Nepalese Royal Jewels

[Tiara Mania]

I thought we could get things started with the jewels worn at the coronation of King Mahendra in 1956. Queen Ratna wore a diamond tiara with palmette motifs which would later be worn by Queen Aishwarya and a large diamond necklace. The tiara is now on display at the Narayanhiti Palace Museum along with other regalia.

Queen Ratna at the coronation in black and white
Queen Ratna at the coronation in color

British Pathe - Coronation Of King Mahendra

The Kathmandu Post - Crown and scepter put on display at Narayanhiti Museum

Queen Ratna's Two Mystery Tiaras and Emerald Drop Necklace

Two more pictures from around the time of the coronation. Queen Ratna is wearing a different tiara in each one but the necklace is the same. In the first photo the necklace has emerald drops but not in the second photo.

Queen Ratna wearing a diamond tiara and a necklace with emerald drops
Queen Ratna wearing a different diamond tiara and the same necklace with out the emerald drops

I would really like to know more about each of these tiaras but so far these are the only pictures I've found of them being worn.

State Visit to the UK in 1960

I haven't been able to find any pictures of the state banquet the first night at Buckingham Palace but there are pictures of the second and third nights. Queen Ratna wore her diamond palmette tiara to both events but I think she wore different necklaces. For the reception at the Nepalese Embassy she's clearly wearing sapphires and for the gala performance I think she is wearing her emerald necklace which I will post more pictures of later.

Also in the pictures is Princess Shanti, King Mahendra's eldest child, who wore a large diamond tiara, necklace, and earrings.

Getty Images - Nepalese Embassy Reception on Oct 18
Getty Images - Covent Garden Gala Performance on Oct 19
Getty Images - Covent Garden Gala Performance on Oct 19

State Visit from the UK in 1961
On the return visit from the UK, Queen Ratna wore her palmette tiara again with different jewels. I can't decide if there are rubies in her necklace and bracelet or if it's just the pink fabric shining off the diamonds.

Getty Images - Queen Ratna with Queen Elizabeth II
Getty Images - Queen Ratna with Queen Elizabeth II

 

[Tilia C.]

Thank you for those pictures, it's really interesting to see some Nepalese jewels. It seems that the coronation tiara was the Queen's most important tiara, of course. So she wore it again to the State Visits to and from the UK.

The other two tiaras look rather similar and at first I thought they might be the same. But I think they are two different jewels. Also, the Princess' tiara is really rather big as well. So it seems there were at least four different tiaras. Is it known what happened to the jewels after the fall of the monarchy?

 

[Tiara Mania]

Visit from Japan in 1960

Then Crown Prince Akihito and Crown Princess Michiko visited Nepal in December 1960. Queen Ratna wore her diamond palmette tiara with what I think is her sapphire necklace, earrings, and bracelet. Princess Princep, wife of Prince Himalaya, is also wearing a tiara.

Getty Images - Queen Ratna and Princess Princep
Getty Images - Queen Ratna

State Visit to the Netherlands in 1967
There were two nights of tiara for this visit. On the first night Queen Ratna wore her emerald parure including a tiara which would later be worn by Queen Aishwarya and Princess Shova wore what I think is the same set of jewelry worn by Princess Shanti for the British state visit in 1960.

State Banquet - April 25
State Banquet - April 25

For the second night, Queen Ratna wore a diamond tiara that has wave shaped elements with three diamonds on the top of each one with pearl earrings and a pearl necklace.

Rijksmuseum Dinner - April 26

Visit to Australia in 1971
Queen Ratna didn't wear a tiara but she is wearing a four strand pearl necklace with a diamond clasp on the 28th and the diamond and pearl set that she previously worn in the Netherlands on the 29th.

Getty Images - April 28
Getty Images - April 29

Undated Portrait
I'm not sure when this photo was taken but It shows Queen Ratna wearing her diamond palmette tiara with a set of jewels with a bow motif.

Queen Ratna Official Portrait

Thank you for those pictures, it's really interesting to see some Nepalese jewels. It seems that the coronation tiara was the Queen's most important tiara, of course. So she wore it again to the State Visits to and from the UK.

The other two tiaras look rather similar and at first I thought they might be the same. But I think they are two different jewels. Also, the Princess' tiara is really rather big as well. So it seems there were at least four different tiaras. Is it known what happened to the jewels after the fall of the monarchy?

