Hope this helps
Thanks is does.
If I had one I'd want to wear it as much as possible!!
Possibly you wouldn't!! This is because Tiaras are actually rather heavy and not too comfortable to wear. My family is fortunate enough to have a family tiara -although it is not as ornate as some of the Royal ones - and I do know from personal experience what it was like wearing it [ brides in the UK generally wear a tiara for their 'white weddings']: for the first 15 minutes it feels novel to be wearing it, then after 30 minutes you really become aware of a slight discomfort, after 60 minutes you start thinking, 'Mm, I am not sure about this'. Basically, when worn by a bride at her wedding, an hour-and-a-half to two hours is about the maximum 'slight discomfort' that the can put up with before you end up thinking ' I want to take this heavy thing off!! It's a bit like wearing a bag of sugar on your head after two hours! Plus your hair has to be woven around the velvet band, and it feels a much stronger version of when you have tied your hair up rather tight with those elastic hair fasteners, plus the 'up-do' starts to feel painful in its own right after a couple of hours.......
Pity the poor ladies who have to wear their tiaras all day - this particularly occurs when there is a tiara-wearing event hosted by the Queen in London: there are only two salons whose hairdressers are felt to be very skilled in putting tiaras on: MichaelJohn and Hugh. For this reason, in order to accommodate all the clientele, both salons start to put the tiaras on at about 10.00am in the morning, such is the demand for appointments. On the day of the party back in 1990 hosted by the Queen for the birthdays of the QM [90th], Princess Margaret [60th] The Princess Royal [40th] and Prince Andrew [30th], you could spot various ladies in Mayfair and Chelsea wearing their tiaras with their jeans, intending to change into their ball finery later!! [I think that the more 'grander' you were, the later the appointment you were able to secure (and therefore the more comfortable you were!).
In my very humble opinion there were 4 main reasons why grand white tie balls became less popular and tiara-wearing opportunities diminished: it is generally only the
Queen who hosts such parties now - off the top of my head, I can think of no recent white tie ball in the UK hosted by an aristocrat or other wealthy family
1. Cost - hardly anyone can afford to host parties on this scale any more
2. Diminishing number of tiaras - grand families, due to a mixture of taxes and general decline in their fortunes, found they could not afford to keep money 'tied up' in their tiaras and therefore sold - or were forced to sell - them. Once you find the number of tiara-owning guests is dwarfed by the 'have-nots' who either have to hire or turn up bare-headed [perfectly accecptable IMHO] you start to question the wisdom of hosting a white-tie occasion. Incidentally, few aristocratic families have large London houses with ballrooms any more, so the parties of the 19thnd early 20th centuries could never be revived!
3. 'Running costs' - even if you are lucky enough to have a tiara, it has to be kept in the bank and the insurance is alarmingly high...
4. The practical issue of comfort [see above]
Just my thoughts,
Alex