The Luxembourg Empire Tiara

Have you ever looked at tiaras and thought “well that’s nice, but it’s just not big enough!” Well then this is the tiara for you!

The Luxembourg Empire Tiara dates from the 1800’s the tiara is covered in diamonds. The tiara is over 4 inches tall and contains numerous motifs, such as: geometric, anthemion, and scroll designs.
The history of the tiara is a bit murky. Previous theories attempted to trace it back to Romanov Russia (with the look of the tiara it isn’t hard to imagine). However, the current thought is that the tiara was possibly acquired as a wedding gift for Pauline of Württemberg, who married Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau, in 1829. The German dukes of Nassau became the rulers of the grand duchy of Luxembourg in 1890, when law prevented Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands from ruling.
We have visual evidence of the tiara’s public debut on the head of reigning Grand Duchess Charlotte when she married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma in 1919. One of Charlotte’s sisters (Hilda), wore it for her wedding too.
On her abdication Charlotte passed the grand tiara to her daughter-in-law Joséphine-Charlotte, the new grand duchess. Joséphine-Charlotte’s husband abdicated in favor of his son Henri in 2001, however her daughter-in-law Maria Teresa did not wear it publicly until after Joséphine-Charlotte’s death. 
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa has worn the tiara on many state occasions and to weddings (notably Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding in 2010).

The Olive Wreath Tiara

The olive wreath tiara was commissioned from Cartier by Princess Marie Bonaparte on the occasion of her marriage to Prince George of Greece and Denmark in 1907. 
Marie was both a princess and an heiress. She was descended from French royalty by way of Lucien Bonapart (a younger brother of Napoleon) as well as being the granddaughter of François Blanc (a real estate developer whose casino projects included the famous Monte Carlo Casino in Monaco). Prince George of Greece and Denmark was one of the sons of King George I of the Hellenes.
The tiara, designed by Cartier, was a nod to Marie’s imperial heritage. Diamond olive leaves with eleven diamond “olives", which could be swapped out for other stones at will. Apparently the original “olives” were emeralds which Marie switched out in favor of rubies occasionally. 
In the center of the already magnificent tiara was a jaw dropping enormous pear-shaped diamond set en tremblant. 
Princess Marie died in 1962. Approximately thirty years later the tiara went up for auction without the central diamond or the emerald and ruby stones. The tiara was purchased in 1999 by the Albion Art Institute and the central diamond was replaced. 
The marriage between Marie and George was…complicated (for lack of a better term). Suffice to say as a result of her marriage she became a devout follower of Sigmund Freud. I won’t go into the sordid details here but, if you’re curious take a minute to google them.

 

Goodbye September

Dutch Tiara

I think this is a beautiful way to start saying goodbye to September. The Dutch Sapphire Tiara: 655 South African diamonds, now set in platinum accented by 33 luxurious sapphires nestled at the bottom of the diadem. Some of the stones are en tremblant maximizing the sparkle factor. 
The history: The tiara was purchased in 1881 by King Willem III of the Netherlands for his wife, Queen Emma. It was next worn by Emma’s granddaughter Queen Juliana. Today it is worn by Juliana’s daughter, Queen Beatrix. In the course of its history, the tiara has gained some pieces to make up a parure: a necklace, two enormous bracelets, and a brooch. The necklace has been turned into a smaller sapphire tiara which was been spotted on Princesses Margriet and Máxima. 
This tiara was chosen by Queen Máxima to wear to King Willem-Alexander’s inauguration, April 30. 2013. (Seen in the photo)

The Swedish Cameo Tiara

Cameo Tiara
Princess Victoria of Sweden in the Cameo Tiara during her 2010 wedding

Princess Victoria of Sweden in the Cameo Tiara during her 2010 wedding


The Swedish tiaras are some of the oldest still in use, and the cameo tiara is one of them. Brides of the Swedish royal family have traditionally worn the Cameo Tiara as their wedding crown for decades and it was again in the spotlight when it was worn by princess Victoria of Sweden at her wedding to Daniel Westling on the 19th of June, 2010; however, the history of the tiara goes back much further.. 