Queen Ratna's coronation tiara is on display at the Narayanhiti Palace Museum but I don't know what happened to any of the others. She survived the royal massacre in 2001 and is currently 91 years old so it's possible she still owns most of her jewelry. After King Birendra became king in 1972, she passed a lot of her jewelry on to the new Queen Aishwarya but since Aishwarya and all of her children died the jewelry may have reverted back to Queen Ratna. Some other members of the family have worn tiaras since The monarchy was abolished in 2008 so I think most of their jewels were private property.

Crown Princess Indra's Jewelry?

The tiara worn by Princess Shanti is interesting because it's possible that the same tiara was worn by all three of King Mahendra and Crown Princess Indra's daughters. (Crown Princess Indra died in 1950 and two years later King Mahendra married her sister Queen Ratna but they never had any children.) My theory is that the tiara and necklace may have belonged to their mother but it's hard to tell if they are even wearing the same pieces because of the quality of the photos. Princess Shova is the only one that survived the massacre if they still exist they probably belong to her now.

Crown Princess Indra's Daughters

 

[Tiara Mania]

Crown Princess Indra's Jewelry?

The tiara worn by Princess Shanti is interesting because it's possible that the same tiara was worn by all three of King Mahendra and Crown Princess Indra's daughters. (Crown Princess Indra died in 1950 and two years later King Mahendra married her sister Queen Ratna but they never had any children.) My theory is that the tiara and necklace may have belonged to their mother but it's hard to tell if they are even wearing the same pieces because of the quality of the photos. Princess Shova is the only one that survived the massacre if they still exist they probably belong to her now.

I'm rethinking my theory. I found this picture with all three of King Mahendra and Crown Princess Indra's daughters wearing matching necklaces that look a lot like the design of the tiara. Now I'm wondering if all of them had matching sets of jewelry which included both the necklace and tiara. There's also the possibility that the necklace is convertible to a tiara since it looks like they wore different necklaces with the tiara but the quality of the pictures isn't high enough to tell for sure. Also, Princess Shanti's tiara looks fuller than the ones worn by Princess Sharada and Princess Shova but again it could just be that the quality of the picture of Princess Shanti is so much better.

Getty Images - King Mahendra of Nepal's Family

Collage of Princess Shanti, Princess Sharada, and Princess Shova wearing the tiara and necklace

Close up of the tiara and necklace

 

[Tiara Mania]

Queen Aishwarya

King Birendra & Queen Aishwarya Wedding - 1970
Aishwarya married the then Crown Prince Birendra in February 1970. There were two events and she wore two different tiaras. For the first event she wore a diamond tiara that I think is the same one worn by Queen Ratna for the dinner at the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands. I’m going to call it the wave tiara just to differentiate it from the other diamond tiaras. In the picture of Queen Ratna wearing it her hair is covering up most of the tiara and the pictures of Queen Aishwarya wearing it are of poor quality so I’m not positive but I can see three diamonds on top of each element on both tiaras. Queen Aishwarya continued wearing this tiara in the early years of her marriage.
Birendra & Aishwarya Wedding
Birendra & Aishwarya Wedding
Birendra & Aishwarya Wedding
Comparison of the wave tiara worn by Queen Ratna and Queen Aishwarya

For the second event, Queen Aishwarya wore a pearl and diamond tiara. I haven’t found any pictures of her wearing this tiara again. She also wore a pearl necklace with a large diamond and pearl pendant.
Getty Images - Birendra & Aishwarya Wedding
Getty Images - Birendra & Aishwarya Wedding
Getty Images - Birendra & Aishwarya Wedding

1970
Queen Aishwarya wearing an interesting pair of earrings, necklace, and brooch.
Portrait

1972
These pictures must have been taken shortly after Birendra became king. Queen Aishwarya is wearing the diamond wave tiara.
Official Portrait
Official Portrait

Queen Aishwarya wearing a pearl necklace and diamond and unknown gemstone earrings.
Portrait

Coronation - 1975
King Birendra became monarch in 1972 but the coronation wasn’t until February 1975. Queen Aishwarya wore the same diamond palmette tiara that was worn by Queen Ratna for her coronation but her other jewelry appears to be different.
Getty Images - King Birendra's Coronation
Getty Images - King Birendra's Coronation
Getty Images - King Birendra's Coronation
Close up of her earrings

You can see several Nepalese princesses wearing tiaras in this video but I can’t identify any of them.
British Pathe - Nepal: King Birendra Crowned As Monarch Of World's Only Hindu Kingdom. 1975

