Favourite Royal Tiaras 1

[sirhon11234]

Whats the difference between a diadem and a tiara.

 

[ortino]

Does anybody know how tiaras came about? (Warren?)... What was their mane ahem main, purpose? And how did they evolve to such elegance, what w/ diamonds and other precious stones. My concentrations in college were History and Anthropology so drawing on what I learned then my only logical deduction is that they started as a means of conspicous consumption i.e look at my wealth. However I could be waaay off on this one so i would appreciate some input!

 

[Warren]

Does anybody know how tiaras came about? What was their mane ahem main, purpose? And how did they evolve to such elegance, what w/ diamonds and other precious stones.

Mr Munn's bible "Tiaras a History of Splendour" gives the rundown. In short, they are symbols of status and/or designations of rank, going back to ancient times and various civilisations. What was once a plain laurel wreath is now a diamond-encrusted gem. In the Court of Louis XIV fantasy and extravagence ruled, and the fashionable outrageous piled-high hair styles of that time and later were the ideal stage-setting for extensive decoration. Fashion, wealth and the desire to display status combined with the development of specialised craftsmen with an eye for design have given us the wonderful works of art (and less successful pieces) we admire today.

Whats the difference between a diadem and a tiara.

A very broad definition, here. The terms may be interchangeable, for example the Papal tiara is not a "tiara" as we understand the word today.

 

[acid_rain3075]

So I was finally able to get my hands on Tiaras: A History of Splendour, by Geoffrey C. Munn, and I'd thought I would share some of my favorites from the book. Of course I won't be putting my all time favorite, the Fife Tiara, because I think we've all seen that one a lot, but anyways...

1. "The diamond-set tiara given by Queen Victoria to Princess Alice as a wedding present in 1862."
2. "A diadem set with shell cameos, said to have belonged to Empress Josephine."
3. "An impressive diadem in the Indian taste set with diamonds, sapphires and pearls." (Owned by The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester)
4. "An aquamarine and diamond kokoshnik, c. 1900. It was said to have been the personal property of the Tsarina Alexander."
5. "A Fabergé diadem set with brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds arranged in the form of forget-me-not flowers and trials of stylized laurels emblematic of the Triumph of Love."
6. "The sapphire and diamond kokoshnik made by Cartier in 1909 for Grand Duchess Vladimir."
7. "The sunburst tiara set with 577 brilliant diamonds and many more rose-cut stones, made by Cartier, Paris, for the Tysckiewicz family in August 1921.






Source:
Tiaras: A History of Splendour
By Geoffrey C. Munn

 

[HRH Mims]

Wonderful tiaras, thank you very much!
I love this one: "A Fabergé diadem set with brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds arranged in the form of forget-me-not flowers and trials of stylized laurels emblematic of the Triumph of Love."
Just wondering- where are these tiaras now?

 

[Henri M.]

Whats the difference between a diadem and a tiara.

I stick to the word 'diademe'.

A tiara namely is the ornamental crown which was worn by Popes until 1978 and ancient kings.

The word diademe means 'ornamental headband' and that is exactly what ladies wear in their hairdo. For some reasom 'tiara' is popular in English while it generally is called 'Diadem' (in German), 'Diadéme' (in French) or 'Diadeem' (in Dutch)

 

[acid_rain3075]

Here are some more of my favorites from the book:

1. "The diamond and turquoise tiara made by R. & S. Garrard, c. 1900. In the lore of precious stones the turquoise stands for love, and the message is endorsed in this beautiful jewel that incorporates the lamps of love, triumphal laurels and true-loveers' knots."
2. The Londonderry tiara, entirely set with diamonds in silver settings on gold mount."
3. "A tiara of rock crystal engraved with arabesques in the Old Russian taste. The panels lapidary work are mounted in platinum and decorated with three ornaments of rose and brilliant-cut diamonds."
4. "The tiara of platinum, rock crystal and diamonds made in 1911 sold by Cartier to Prince Youssoupov for his bride in January 1914."
5. "The Nur ul-Ain diamonds tiara made for the Iranian crown jewels by Harry Winton using old-cut colored diamonds that are mainly of Iranian origin."




Source:
Tiaras: A History of Splendour
By Geoffrey C. Munn

 

[HRHAmy]

Thank you Acid Rain, do you know if this one is still in the family or if it was sold? It's beautiful.

1. "The diamond-set tiara given by Queen Victoria to Princess Alice as a wedding present in 1862."

 

[acid_rain3075]

Thank you Acid Rain, do you know if this one is still in the family or if it was sold? It's beautiful.

1. "The diamond-set tiara given by Queen Victoria to Princess Alice as a wedding present in 1862."

Well, according to the book it's still owned by Princess Alice's family.

As for the others. These are owned by...

