Nobel Tiara Prize: The Final Vote!

But first, a quick recap of last round’s results. This one was a runaway! Queen Silvia’s 2004 Nobel appearance in the Leuchtenberg Sapphires triumphed with an impressive 80.32% of the vote, while 19.68% of you love an underdog and voted for Princess Sofia’s 2019 Nobel appearance in the turquoise setting of her palmette tiara.

In our second contest of the round, Sweden’s gorgeous royal sisters were matched up in elegant antique jewelry. While 37.32% of you voted for Crown Princess Victoria’s 2016 Nobel appearance in the Napoleonic Cut-Steel Tiara and Cameos, Princess Madeleine’s 2015 Nobel appearance in the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik took home the victory with a commanding 62.68% of the vote.

Which sets up today’s championship contest in the Nobel Tiara Prize tournament, matching up Queen Silvia’s 2004 Nobel appearance in the Leuchtenberg Sapphires and Princess Madeleine’s 2015 Nobel appearance in the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik! Which beautiful blue tiara will take home the prize?

Queen Silvia’s 2004 Nobel appearance in the Leuchtenberg Sapphires has reached our Nobel Tiara Prize championship round. Can it bring home the win?

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 Madeleine’s 2015 Nobel appearance in the Swedish Aquamarine Kokoshnik has impressed voters from the very start. Will it be crowned as our Tiara Laureate?

On December 10, 2015, Princess Madeleine arrived at the Nobel celebrations wearing an elegant, sparkling slate blue evening gown from Fadi el Khoury.

With the gown, Madeleine wore a family tiara with sentimental links to her great-grandmother, Margaret of Connaught, and her aunt, Princess Margaretha.

The gorgeous diamond and aquamarine tiara, with its distinctive kokoshnik shape, originally belonged to Princess Margaret of Connaught, the present King’s British-born grandmother. Later given to Princess Margaretha, Margaret’s granddaughter and namesake, the tiara now resides in the family vault so that it can be borrowed and worn more frequently. This was Madeleine’s first appearance in the tiara, which has since become one of her favorites.

Princess Madeleine added even more sparkle with the family’s gorgeous antique diamond floral earrings, with their large diamond pendants.

Here’s one more look at the combination of the earrings and the tiara at the 2015 Nobels.