State Visit to Japan - 1978
Queen Aishwarya wore the diamond wave tiara to both of the tiara events during the state visit to Japan.
Getty Images - State Banquet May 15
Getty Images - Return Reception May 18

State Visit to the United Kingdom - 1980
Queen Aishwarya wore pearls for the arrival ceremony. I haven’t been able to find any pictures of her at the state banquet but I know there was one because I’ve found pictures of Queen Elizabeth II and King Birendra.
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya Arrival
Alamy - Queen Elizabeth II and King Birendra

State Visit to the United States - 1983
Queen Aishwarya wore diamond jewelry but no tiara.
December 7

State Visit from the United Kingdom - 1986
Queen Aishwarya wore pearls for the welcoming ceremony.
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya

There were several nights of jewels for the British state visit. For the first banquet, Queen Aishwarya wore Queen Ratna’s emerald tiara but a different emerald necklace and earrings.
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya and Queen Elizabeth II
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya and Queen Elizabeth II
Comparison of the emeralds worn by Queen Ratna and Queen Aishwarya

For the second banquet, Queen Aishwarya wore the diamond palmette tiara and other diamond jewelry. There are three Nepalese princesses wearing tiaras in the last picture. Princess Komal is in pink but I’m not sure who the others are.
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya
Getty Images - The Royal Couples
Getty Images - The Royal Couples
Getty Images - Banquet

This seems to be the set of jewelry that she wears for big events. She first wore it with the diamond wave tiara and then moved to wearing it with the diamond palmette tiara.
Close ups of Aishwarya’s diamond demi-parure

Queen Aishwarya wore Queen Ratna’s sapphire set for a performance on the 20th.
Getty Images - February 20
Comparison of the sapphire set worn by Queen Ratna and Queen Aishwarya

And pearls again for the farewell ceremony.
Getty Images - Farewell Ceremony

 

[Tiara Mania]

Queen Aishwarya Continued

State Visit from Spain - 1987
Queen Aishwarya wore pearls for the welcoming ceremony. She seems to have favored pearls for daytime events.
Getty Images - Arrival Ceremony

She wore the diamond palmette tiara and her other diamond jewelry for the state banquet. I think the woman seated next to King Birendra is Princess (later Queen) Komal and I’m not sure who the other woman wearing a tiara is.
Getty Images - The Royal Couples
Getty Images - Banquet

Official Portraits - late 1980s
Queen Aishwarya is wearing the diamond palmette tiara and I think pearl earrings.
Official Portrait
Official Portrait

Crown Prince Dipendra’s Coming of Age Ceremony - 1990
Queen Aishwarya is wearing the diamond palmette tiara and other diamond jewelry. Princess Shruti is also wearing a tiara in the first picture and in the second there are several other princesses wearing tiaras that I can’t identify.
Coming of Age Ceremony
Coming of Age Ceremony

I think this big group photo may be from the same occasion.
Group portrait with lots of tiaras

1993
Queen Aishwarya wore ruby and diamond jewelry when meeting with Princess Diana.
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya and Princess Diana
Getty Images - Queen Aishwarya and Princess Diana

A couple more pictures of Queen Aishwarya wearing the emerald tiara that I don’t have dates for.
Queen Aishwarya Emeralds
Queen Aishwarya Emeralds

 

[Tiara Mania]

I'm rethinking my theory. I found this picture with all three of King Mahendra and Crown Princess Indra's daughters wearing matching necklaces that look a lot like the design of the tiara. Now I'm wondering if all of them had matching sets of jewelry which included both the necklace and tiara. There's also the possibility that the necklace is convertible to a tiara since it looks like they wore different necklaces with the tiara but the quality of the pictures isn't high enough to tell for sure. Also, Princess Shanti's tiara looks fuller than the ones worn by Princess Sharada and Princess Shova but again it could just be that the quality of the picture of Princess Shanti is so much better.

Getty Images - King Mahendra of Nepal's Family

Collage of Princess Shanti, Princess Sharada, and Princess Shova wearing the tiara and necklace

Close up of the tiara and necklace

I found a picture of all three sisters wearing a tiara at the same time and shapes kind of look similar but it's hard to tell so I guess throw my whole theory out the window.