Post One
1. Hessian House Foundation (Hessische Hausstiftung)
2. Musée d'art et de Histoire, Musée Massena, Nice
3. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester
4. Current location Unknown
5. In Private Collection
6. No Idea
7. In Private Collection

Post two
1. In the book it says this is owned by H.R.H. The Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon, but clearly she has passed on since after the publication of this book. I suppose it has gone on be either owned by Viscount Linley or her daughter Lady Sarah Chatto (is that right?).
2. The Most Hon. The Marquss of Londonderry
3. In Private Collection
4. No Idea
5. No idea for this one too

Source: Geoffrey C. Munn - Tiaras: A History of Splendor

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

I hope this isn't a repeat but I am so excited. I have never seen this HQ picture of the Spencer tiara before. This has always been my favorite. I love all diamond tiaras. I wish it could belong to the Windsor vaults instead of the Spencer ones. It would be awesome if Diana's grandchildren and further descendents could wear it. What Countess Spencer could be so worthy? But I have never seen it so large or with so much detail as this.

 

[HRH Mims]

Thank you for picture CasiraghiTrio!
Its wonderful view on this tiara, I just wonder why we don't have all tiaras in so perfect pictures

 

[LadyK]

Here's links to my choices:

Spanish Floral Tiara
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/6475-post3.html

King Faisel of Saudi Arabia necklace, owned by QEII
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/332011-post47.html

Crown Princess Mary's wedding earrings
http://pro.corbis.com/images/DWF15-716226.jpg?size=67&uid={203058e1-110c-4c48-b1cf-15ec1930ccd9}

Cullinan Brooche
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/433784-post128.html

Princess Diana's Engagement Ring
http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/121211-post65.html



Please post your favorites too!!!!!

 

[HRH Mims]

This tiara is so lovely!
http://www.royal-magazin.de/russia/alexandra-romanov-aquamarine.htm

 

[MARG]

This tiara is so lovely!
http://www.royal-magazin.de/russia/alexandra-romanov-aquamarine.htm

Wow! This is a truely unique tirara. Oh how I hope that somehwere, somehow, this has survived. It is one of the truely exceptional tiaras that I have seen. :w00t2: :w00t2:

 

[HRH Mims]

ok, I found it
It's photoshopped tiara originally created by reynard, winter tiara: http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/144256-post3.html
I will post more tiaras later. Now I have to leave

 

[SweetHomeNC]

I never noticed the additions to it!!!! I just remembered the main part of the tiara. Thank you so much!!!

 

[Thomas Parkman]

Well, reynard came up with one humdinger of a tiara. I had never really paid much attention to it earlier and had not noticed the diamonds. What are those yellow stones in it? Are they by any chance yellow diamonds??? If they are I suppose they are right up there after blue diamonds, pink diamonds and then yellow in the order of value. but it is a lovely contraption indeed, even without the pearl addition but that addition certainly greatly enhances it.

And while I am drooling I must express my gratitude to Mims III for the aquamarine parure, a masterpiece. It is so beautiful it is almost painful to look at it, especially when you think of the history behind it. If only Nicholas had just been a bit luckier and the Brits had sunk a sizeable chunk of the German navy at Jutland-which they would have done if they had had decent ammuniton-we might all be drooling today over the empress of his descendent sitting of the Russian Imperial throne. I would imagine a lot of Russians looking back over the last hundred years might even wish the same thing too. Cheers.

 

[LadyK]

yeah, now just imagine what it must be like to see them in person, much less wear them! sigh. dream. wish.

 

[banda_windsor]

This is surely my favourite tiara

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wiltshire/content/articles/2006/05/03/wilton_house_princess_margaret_feature.shtml

 

[Thomas Parkman]

Dear Banda

May I suggest that you go into deepest grief. The nitwit money grubbing Viscount Linley (no doubt I shall be banned for this) sold off this priceless family heirloom supposedly to pay for death duties. He got some five times from the total auction the sum needed to pay the taxes and there was great public outrage at least in some quarters. This magnificent tiara is now stuck off in some oil sheik or whatnot's bank vault never to be seen again.

I could skin the BRF, including Queens Mary, Queen Mum and ERII for not setting up a foundation to keep all of this massive jewelry collection intact and for the use of the Royal Family. These jewels are part of the heritage and dignity of the whole British nation. But I should stop. This is a hot button topic for me. I just cannot help but wonder how people can be so short sighted. Yes Linley got that blasted money, or at least what was left of it after the taxes, but it will all be gone in a few years and then what? And at what price. Cheers.

 

[kimebear]

Dear Thomas,

With great reluctance do I dare disagree with someone who loves these jewels as much as myself. However, the marvelous Poltimore, being a personal gift to Princess Margaret from her parents, was private property and as such, her heirs property to do with as they pleased. In a perfect world, Viscount Linley would treasure his heritage higher than dirt and never part with his mother's tiara, giving the beautiful jewel to the poor little girl he had dangling off of his bicycle a while back as a consolation prize for a scarred childhood, however we don't live in a perfect world. It may be the romantic in me, but in this case, a family trust created for the benefit of the royal ladies would prohibit a Lady Something or an Hon. Something or even a lowly commoner from having a magnificant jewel that belonged to her Princess great or great-great grandmother, even if we the public don't get to see it trotted out on a regular basis. I would rather not see it because the tiara belonged to a non royal descendant than not see it because it is hidden away somewhere in the far east.

