Nobel Tiara Prize: Victoria’s Fringe vs Victoria’s Buttons

Our first bejeweled Nobel look of the afternoon features Crown Princess Victoria wearing elegant diamonds, sapphires, and pearls way back in December 2005.

For her appearance at the Nobel Prize ceremony and banquet on December 10, 2005, Crown Princess Victoria shimmered in a silver gown with a band of beaded floral embroidery at the waist.

With the gown, she wore jewels that belonged to her ancestor and namesake, Queen Victoria of Sweden, who was the daughter of Grand Duke Friedrich I and Grand Duchess Luise of Baden.

The classic diamond fringe tiara was the elder Victoria’s wedding present from her parents, given to her when she married the future King Gustaf V of Sweden in 1881. The jewel can be removed from its tiara frame and worn as a necklace or a corsage ornament.

The grand necklace that Crown Princess Victoria wore for the 2005 Nobels also came from Queen Victoria of Sweden’s collection. The piece is referred to as the intågssmycket, or “processional jewelry.” As the name suggests, the diamond, pearl, and sapphire necklace was given to Victoria of Baden to wear on her arrival in Stockholm in 1881.

Crown Princess Victoria let the tiara and necklace shine, keeping the rest of her jewelry fairly simple: pearl drop earrings, a diamond floral brooch, and a diamond bracelet.

Next up: a vibrant violet look from Crown Princess Victoria at the Nobels in December 2009, featuring luscious diamonds and amethysts.

Crown Princess Victoria arrived at the Nobel Prize ceremony in Stockholm on December 10, 2009, wearing a gorgeous purple evening gown from Elie Saab.

With the gown, she wore jewels that date to the very beginning of the Bernadotte dynasty in Sweden (and, in the case of the tiara, even further back than that!).

She selected the Six-Button Tiara, which the Bernadottes call the Carl Johan Tiara. The jewel is made up of several 18th-century diamond rosettes that belonged to Queen Lovisa Ulrika of Sweden. Later, when he became king, the Napoleonic general Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte—now King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden—had the rosettes affixed to his coronation crown. The rosettes were later removed and incorporated into this tiara, which was completed in the 1970s.

Victoria paired the button tiara with another suite of jewels associated with the extended family of Napoleon. This gorgeous set of diamonds and amethysts is said to have been given to Princess Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg by her mother-in-law, Empress Josephine, as a wedding present in 1806. The suite was brought to Sweden by Augusta’s daughter, Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway.

Victoria also wore diamond bracelets with the ensemble, plus a sentimental new piece of jewelry: the diamond engagement ring given to her by her future husband, Daniel Westling.