Catherine Middleton's Wedding Tiara: Suggestions and Musings

[muriel]

Possibly. Then again the Queen is quite particular about her jewels. I believe that the Grenvile jewels belonged to her mother so that could explain their absence. I don't expect the Queen to give Kate a lot of jewels right away because it is not her style.

The Queen has had access to these Greville jewels for a long time, and if I am not mistaken, her parents presented her with the Greville chandelier earrings at her wedding.

You are right, I am not expecting Catherine to be given a very vast array of jewels to begi with at all. That said, I am expecting Catherine to receive some jewels from Charles and Camilla as presents.

 

[branchg]

Catherine will undoubtedly receive some substantial wedding gifts of jewels, both from her new in-laws as well as the Gulf emirates and Saudis. She is, after all, a future Queen as the wife of the heir to the heir.

But I do not expect her to be dripping in royal jewels right away nor will she be carrying out as many duties as Diana did upon marriage. She's not Princess of Wales yet.

 

[melissaadrian]

I agree. If the Queen gives you jewels then you wear the jewels. I do understand the original question though because what if it doesn't suit your personal style? I think though that you would just "suffer" through it.

She may not succeed, but I think the queen would likely attempt to choose jewels which would suit the bride's tastes. She is giving them as a way of welcoming them to the family after all. The question is how well does the queen know their taste in jewels? I guess if you get some horrendous gaudy piece you have to 'suffer' through, you might know what her real opinion of you is.

 

[lwbohm]

I would not be surprised if hm give kate the tiara with the pearls but not the diana tiara.

 

[Vecchiolarry]

Hi,

The question(s) is:
Does Catherine need a lot of jewelry now?
Will she be on 'royal duty' right away or living with William in North Wales?

My thinking is that she will not be "out & about" as she is not The Queen and nor is she The Princess of Wales yet; and she may be seen as hogging the spotlight if she's too prominent now.
She needs to settle in and slowly emerge...

I think The Queen should lend her 'the Fringe Tiara' for her wedding and get some other jewels later on.
Of course, any wedding gifts of jewelry would be new pieces and should be suitable to a young girl, not big clunky jewelry.

Larry

 

[Mermaid1962]

It would also be a diplomatic nod to Scotland.

... the Strathmore is great option. It has no link to Diana, and could instead be an honor to his great grandmother. The tiara is beautiful and not over bearing, and the symbolism would be nice.

 

[ada]

Although I don't want it to be so, I think we'll see the Cambridge tiara on the wedding day.

 

[auntie]

Rose really did look stunning on her wedding day. Wonderful choice of tiara as well.

Oh, and how like her mother she looks on her wedding day, this is my dream bride style. The problem is my mum wanted me to wear flounces on my wedding, so we ended up compromising...

 

[Skippy]

Oh, and how like her mother she looks on her wedding day, this is my dream bride style. The problem is my mum wanted me to wear flounces on my wedding, so we ended up compromising...

I really don't like things like that. It's your wedding day, you're the one who's marrying, and you should look like how you want.

 

[Saragli]

You are right, I am not expecting Catherine to be given a very vast array of jewels to begi with at all. That said, I am expecting Catherine to receive some jewels from Charles and Camilla as presents.

You know, I didn't even think about this for some reason. But actually, KM will probably get an historical gift from the Queen, no doubt a substantial new gift from C&C, as well as gifts from her soontobe rich husband. It pays being the fiance of the heir to the heir.

 

[grevinnan]

We may see some of the Queen Mother's jewelry on Catherine.

 

[EmpressRouge]

I wonder, could Catherine be lent a more substantial tiara like one of the fringe tiaras just for her wedding and then given something smaller and more delicate like the Strathmore Rose tiara so she can wear at official state functions (the small number we expect to attend in the early years of marriage)?
The practice of wearing one tiara (owned or borrowed) really only happened to Princesses of the blood (the Queen, the Princess Royal, Princess Margaret), but it can happen maybe?

 

[melissaadrian]

The question(s) is:
Does Catherine need a lot of jewelry now?
Will she be on 'royal duty' right away or living with William in North Wales?

It has been clearly established she will be in Northern Wales for two years. And all members of the close royal family do royal duties, it would not be her hogging the spotlight. Is princess Anne hogging the spotlight from Camilla when she does royal functions?