Detail, Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon (1807) {Source}

Detail, Jacques-Louis David's The Coronation of Napoleon (1807) {Source}

In 1804, Napoléon Bonaparte was crowned emperor at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris and his wife, Joséphine, was crowned empress. Joséphine was born in Martinique, the daughter of a wealthy Creole planter. She had previously been married to Alexandre de Beauharnais, a French aristocrat who had been guillotined during the Reign of Terror.
With her new title came a need to amass a vast collection of jewelry befitting that title. Among them was a parure (set) of cameo (a design, carved in relief, into a hard stone or shell) jewels, apparently made for her by her husband's court jeweler, Marie-Étienne Nitot. The set included a grand tiara in gold set with pearls and large Neo-Classical style cameos. It also included a necklace, a bracelet, and a pair of earrings. Cameos were quite popular during the time, especially those depicting classical mythological imagery. The style of the age was heavily influenced by the Ancient Roman Republic and its many archaeological treasures, which were being rediscovered starting in the 18th century. 
It is interesting to note that the seven cameos used in this tiara were actually made first and were not intended to go together which is why they are all different in size and color.

Anne-Louis Girodet's portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais {Source}

Anne-Louis Girodet's portrait of Hortense de Beauharnais {Source}

Joséphine had two children, Eugène and Hortense, with her previous husband Alexandre; however, she was not able to provide Napoléon with a biological heir to the French throne. At around 1810, he divorced her and married Marie Louise of Austria, daughter of the Holy Roman Emperor. Joséphine relocated to the Château de Malmaison near Paris, taking her jewelry along with her. 
In 1812 Joséphine loaned the cameos to her daughter, Hortense, who had briefly been Queen of Holland during the first decade of the nineteenth century. Hortense wore the cameos in a portrait painted by Anne-Louis Girodet. This is the first known depiction of the cameos.
Joséphine died of pneumonia in 1814. As was the custom, an inventory of her jewels was taken at the time of her death, but historian Trond Norén Isaksen noted the cameo parure was not included in this inventory. Exactly what happened to the cameos after her death is a bit unclear.  Writer Vincent Meylan argues that her son, Eugène, received them when he and his sister Hortense were given their mother's jewels to divide. His evidence for this claim may be sound as the set reappears again in the line of Joséphine's son Eugène.

Eugène married Princess Augusta of Bavaria in a dynastic wedding eight years earlier at the behest of Napoléon, and by 1814 he was living in Munich at the court of his father-in-law with Augusta and their children. Eugène and Augusta's eldest daughter, Joséphine of Leuchtenberg, married Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden and Norway in 1823. Her marriage was also a dynastic one, having been arranged by Oscar's father, King Carl XIV Johan. Interestingly though Oscar is a Swedish prince, his family's roots are just as French as Joséphine's. His father was born Jean Bernadotte and served as a Marshal in the Empire under Napoléon prior to being elected as Sweden's future king. Oscar's mother, Désirée Clary, had been engaged to Napoléon until he met Joséphine de Beauharnais; in Sweden, she is known as Queen Desideria.
It is very likely that Joséphine of Leuchtenberg received her grandmother's cameo parure as a wedding gift from her father, taking the set with her to Stockholm. Upon her marriage she would be known by the Swedish version of her name: Josefina.

                   Fredric Westin's Bernadottes of Sweden 1837 {Source}

                   Fredric Westin's Bernadottes of Sweden 1837 {Source}

In this 1837 painting by Fredric Westin, the Swedish royal family is pictured, including King Carl XIV Johan, Queen Desideria, Crown Prince Oscar, Crown Princess Josefina, and their five children, Prince Carl, Prince Gustaf, Prince Oscar, Princess Eugenie, and Prince August. In the portrait, Josefina is depicted wearing her grandmother's cameo tiara.
In the portrait depicting an aging Josephina (circa 1890's) we again can see the tiara in all its glory. 

               Queen Josefina of Sweden by Bertha Valerius {source}

               Queen Josefina of Sweden by Bertha Valerius {source}

When Josefina died in Stockholm, the cameo parure was inherited by her only daughter, Princess Eugenie. Eugenie (a gifted artist) never married, but instead devoted her life to artistic pursuits and charitable causes. Upon her death, the cameos are inherited by her nephew, Prince Eugen. Like his aunt before him, Eugen was also a gifted artist and also never married.
Eugen often lent the cameos them to another member of the Swedish royal family: Crown Princess Margareta who was the wife of Eugen's nephew, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf. Margareta donned the tiara to wear at the wedding of her husband's cousin, Count Carl Bernadotte af Wisborg. Famously she went into her children's nursery before leaving for the wedding, and gave them a history lesson by showing them a tiara that had been worn by Empress Joséphine of France.
In 1932 Prince Eugen gave the cameo parure to another Swedish royal, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on the occasion of her marriage to Prince Gustaf Adolf, the eldest son of Crown Prince Gustaf Sibylla in turn lent it to her sister-in-law, the future Queen Ingrid of Denmark, for a costume ball where she dressed as Queen Josephina. 

