The “six” years are always big ones for the Bernadottes, thanks to the King’s birth year (1946) and the King and Queen’s wedding year (1976). Today, our Tiara Time Machine brings us to 2006, when another milestone birthday celebration brought out a pair of fringe tiaras for two Swedish princesses.
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden celebrated his 60th birthday in style in April 2006. A grand white-tie banquet send the ladies of the family into the royal vaults to retrieve their best jewels. Queen Silvia, in an eye-catching green evening gown, wore some of the biggest diamonds in the collection: the Brazilian Tiara, paired with diamond floral earrings, a diamond necklace, and one of the family’s rose brooches. (More on Victoria and Madeleine’s jewels in a minute.)
The younger generation of the Bernadotte family posed with their royal contemporaries during the gala as well. Standing in the back row are Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, the Prince of Orange (now King of the Netherlands), the Duke of Brabant (now King of the Belgians), and Crown Prince Haakon of Norway.
Sitting in the front row are Princess Madeleine; Princess Máxima (now Queen of the Netherlands), wearing the Mellerio Ruby Tiara; Crown Princess Victoria; Crown Princess Mary (now Queen of Denmark), wearing her wedding tiara; the Duchess of Brabant (now Queen of the Belgians) wearing her laurel wreath tiara; and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, wearing her daisy bandeau.
Crown Princess Victoria, 28, and Princess Madeleine, 23, both wore icy pastels for the dinner: light blue for Victoria and pale pink for Madeleine. Both also wore the insignia of the Order of the Seraphim, and their father’s Royal Family Order.
The princesses also both wore diamond fringe tiaras for the banquet. Crown Princess Victoria wore one of her signature jewels, the Baden Fringe Tiara, which was made for her great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria of Sweden. The tiara has long been associated with Sweden’s crown princesses, and Victoria has been its most dependable wearer over the last quarter century. But in 2006, the base of the tiara was still wrapped in gray velvet to match her great-aunt Princess Lilian’s snowy white hair.
Victoria also added more diamond jewels to the ensemble. Her diamond pendant earrings were originally part of a stomacher that belonged to the second Bernadotte queen, Joséphine of Leuchtenberg. She also wore a classic diamond rivière necklace and a diamond rose brooch, which was given to her by Prince Bertil and Princess Lilian.
Princess Madeleine’s tiara for the evening has also become one of her most-worn pieces. The diamond floral fringe, which can also be worn as a necklace, was part of Queen Silvia’s private jewelry collection. Madeleine borrowed it to wear on her wedding day in 2013, and now it belongs to her personally.
Madeleine amped up the sparkle with more special pieces: diamond and pearl drop earrings, a diamond rosette brooch, and a major pearl and diamond choker necklace. Like her sister’s fringe tiara, the pearl choker was originally owned by their great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria of Sweden.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.