Catherine Middleton Wedding Tiara suggestions and musings

[MRSJ]

Originally Posted by Aestheticus Rex

You may be interested in my blog post.

Aestheticus Rex: A Tale of Tiara's: What will the Queen bestow upon Kate Middleton?

Oh lovely post- I like the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland best or the fringe George III but that might be to much for Catherine

[scooter]

GGB is QEII favorite/most often worn tiara for whatever reason (comfort, weight, history). I dont see her giving it up for her lifetime. I still vote for the Rundell. And if Kate doesnt want it I'll take it. I think I would look fab in a bubble bath and a glass of Veuve Cliquot.

[Tilia C.]

I agree that it's unlikely that QEII will give up her favourite tiaras, so I don't expect to see the Girls, Vladimir or Kokoshnik tiaras on Catherine any time soon.
The Rundell seems too big for a young, modern women like Catherine (although I would not be amoung those who would complain about a new sighting of this beauty!). I know, Princess Alexandra wore it as a very young woman, but those were diffenrent times. Also I wonder if the Rundell still exists. It is strange that Queen Mary was never seen with it, as she loved her jewels sooo much.
It would also be great to see the Surrey tiara or the Ladies of England tiara (which is not in your wonderful blog) again. Yet I fear that they don't exist anymore.
That photo of the sapphire bandeau is the clearest I have yet seen of this tiara. It is great to see the sunburst pattern of it more clearly. I wonder if the sapphire could be interchanged with a diamond element? That way Catherine would have an all diamond wedding tiara, and later she could also wear the sapphire version.
One can only hope that the Queen comes up with a really good solution. I don't want to see something similar to Sophie's wedding tiara!

[wymanda]

Originally Posted by Tilia C.

It is strange that Queen Mary was never seen with it, as she loved her jewels sooo much.

Queen Alexandra passed away in 1925 (or thereabouts). Queen Mary already had buckets of favourite pieces. The Rundell was part of a parure that included the pearl & diamond necklace, brooch & earings that the Queen Mother wore from the time she became Queen to the end of her life. It has been documented by Menkes, Field & Munn that Queen Mary & King George came together with two of his three sisters after Queen Alexandra died to split up her jewels. QM ensured that any wedding gifts remained within the BRF jewel vault. This would have included the Rundell parure as it had been given to the then Princess Alexandra of Denmark by her bridegroom. Also retained was the Danish Dagmar necklace.

[Tilia C.]

You are right about the buckets of jewellery Queen Mary had! And she loved all the stuff and tried on so much of it at least once. Oh, I would just love to discover a picture of her with the Rundell!
Let's hope that the Rundell is really still untouched and ready for future wearers. But I don't think that Catherine should wear it right now.

[cmbruno]

I think that if the Rundell still exists it will go to Camilla one day (and maybe the Oriental as well). I guess Camilla will never wear the Girls of GB and I and Vladmir's. These will go to Catherine when she becomes the Queen.

[scooter]

If the title designated is Cambridge, I wonder if some of those Cambridge jewels would come along with it? There were those gorgeous emeralds as well as that tiara.

[branchg]

Originally Posted by scooter

If the title designated is Cambridge, I wonder if some of those Cambridge jewels would come along with it? There were those gorgeous emeralds as well as that tiara.

Entirely possible, although William may decide that the comparisons to his mother are already intense enough with the engagement ring and prefer Kate not be given the Lover's Knot Tiara or the Cambridge Emerald Choker to wear by The Queen.

[Lumutqueen]

Originally Posted by cmbruno

I guess Camilla will never wear the Girls of GB and I and Vladmir's. These will go to Catherine when she becomes the Queen.

I think she will wear those tiaras, they would look wonderful on her and I don't see why they should go to Catherine and miss out the Kings wife.

[Tilia C.]

I think that Camilla will be able to pick the tiaras she likes best, probably the big ones like Vladimir and kokoshnik. There will be enough left for Catherine, who will hopefully be allowed more than one or two tiaras while being PoW.

[snowflower]

About the Rundell tiara - George and Mary might have made sure that any wedding gifts would remain in their line of the family but isn't there a possibility that the tiara from that parure had already left the " main " family when Queen Alexandra died? What if Alexandra had gifted the tiara away when she was still alive? I have looked to various close ups of the Norvegian Maltese cross tiara and the bases look so similar to me...

[Madame Royale]

I always thought the Rundell tiara to be particularly unnatractive and a waste of good diamonds, so I very much hope it's been dismantled and the stones put to better use.

[Tilia C.]

Originally Posted by snowflower

About the Rundell tiara - George and Mary might have made sure that any wedding gifts would remain in their line of the family but isn't there a possibility that the tiara from that parure had already left the " main " family when Queen Alexandra died? What if Alexandra had gifted the tiara away when she was still alive? I have looked to various close ups of the Norvegian Maltese cross tiara and the bases look so similar to me...

I created this comparison between the small version of the Rundell tiara worn by Queen Alexandra and the base of the Malteser tiara worn by Princess Märtha-Louise.
http://inlinethumb26.webshots.com/21401/2521011920105578647S600x600Q85.jpg
Imo they are not a match.

[scooter]

There was a whole parure, not just a choker associated with the Cambridge name. THe Delhi Durbar and Vladimir tiaras are also associated with that parure.

[cmbruno]

Originally Posted by Lumutqueen

I think she will wear those tiaras, they would look wonderful on her and I don't see why they should go to Catherine and miss out the Kings wife.

My reason for saying Camilla will not wear The Girls and The Vladimir's is simply because it seems to me that the "signature" tiaras of each Queen appear to skip a generation to be worn again.

As for the picture with the comparison between the small version of the Rundell tiara the base of the Maltese tiara, when I saw it, the first thing that came to my mind was that the base of the Rundell could be Princess Anne's mistery tiara! You see, you devide the circle in two and put the two parts toghether on the front.

[Lumutqueen]

Didn't the QM wear them?

[Stefan]

Originally Posted by Lumutqueen

Didn't the QM wear them?

No the remained Queen Mary's property how long she was alive and she left them direct to the present Queen. She gave the Girls of GB and I to the opresent Queen as Wedding gift.

[Lumutqueen]

Strange, I wonder why she did that.
I don't see QE doing that.

[branchg]

I would think the emerald and diamond parure is one of the pieces Queen Mary specified in her Will as belonging to the Crown to be worn in right of it. Some of the gems used to create it were a Durbar gift from the Indian mahrahanis.

[texankitcat]

I hope I didn't miss where this was mentioned, but does anyone know what parts of Diana's jewel collection went to whom? I thought it was mentioned that Harry had been given Diana's Sapphire ring, but obviously that wasn't the case. Since she had several Sapphire pieces that matched the design of the ring, I wonder if William was given all the Sapphires, and Harry other pieces?