We’ve arrived in the second half of my countdown of the best royal jewelry moments of 2025, and number five is a special one: a magnificent imperial tiara worn by a princess bride in Liechtenstein.
On August 30, Princess Marie-Caroline, the only daughter of the Hereditary Prince and Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein married her Venezuelan fiancé, Leopoldo Maduro Vollmer in a sparkling ceremony at St. Florin’s Cathedral in Vaduz. With her bridal gown, Marie-Caroline wore an heirloom family tiara that dates to the last decades of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
The classic diamond fringe tiara originally belonged to Marie-Caroline’s great-great-great-grandmother, Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. As the sister-in-law of Emperor Franz Josef, Maria Theresa occupied an important place at the court in Vienna, and this tiara was made in 1890 at the height of her influence.
In the photograph above, Maria Theresa wears the tiara in a photograph taken in 1903 during the wedding celebrations for her daughter, Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria, and Prince Alois of Liechtenstein. Their son, Franz Josef II, eventually inherited both the princely throne of Liechtenstein and his grandmother’s diamond fringe tiara.
The tiara was particularly cherished by Prince Franz Josef II’s wife, Princess Gina. She even wore the tiara in several official portraits that were immortalized on postage stamps. In 1967, she loaned the tiara to her new daughter-in-law, Princess Marie, to wear at her wedding to Prince Hans-Adam. A handful of other family brides have worn the tiara as well.
Today, the custodian of the jewel is Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein. She didn’t wear the fringe tiara on her wedding day, but she has worn it frequently for gala events in Europe, including the banquet held on the night before the abdication of Queen Beatrix and the inauguration of King Willem-Alexander in the Netherlands in 2013.
In August, Hereditary Princess Sophie made the tiara available for her daughter to wear as a bridal diadem. The choice was a neat tribute to the bride’s grandmother, the late Princess Marie, who wore it on her wedding day, and to the impressive imperial history of the Liechtenstein princely family.
Only four spots left on my countdown of the best royal jewels of 2025! Stay tuned tomorrow morning when we continue with a major tiara surprise from the Brits…
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