She will recieve a tiara for the wedding, hopefully NOT DIANA'S. But she is not a young girl either, you make her sound 20 like Diana, she is nearing 30.

 

[SASSY]

Personally, I'm hoping for a mixture of up and down at the wedding. I definitely want her hair pulled back from her face, but would love to see it then cascade down in soft curls.

I've always said this. Having all her hair pulled completly away from her face isn't flattering on her IMO. And I still think it will be the Straithmore or the Scroll tiara.

 

[melissaadrian]

I wonder, could Catherine be lent a more substantial tiara like one of the fringe tiaras just for her wedding and then given something smaller and more delicate like the Strathmore Rose tiara so she can wear at official state functions (the small number we expect to attend in the early years of marriage)?
The practice of wearing one tiara (owned or borrowed) really only happened to Princesses of the blood (the Queen, the Princess Royal, Princess Margaret), but it can happen maybe?

Why give her one tiara to wear on the wedding and a second to wear after? Why not wear the same one? She doesn't need a more substantial tiara like the fringe, she is the wife to the heir of the heir. Perhaps when she becomes princess of wales, or when Will is done his RAF work and she has more royal duties, she can progress to a bigger tiara. I think something smaller like the strathmore is far more suitable. It doesn't make much sense to give her two, one for the wedding and one after. Diana had two, but one was not from the royal family. She only had her family tiara on loan for the wedding. The royal family then provided her the fringe to wear after.

If not the strathmore, I'll not be surprised to see the Camebridge. But I hope for the Strathmore. It would be a nice nod to his great grandmther, especially if like a poster above said, we see a few more of the queen mum's jewels come out. Plus it is a nod to Scotland.

 

[branchg]

I think we'll see the Lover's Knot Tiara on her wedding day. Whether she is given another tiara as a wedding gift remains to be seen, but I wouldn't be surprised to see Catherine received more than one.

She is, after all, marrying the future Prince of Wales.

 

[abcdxyz]

As a princess of the blood, of course Princess Elizabeth wore one, but her mother doesn't appear to have worn one (and as a commoner, I think Grace Kelly was properly inspired not to wear one either).

I don't think that wearing a tiara has to do with being royal. My understanding is that it has to do with the formality of the occasion and the marital status of the wearer. A woman traditionally will not wear a tiara until her wedding day, which is when she will wear one for the first time.

Single girls shouldn't let diamonds go to their head - Telegraph

This is not to say that Catherine MUST wear a tiara at her wedding--that is up to her--but even though she is a lowly commoner, it is perfectly appropriate if she chooses to wear a tiara on her wedding day.

 

[MRSJ]

I still think it's possible she will choose to wear none at all or maybe something brand new that is given as a gift from her parents, or her father in law or maybe, maybe even William.....

What was the last tiara event aside from the Queen and Sophie at CP Victoria's wedding that we've even seen the BRF's in a tiara? I can not recall....

 

[jemagre]

She may not succeed, but I think the queen would likely attempt to choose jewels which would suit the bride's tastes. She is giving them as a way of welcoming them to the family after all. The question is how well does the queen know their taste in jewels? I guess if you get some horrendous gaudy piece you have to 'suffer' through, you might know what her real opinion of you is.

Yeah no guess about her real feelings.

I think the C & C idea of gifting Kate some jewels might be nice. Even a new tiara for her. For all we know William might get her one. There seems to be some tradition for royal husbands to buy their wives some jewelry. I believe Edward got Sophie some earrings and a necklace for her big day. Same for Peter and Autumn. Although I will say that William hasn't appeared to be all that generous with Kate in the past. Maybe he could team up with C & C for a complete set.

 

[Grandduchess24]

Will kate be wearing the tiara that princess Diana wore on her wedding day?
Will her tiara be the one princess Diana was always photographed wearing ?
It still remains a mystery as to which tiara the queen will give to Kate once married to William.

 

[Lady Ann]

I don't think it possible for Kate to wear the Spencer Tiara ( the tiara Diana wore on her wedding day) as she is not a Spencer. I would love to see Kate in the Cambridge Lovers Knot (which is the other tiara you are speaking of) but IMO don't think it will happen on her wedding day although it is possible...

 

[Mia_mae]

She'll have many opportunities to wear all of the ones mentioned before. What is more important is that it has to go with the dress.
Those tiaras are hard to "balance" it out. So what to do? Choose the dress first and then the tiara, or the other way around?
I just hope we'll see her wearing one. William is the heir to the heir, if she can't use it, then WTH ?!

