a brooch.

Queen Silvia wore all of the pieces from the set for the Nobels in 2005. The tiara is particularly special to Silvia, who wore it on her wedding day in 1976.