![The Prince and Princess of Asturias attend a dinner hosted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on the eve of her abdication, April 29, 2013 (Michel Porro/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral16.jpg?resize=1200%2C826&ssl=1)
It’s been a big week for the Spanish royal family! Princess Leonor celebrated her eighteenth birthday on Tuesday, and Queen Sofia turned 85 on Thursday. Next week will be a busy one as well, as King Felipe and Queen Letizia head to Denmark for a state visit. In honor of all of these events, let’s have another look today at a gorgeous jewel from the Spanish royal vaults: the family’s lovely diamond floral tiara.
![Queen Letizia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Peru at the Royal Palace in Madrid on July 7, 2015 (Jose Luis Cuesta-Pool/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral02.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
The tiara is a naturalistic nineteenth-century wonder. Three five-petaled diamond flowers are connected by a garland of diamond leaves and foliage, giving the tiara a classic, timeless appearance. Some are bothered by the uneven distribution of the floral sections of the tiara, but I really like it—for me, it’s one of the best and most natural-looking representations of a floral wreath in tiara form. Even better, it’s convertible: it can be taken off its frame and worn as a necklace or as a series of brooches.
![Queen Maria Cristina of Spain, ca. 1906 (Wikimedia Commons)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral17.jpg?resize=737%2C1039&ssl=1)
The tiara originally belonged to an important Spanish royal matriarch. Queen Maria Cristina of Spain, the second wife of King Alfonso XII, was born an Austrian archduchess. Her royal marriage was a brief one, lasting just six years until her husband’s death in 1885. But the royal wedding was celebrated in grand style with plenty of jewelry. The diamond floral tiara was one of Maria Cristina’s wedding presents from her husband. King Alfonso acquired the tiara from a British firm, J.P. Collins, in 1879 for his new wife. (For years, the tiara’s maker was mistakenly thought to be Mellerio, and you’ll occasionally still see that inaccurate attribution floating around.)
![Infante Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark are pictured on their wedding day in Athens, May 14, 1962 (Chronicle/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/2023-1030-01-tiaras11.jpg?resize=1200%2C985&ssl=1)
The tiara stayed with Queen Maria Cristina through the reign of her young son, King Alfonso XIII, who was born after his father’s untimely death. When she passed away in 1929, the tiara was apparently inherited by King Alfonso and his wife, Queen Ena. They lost their throne and went into exile in 1931, two years after Maria Cristina’s death. The tiara was apparently subsequently sold.
Interestingly enough, though, the jewel made its way back to the family three decades later. It was acquired by Franco, who offered it to Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark as a wedding present in 1962. Her groom was Infante Juan Carlos of Spain, a grandson of King Alfonso and Queen Ena. Juan Carlos’s choice of a royal princess as his bride was one of the factors that convinced Franco to name the young prince as his personal successor. The floral tiara would therefore once again rest on the head of a Queen of Spain—a plan that came to fruition in 1975 when Franco died and Juan Carlos and Sofia (who had changed the spelling of her name after her marriage) became King and Queen.
![Queen Sofia of Spain is pictured before a banquet in Amsterdam during the Spanish state visit to the Netherlands, March 19, 1980 (Rob Croes/Anefo/Nationaal Archief/Wikimedia Commons)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral18.jpg?resize=1148%2C1928&ssl=1)
Sofia wore the tiara for the first time in its necklace setting at a dinner held in Athens on the night before her wedding in May 1962. Later, though, she almost always wore the jewel on its tiara frame, reaching for it often for state events. Above, she wears the tiara for a state banquet in the Netherlands in 1980.
![Queen Sofia of Spain, Infanta Elena of Spain, and Queen Silvia of Sweden attend the return dinner at the Swedish embassy in Madrid during the Swedish state visit to Spain, 1983 (Classic Picture Library/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral14.jpg?resize=1200%2C1502&ssl=1)
Here, in 1983, she wears the tiara for a return dinner during the Swedish state visit to Spain. (Beside her, Infanta Elena wears the Prussian Tiara and Queen Silvia of Sweden wears the Napoleonic Amethysts.)
![Queen Sofia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Lebanon at the Royal Palace in Madrid on October 19, 2009 (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral08.jpg?resize=1200%2C1622&ssl=1)
Sofia continued to wear the tiara in the later years of her husband’s reign. Here, she wears the jewel in October 2009 during a state visit from the President of Lebanon to Madrid.
![Queen Sofia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of Argentina at the Royal Palace in Madrid on February 9, 2009 (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral06.jpg?resize=1200%2C630&ssl=1)
In February 2009, she paired the tiara with another jewel from Queen Maria Cristina’s collection—a gorgeous pearl and diamond necklace from Mellerio—during a visit from the President of Argentina.