                    Left to Right: Queen Josephina, Crown Princess Margareta, Princess Ingrid (later Queen of Denmark), Princess Sibylla

                    Left to Right: Queen Josephina, Crown Princess Margareta, Princess Ingrid (later Queen of Denmark), Princess Sibylla

Queen Silvia in the Cameos

Queen Silvia in the Cameos

While the parure was still in Sibylla's posession, a family tradition began. The Cameo Tiara began to be used as a wedding crown. Two of Queen Sibylla's used it for their weddings: Princess Birgitta in 1961 and Princess Désirée in 1964. In 1972 Princess Sibylla died of cancer in Stockholm, leaving the cameo parure to her son, Prince Carl Gustaf.  Carl Gustaf is crowned king in 1973 and in 1976 when he married Silvia Sommerlath, she carried on the tradition.
The cameos and the tiara in particular are now shared with the first of her daughters to marry, Crown Princess Victoria in 2010.

                                 Left to Right: Princess Birgitta, Princess Désirée, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria

                                 Left to Right: Princess Birgitta, Princess Désirée, Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria

On a final note, it is not uncommon to see tiara remade over time and one will easily see the incarnations of the tiara over the years to suit the styles of the time and the taste of the wearer. It is, however remarkable that such a beautiful piece of history exists and that it is still in use. 

Kathleen Marino MA, GG, NAJA


With special thanks to The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor and The Court Jeweller





Marie-Louise Emerald and Diamond Diadem

Marielouisediadem

Today’s Tiara Tuesday comes from the Smithsonian Museum and does double duty by intro'ing us into May's spectacular birthstone, Emerald.
The Marie-Louise Emerald and Diamond Diadem. 
But wait? Why am I seeing two diadems and one of them clearly does not contain emeralds! 
Well my sparkles you can blame Van Cleef & Arpels...Well you could have in the 50’s. 
The whole story:
“Napoleon gave the Diadem to his second wife, the Empress Marie-Louise, on the occasion of their marriage. Originally the diadem, commissioned in 1810, was set with emeralds, which were replaced in the mid-1950s, with turquoise. It was made by Etienne Nitot et Fils of Paris. The diadem was one piece of a parure that also included a necklace and earrings (now in the Louvre) and comb (disassembled), all in emeralds, diamonds, silver and gold. Marie-Louise bequeathed the diadem and accompanying jewelry to her Hapsburg aunt, Archduchess Elise. The jewelry was acquired by Van Cleef & Arpels from one of Archduchess Elise’s descendants, Archduke Karl Stefan Hapsburg of Sweden, in 1953, along with a document attesting to their provenance. During the period from May 1954 to June 1956, the emeralds were removed from the diadem by Van Cleef & Arpels and sold individually in pieces of jewelry. A newspaper advertisement placed by the company in 1955 promised: “An emerald for you from the historic Napoleonic Tiara…” Sometime between 1956 and 1962, Van Cleef & Arpels mounted the turquoise into the diadem. In 1962, the diadem, with turquoise, was displayed in the Louvre Museum in Paris along with the necklace, earrings, and comb, as part of a special exhibition on Empress Marie-Louise. Marjorie Merriweather Post purchased the diadem from Van Cleef & Arpels and donated it to the Smithsonian in 1971.” source

The diadem definitely is beautiful with the turquoise, and I am so glad that VCA kept the tiara intact! I can hardly imagine how stunning it must have been before the emeralds were pulled (the depiction with the emeralds is a facsimile.)

Kathleen Marino M.A, G.G., AJP, NAJA

Bagration Tiara

TiaraB

If you follow along on my Instagram you'll know it's Tiara Tuesday again! The Bagration tiara - diamonds and pink spinels. The tiara dates to about 1810. Attributed to Fossin & Fils, a predecessor of the French jeweler Chaumet. It was purchased by the Russian Princess Katharine Bagration, heiress to Prince Potemkin and listed in the 1836 inventory of her jewels. Bought by the current Duke of Westminster for his bride to wear at their wedding in 1978.