 

[adelaide]

Here are the main Spanish tiaras.

Dear Elsa M, you had maid a great job to to give us pics of all the tiaras of Royal Spain Family.

But, may be I'm wrong, I think you have forgot one -on which myself was dubitative regarding the owner- it's these wearing by the Queen Sofia for the coronation of the Shah of Iran and more recently for the State visit in Norway.

I beleived that this tiara, very regal, belong to the Infanta Pilar because she wore it some times and because her daughter had wear it for her wedding.

But very recently, I read in intervew of Simoneta Gomez Acebo, daughter of the Infanta Pilar, telling that thisTiara was a loan.

And I reed too that the King had rebaught some important jewelles of the crown.

What is the opinion of the connoissors of Spanish royal jewelles.


http://s2.supload.com/free/dsc016987nk.jpg/view/


( from hola )

Please apologize if this tiara has yet shown, I beleive not but as this thread is very long I can make a mistake.

 

[Warren]

I could skin the BRF, including Queens Mary, Queen Mum and ERII for not setting up a foundation to keep all of this massive jewelry collection intact and for the use of the Royal Family. These jewels are part of the heritage and dignity of the whole British nation.

Thomas, you need a cup of iced tea. As has been explained by Kimebear, the Poltimore was never a "Royal Family heirloom", and even if the Queens you mentioned had set up family foundations, Margaret's Poltimore, as her private property, would not have been included.

There are still possibly another half dozen tiaras of truly Royal provenance in the possession of Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. The question is: how many tiaras do they need? Inevitably, over time they will be sold off. If Queen Elizabeth or King Charles decline to buy them back, what are Linley and Sarah supposed to do? The same situation is inevitable with the magnificant Gloucester collection. Sad for us tiara-watchers and royal admirers, but this is the the reality with any valuable but non-income producing asset.

 

[MARG]

the Poltimore was never a "Royal Family heirloom".

It will, however, be forever synonymous with Princess Margaret. Her style, charisma. call it what you will!

There are still possibly another half dozen tiaras of truly Royal provenance in the possession of Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones.

Unlike the the other possible half dozen. Not one of them will have the quantity "X" of the Poltimore!

The Poltimore requires a certain 'presence' to carry it off. Sadly I don't think any of Princess Margaret's decendents had the class, panache, or courage to carry it off.

Look at the photographs of Princess Margaret's wedding. What style, what beauty. I think the whole package was just too intimidating for any of her immediate family to take a shot at wearing it.

I just hope that whoever purchased it does not keep it in a vault, but flaunts it with the appropriate panache it deserves!

 

[LadyK]

There are still possibly another half dozen tiaras of truly Royal provenance in the possession of Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones.

Which ones do they have? (can you post links to pictures?)

 

[Madame Royale]

The Papyrus Motif & the Persian Turquoise being two others I believe.

What of the circlet tiara?

 

[Warren]

Which ones do they have? (can you post links to pictures?)

There are some pics in the Princess Margaret Jewels thread.

Tiara List
Poltimore (gone)
Teck Rose and Crescent
Teck Circlet necklace, convertable to a bandeau tiara
Papyrus
Persian Turquoise
Diamond Scroll
Strathmore Rose
Diamond Lozenge
Empress Maria Feodorovna Diamond and Sapphire bandeau tiara

The last two haven't been sighted for decades, and there may or may not be others we aren't aware of. Some of those in the list may have been loans from her mother which passed to the Queen on the Queen Mother's death, along with most of the QM's collection.

Did those fabled and mysterious vaults beneath Buckingham Palace require a significant expansion in 2002?

 

[Thomas Parkman]

Dear Warren,

You and the other noble members have just proven my point. All and I do mean all of these treasures should be part of a foundation and kept for the glory of the British people. Tiaras are not just headpieces. They can, if done properly of course, communicate a profound sense of dignity, if not majesty outright, and in the case of the items in question here a sense of history and heritage, qualities sadly and almost totally lacking in this degraded outhouse of a world we live in.

As for a cup of iced tea, I must dear Warren, correct you on a major Southern faux pas. Iced tea is not, repeat NOT EVER drunk in a cup. It is drunk in a glass, with ice and then the tea poured over. It can be sweetened or it can be unsweetened. Yes, people do drink the stuff unsweetened and iced. All of which our dear British cousins must find either absolutely appalling, disgusting or horrifying. In South Carolina it is called sweet tea. But then Yorkshire Gold is something else, even if there is not a speck of sugar in it.

Besides, given my hyperactive personality, while tea is soothing but chocolate is better and the men in white suits with drawn needles the most effective. Besides, good people, what would your lives be like without me on occasion to ruffle your feathers and get on your nerves. Tiaras are so soothing. Cheers. Thomas Parkman

 

[samgee]

This tiara is so lovely!
http://www.royal-magazin.de/russia/alexandra-romanov-aquamarine.htm

which countrys royal fmaily has this one?? its beautiful!!

 

[Warren]

which countrys royal fmaily has this one?? its beautiful!!

Current whereabouts unknown.