There are more royal birthdays on the horizon this month, including the Danish-born Queen Anne-Marie, who turns 80 on August 30. In her honor, today we’re taking a look at one of her recent outings in her beloved royal wedding tiara.
Queen Anne-Marie—the last Queen of the Hellenes, Danish princess, and granddaughter of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden—headed to Stockholm in September 2023 for the celebrations of the Golden Jubilee of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, who also happens to be her first cousin. The gala banquet on September 15, held at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, brought out a glittering parade of Scandinavian tiaras and jewels.
Queen Anne-Marie arrived for the banquet on the arm of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, who also escorted Helena Norlén, the wife of the Speaker of the Riksdag, Andreas Norlén. Anne-Marie wore a cranberry-red evening gown for the event, decorated with the sash and star of Sweden’s Order of the Seraphim, the Centennial Memorial Medal of the Greek royal family, and a new ribbon and badge: the King of Sweden’s Golden Jubilee Medal.
With the gown, Anne-Marie wore a special tiara for which the event was a notable homecoming. The Khedive of Egypt Tiara, an elegant diamond jewels with a swirling scroll design, was given to Anne-Marie’s grandmother, Princess Margaret of Connaught, as a wedding present in 1905. The gift was a poignant one, as Margaret had met her husband, the future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, in Cairo. The jewel stayed with her until her death in 1920, when it was inherited by her only daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden.
Ingrid took the tiara with her to Copenhagen when she married the future King Frederik IX of Denmark in 1935. In 1964, her youngest daughter, Princess Anne-Marie, started a trend when she wore the tiara for her wedding to King Constantine II of the Hellenes in Athens. In another little historical echo, that’s King Harald V of Norway, father of Crown Prince Haakon, serving as one of the crown-bearers during the wedding in this photograph.
The scroll tiara was later worn as a bridal diadem by both of Anne-Marie’s sisters, both of her daughters, and both of her nieces. When Queen Ingrid passed away in 2000, Anne-Marie inherited the tiara, and she’s been its custodian and primary wearer ever since.
For the Swedish jubilee banquet, Anne-Marie paired the tiara with diamond and ruby jewels: diamond earrings, a diamond and ruby bracelet, and a petite diamond and ruby heart brooch. With her diamond necklace, which is a legacy from Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, she wore a diamond ruby flower pendant from her personal collection.
In this photograph, taken at the dinner table, you’ll also spot a few more sentimental jewels: the gold bangle bracelet worn by all female descendants of Margaret of Connaught, plus her engagement ring (set with two sapphire and diamond clusters) and wedding ring.
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