![Queen Sofia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Chile at the Royal Palace in Madrid on March 7, 2011 (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral07.jpg?resize=1200%2C2156&ssl=1)
She also sometimes paired the tiara with pieces from the joyas de pasar collection, a cache of jewels earmarked by Queen Ena for the use of future Queens of Spain. She wears the tiara with the joyas de pasar bracelets in this photograph, taken during the Chilean state banquet in Madrid in March 2011.
![Infanta Cristina of Spain attends the Nobel Prize ceremony, recognizing Spanish literature laureate Camilo José Cela, in Stockholm on December 10, 1989 (Album/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral15.jpg?resize=1200%2C1785&ssl=1)
Queen Sofia also often loaned the floral tiara to her younger daughter, Infanta Cristina of Spain. Here, Cristina wears the tiara at the Nobel Prize celebrations in Stockholm in December 1989. She traveled from Spain to Sweden to be present for the awarding of the Nobel Prize for Literature to the Spanish writer Camilo José Cela.
![Infanta Cristina of Spain is pictured after her wedding to Inaki Urdangarin in Barcelona on October 4, 1997 (DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral09.jpg?resize=1200%2C881&ssl=1)
Eight years later, Cristina chose to wear the diamond floral tiara on her wedding day. Her mother also loaned her the grand diamond earrings from the joyas de pasar collection for the occasion.
![Infanta Cristina of Spain arrives for a gala performance in Copenhagen on the eve of the wedding of the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark, May 13, 2004 (Hounsfield-Klein-Zabulon/Abaca Press/Alamy)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral13.jpg?resize=1005%2C1398&ssl=1)
After her marriage, Infanta Cristina continued to wear the tiara on various occasions. Here, she dons the tiara (plus a suite of modern diamond and ruby jewels) for a pre-wedding gala event in Copenhagen in May 2004.
![Chinese President Hu Jintao, Queen Sofia of Spain, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, and Infanta Cristina of Spain attend a gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid on November 14, 2005 (ALBERTO MARTIN/AFP/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral03.jpg?resize=1200%2C771&ssl=1)
And here, in November 2005, she wears the tiara at the Royal Palace in Madrid during a state banquet honoring the President of China.
![The Princess of Asturias attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Russia at the Royal Palace in Madrid on February 8, 2006 (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral05.jpg?resize=1200%2C1778&ssl=1)
In recent years, Queen Sofia has also frequently made the tiara available for Queen Letizia to use on gala occasions. She began wearing the tiara for events when she was still Princess of Asturias, including this state dinner in February 2006. The emerald and diamond jewels she wears here are also loans from Queen Sofia’s collection.
![The Princess of Asturias attends a dinner hosted by Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam on the eve of her abdication, April 29, 2013 (Michel Porro/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral10.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
She took the tiara with her to Amsterdam for the abdication and inauguration celebrations there in April 2013. On that occasion, she paired the tiara with her diamond wedding earrings.
![Queen Letizia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Chile at the Royal Palace in Madrid on October 29, 2014 (Jose Luis Cuesta-Pool/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral11.jpg?resize=1200%2C1794&ssl=1)
Letizia continued to wear the tiara for gala dinners and events, including this banquet during the Chilean state visit, after her husband’s accession to the throne in 2014.
![Queen Letizia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Colombia at the Royal Palace in Madrid on March 2, 2015 (Jose Luis Cuesta-Pool/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral12.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
She wore the tiara again with her wedding earrings for a gala dinner honoring the President of Colombia in March 2015.
![Queen Letizia of Spain attends a gala dinner in honor of the President of Peru at the Royal Palace in Madrid on July 7, 2015 (Jose Luis Cuesta-Pool/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral01.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
And later the same year, in July 2015, she wore the same jewelry combination for a banquet in Madrid during the Peruvian state visit to Spain.
![Queen Letizia of Spain attends a banquet at the Guildhall in London on July 13, 2017 (Jeff Spicer/Getty Images)](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/2023-1104-01-floral04.jpg?resize=1200%2C1803&ssl=1)
The tiara made a return home to its native Britain in July 2017, when Letizia packed it in her luggage for a state visit to the United Kingdom. She wore the tiara at a Guildhall banquet during the visit, pairing it with modern diamond and sapphire earrings and the joyas de pasar bracelets.
The official welcome event during the Spanish state visit to Denmark is scheduled to take place at 11 AM on Monday in Copenhagen (or 5 AM eastern time). Rather than a pre-scheduled midnight post on Monday morning, I’ll be putting up an article on the welcome ceremony as soon as I license the images. Stay tuned!
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