State visit season is in full swing in Europe, and last night in Helsinki, the Queen of Denmark made a stunning, unexpected tiara debut at a state banquet.
King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark were officially welcomed to Finland on Tuesday by President Alexander Stubb and his wife, Suzanne Innes-Stub. They posed for an official photograph at the Presidential Palace to commemorate the occasion.
For the welcome ceremony, Queen Mary pinned a large brooch set with purple gemstones to her navy blue coat. She’s worn this piece occasionally over the years, including a memorable appearance at the opening of the Folketing, Denmark’s parliament, in October 2022.
On Tuesday evening, the Stubbs hosted a state banquet for their royal guests at the Presidential Palace. The foursome posed for another official photograph before the dinner, showing them in their gala attire and decorations. Queen Mary wore a striking evening gown from her wardrobe archive. We memorably saw her wear this dress for the New Year’s levee in January 2019.
But it was Queen Mary’s jewelry, not the gown, that drew the biggest spotlight during the dinner. No wonder: she wore major pieces of spectacular heirloom Danish royal jewelry, some of which has never been worn publicly before.
The slim gold bandeau tiara that Mary wore for the banquet comes from the collection of Queen Caroline Amalie, granddaughter of King Christian VII and wife of King Christian VIII. Caroline Amalie was devoted to jewelry, and we can thank her for renovating the family’s crown jewel parures at the time of her husband’s coronation in 1840.
The Danish royal court shares that the unique gold tiara was made around 1820, after one of Christian and Caroline Amalie’s many trips abroad. They collected the tiara’s eleven carved gemstones during a trip to Italy, which included stops in Rome and Pompeii. The official court website notes, “The jewelry reflects the classicist taste of the time and was intended for everyday use rather than the more showy diamond jewelry.”
It appears that Mary and the experts at the Royal Collection rediscovered the 200-year-old tiara while working their way through the family’s jewelry collections. The court website notes that the tiara will be placed on display in the Treasury at Rosenborg Slot, where the Danish crown jewels are exhibited, after the Finnish state visit.
On her right wrist, Mary wore another piece of heirloom Danish royal jewelry with an Italian connection. This elaborate bracelet belonged to Princess Vilhelmine Marie, who was a daughter of King Frederik VI and, later, the first wife of the future King Frederik VII. It was a gift to Vilhelmine from her husband. He acquired the gold bracelet during a trip to Italy in 1828, after their engagement but before their wedding.
The piece is decorated with gemstones found in the area around Mount Vesuvius, and an inscription inside in French reads, “C’est du sommet du Vésuve enflammé que mon cœur vole à toi. Le 24 Avril 1828.” (“It is from the summit of Vesuvius in flames that my heart flies to you. April 24, 1828.”) Frederik’s heart may have been in flames in 1828, but by 1837, the couple were divorced. Vilhelmine remarried and kept the bracelet in her own jewelry box, but it eventually made its way back to the Danish Royal Collection. Today, it is displayed at Rosenborg Slot.
The earrings and brooch that Mary wore to complete her jewelry look also come from the collections displayed at Rosenborg. They’re part of the citrine demi-parure that belonged to Countess Danner, the morganatic third wife of King Frederik VII.
The set was a gift from King Frederik VII to the Countess, possibly to celebrate her birthday in 1860. The suite includes a necklace, earrings, two bracelets, and two brooches. The set is on permanent loan to the Danish Royal Collection by the New Carlsberg Foundation, who purchased it at auction in the 1980s.
This is the second time that Queen Mary has worn pieces from Countess Danner’s citrine suite in public. We previously saw her wear the same brooch from the set, the smaller of the two sans pendant, for an unveiling of a statue of the Countess in Copenhagen last November.
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