Queen Mary of Denmark Wears Her Royal Wedding Tiara in Estonia

This week, the King and Queen of Denmark made a pair of glittering state visits to the Baltic region. Today, we’re looking at the jewels that Queen Mary wore for the couple’s state visit to Estonia, including a magnificent heirloom sapphire brooch and a sentimental diamond tiara.

King Frederik X and Queen Mary were welcomed to Tallinn on Tuesday by President Alar Karis and his wife, First Lady Sirje Karis, at Town Hall Square. The royal couple had a busy morning of engagements for the first day of the visit, including the official exchange of gifts with the presidential couple, a wreath-laying ceremony at the Monument to the War of Independence, and a visit to the Memorial to the Victims of Communism. Frederik and Mary also had lunch with Prime Minister Kristen Michal and his wife, Evelin Oras, a meeting with the Speaker of the Estonian Parliament, Lauri Hussar, and a visit to a science learning center.

For the daytime program on Tuesday, Queen Mary wrapped up warmly in a navy blue coat (from Max Mara, per UFO No More) with a coordinating scarf, headband, and boots.

Beneath the coat, Mary wore a dark blue tweed dress from one of her favorite Danish couturiers, Lasse Spangenberg. The tweed fabric from the dress matched the headpiece made by Katrin Cecilia Jacobsen.

With the dark blue outfit, Mary wore a special piece of sapphire jewelry from the family collection. This outing was her first appearance in the Flood Brooch, an elaborate sapphire and diamond cluster that dates to the 1840s.

Here’s a closer look at the beautiful brooch from the Danish royal website. The piece has design similarities to the Romanov brooch owned by the British royal family, but this one was made for Marie of Hesse-Kassel, the wife (and cousin) of King Frederik VI of Denmark. The Danish Royal Collection explains that the brooch was inherited by Frederik and Marie’s younger daughter, Princess Vilhelmine Marie, who was the first wife (and cousin) of the future King Frederik VII.

In 1872, Vilhelmine Marie donated the brooch to a fund raising money for victims of a flood that devastated the Danish islands of Lolland and Falster. Later, the brooch was acquired by Queen Louise, the wife of King Christian IX of Denmark. From her, it was passed down to Queen Lovisa, and then to Queen Alexandrine. The Royal Collection explains, “She or her daughter-in-law, the future Queen Ingrid, later conveyed the brooch to the Danish Royal Property Trust.”

Queen Mary pinned the brooch in the center of the neckline of her dress for the daytime events of the first day of the state visit. She also wore diamond and sapphire earrings to coordinate with the heirloom jewel. The small ribbon pinned to her dress in this photograph is the miniature ribbon of Estonia’s Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, which Mary received during this state visit.

In the evening, King Frederik and Queen Mary joined the presidential couple for a concert and banquet at St. Nicholas Church in Tallinn. The medieval church, which dates to the 13th century, is now a museum and concert hall.

The King and Queen and the President and the First Lady all wore the decorations they exchanged earlier in the day. King Frederik and Queen Mary each wore the insignia of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, including the order’s collar for Frederik. President Karis wore Denmark’s Order of the Elephant, and Sirje Karis wore the Order of the Dannebrog. (Sidenote: loved her elegant cream-colored gown!)

Queen Mary wore another dark blue ensemble for the state banquet. The bright blue sash of the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana, and her husband’s Royal Portrait Order, stood out vividly against her Prada gown, which features a sparkling beaded neckline.

Mary chose diamonds from her personal collection for the banquet. Like many royal ladies, she tends to wear smaller tiaras for state visits to republics. This time, she chose the original diamond setting of her wedding tiara.

The antique tiara, which has diamond heart and fleur-de-lis motifs, was a gift from her new parents-in-law, Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark. Mary wore it for her wedding in 2004, using it to anchor the antique lace veil that was first worn a hundred years earlier by Frederik’s great-grandmother, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Later, the tiara was adjusted so that it could also be worn in a second setting with pearl accents.

The tiara was Mary’s primary jewel for the banquet. She paired it with antique diamond earrings that she acquired herself from the Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen, as well as a large cocktail ring on her right hand.

We’ll look at Queen Mary’s jewels from the royal couple’s visit to Lithuania in an upcoming article. Meanwhile, if you’re looking to enjoy some additional sparkle, I’ll direct you to my weekly Saturday post over at Hidden Gems. Tomorrow’s article for paid subscribers charts a series of interesting moments in the life of one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s tiaras: the Cartier Halo Tiara.

The late monarch never wore the tiara in public, but the jewel has witnessed some truly fascinating events, including an abdication, a coronation, multiple royal weddings, and one of Britain’s greatest actors playing Macbeth. Be sure to subscribe today so that the article lands in your email box tomorrow morning!