 

[branchg]

Put it this way. If Diana was alive today, she would undoubtedly offer the Lover's Knot Tiara for her new daughter-in-law to wear on her wedding day, just like Princess Anne did for Autumn Kelly (Antique Festoon Tiara) and Princess Margaret did for Serena Stanhope (Papyrus Fan Tiara).

I see no reason why it wouldn't appear on Catherine on her wedding day. That doesn't mean she has to wear it again. She very well may receive another tiara as a wedding gift from her husband or father-in-law to wear at future events.

 

[jemagre]

The only thing is that Diana might have offered it to Harry's future wife as well. That is what gets me about the whole who gets the tiara talk. There were two sons: one who will get lots of jewels (William's wife) and one who might not (Harry's wife). Diana was very sensitive to her younger son's role in the family. It is hard to tell what she left and for whom. Then again I still think that the tiara went back to the Queen and that she has the ultimate say to what happens to it. She might have been willing to take Diana's suggestion but I still believe it is the Queen's to give away. I will say this as well, for all of the supposed stories about the ownership of Diana's engagement ring it wound up going to Kate despite all the conflicting reports about its rightful owner.

At the end of the day I think we can all agree that until we see someone wearing the piece of jewelry we won't know who it went to.

 

[Mirabel]

Have any nice tiaras come up for auction lately?
We know Charles (or rather, his representative) frequents the auction houses to buy jewels for Camilla; maybe he will do the same for Catherine?

 

[muriel]

Have any nice tiaras come up for auction lately?
We know Charles (or rather, his representative) frequents the auction houses to buy jewels for Camilla; maybe he will do the same for Catherine?

I would be very surprised if Charles acquired a new tiara for Catherine. Other jewels, yes, a tiara, unlikely IMO.

 

[branchg]

The only thing is that Diana might have offered it to Harry's future wife as well. That is what gets me about the whole who gets the tiara talk. There were two sons: one who will get lots of jewels (William's wife) and one who might not (Harry's wife).

Right. It was Diana's tiara and would have been borrowed for Catherine's wedding day and returned to The Princess. Undoubtedly, Diana would have again offered it to Harry's future wife to wear on her wedding day as well.

So, what I'm saying is The Queen may offer it to Catherine on her wedding day, then it returns to the vault. It belongs to The Queen as her personal property, not William or Harry.

 

[georgiea]

British jewellery expert speaks about Kate Middleton's wedding day finery - hellomagazine.com

 

[MRSJ]

Per the blog below the Strathmore Rose might be tarnished so thus Kate might not be able to wear....anyone know if true?

http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/03/tiara-thursday-strathmore-rose.html

 

[Conorius]

Tiara Motifs

I have been reading through this entire thread.... its fascinating. Thank you all for sharing your knowledge on the jewellry of the royal family and your thoughts on what tiara catherine will wear on her big day.

I just have a few questions / ideas.

Before I even found this thread I wondered would the Strathmore Tiara be used by Catherine because technically she will be the next Queen Consort after HM QEQM and it would be an homage to her. While there is talk that Camilla may become a QC, for now, they still refer to her future title as Princess Consort.

I was wondering about the traditional motifs of wedding tiaras. Roses symbolise love whereas oak leaves symbolise strength and eternity. Lillys symbolise grace in tiara motifs.

So my first question, does the Starthmore Tiara with its motifs of roses and oaks give Catherine the best luck in terms of motifs?

Also does anything think that she may put some fresh flowers with a tiara in her hair? If she were to wear HM koloshnik tiara with some small white roses in front of it, the height of the tiara would look a little lower possibly.

Personally I think it will be the Strathmore Tiara once it has been cleaned up. However I have noted the there are some people on here who think that the Midletons may purchase a tiara for her. I think that is a wonderful idea, adding a new tiara to the royal collection called the Midleton Tiara would be a lovely idea.

I really hope that it will not be the Cambridge Tiara, or any of the Fringe Tiaras. I also like the idea of the oriental circlet but with the rubies removed and small diamonds or button pearls inserted instead.

I hope as a newbie no one thinks I am presumptious, but I have been fascinated by the royal families jewels since I was young, and ended up studying gemology in uni to ensure I understood as much about jewels as possible.