Princess Shova, Princess Sharada, and Princess Shanti wearing tiaras

Also, I found a picture of Queen Ratna wearing another tiara. The quality isn't the best but it's not any of the tiaras she wore in posts 1 or 3.

Queen Ratna

 

[Tiara Mania]

Queen Komal, Crown Princess Himani, & Princess Prerana

Queen Komal has already been in the pictures for a few events above so I’ll just do events that haven’t been covered.

Prince Charles’ Visit to Nepal - 1980
Queen Komal wore her diamond parure for a dinner during Prince Charles’ visit to Nepal in December 1980. I’m going to call this tiara her diamond ribbon tiara just to differentiate it from her other one even though it’s not very ribbon-y. In the second picture you can also see Princess Perksha and Princess Helen wearing tiaras.
Getty Images - Princess Komal
Getty Images - Dinner for Prince Charles

Medal Distribution Ceremony - 2000
Queen Komal wore her diamond ribbon parure.
Getty Images - Princess Komal

Crown Prince Paras & Crown Princess Himani Wedding - 2000
The only picture I’ve been able to find of then Prince Paras and Princess Himani’s wedding is this one of them with Crown Prince Dipendra it looks like maybe at a reception after the wedding.
Crown Princess Himani Wedding

2001
These pictures are dated Oct 17, 2001 and January 01, 2002 but I think they are actually of the same occasion. I’m going to trust the Shutterstock date of Oct 17 because Getty Images has Queen Komal labeled as her granddaughter, Princess Purnika. Either way, Queen Komal is wearing her diamond lotus tiara that she debuted after becoming queen.
Getty Images - Queen Komal
Shutterstock - Queen Komal

Queen Komal wearing her diamond lotus tiara and the necklace from her diamond parure
Official Portrait

This picture of Crown Princess Himani wearing Queen Komal's diamond ribbon tiara is dated October 2001 but I'm questioning whether it's a real photo because it's been heavily manipulated.
Shutterstock - Crown Princess Himani

I don’t know when this picture was taken but it features Queen Komal and Crown Princess Himani wearing tiaras. I think Queen Komal is wearing Queen Ratna’s emerald tiara, if that’s true then this is the only instance I’ve found of Queen Komal wearing jewels that belonged to previous queens. This is also the only picture I have found of Crown Princess Himani wearing this tiara.
Queen Komal and Crown Princess Himani
Queen Komal

Wedding of Princess Prerana - 2003
Queen Komal’s daughter, Princess Prerana, wore her mother’s tiara to both of her wedding events. For the first event she wore it with a ruby necklace and earrings and for the second event she wore it with the rest of the diamond ribbon parure.

January 22 - I've also seen these pictures dated Jan 17 or Jan 23 so I'm not entirely sure on the date
Shutterstock - Princess Prerana Wedding
Shutterstock - Princess Prerana Wedding
Shutterstock - Princess Prerana Wedding
Getty Images - Princess Prerana Wedding
Getty Images - Princess Prerana Wedding

Queen Komal and Crown Princess Himani wore diamond jewelry
Shutterstock - Queen Komal
Shutterstock - Queen Komal and Crown Princess Himani
Shutterstock - Crown Princess Himani
Shutterstock - Crown Princess Himani
Shutterstock - Crown Princess Himani and Princess Purnika

January 24
Getty Images - Princess Prerana
Getty Images - Princess Prerana

Queen Komal wore diamond earrings and a diamond necklace with some pretty big diamonds and Crown Princess Himani wore a diamond necklace with a big bow element
Getty Images - Queen Komal
Getty Images - Crown Princess Himani
Getty Images - The Royal Family

Prince Hridayendra’s Bratabandha Ceremony - 2017
Crown Princess Himani wore a diamond tiara, pearl necklace, and pearl earrings to her sons Bratabandha ceremony. I think this is the same tiara she wore for her wedding. Her daughters, Princess Purnika and Princess Kritika also wore tiaras and it looks like they might have the same design or at least similar designs. This is the only occasion I’ve found so far of the royal family wearing tiaras after the 2008 fall of the monarchy but it indicates to me that they still have their grand jewelry they just don’t typically have a reason to wear it publicly.
Crown Princess Himani
Princess Purnika
Princess Purnika (left) and Princess Kritika (right)

 

[Tiara Mania]

New Info from Vincent Meylan

Vincent Meylan just posted some amazing new information about the Nepalese Royal Jewels on Instagram. It looks like it's a preview for an article that will be in the upcoming jewelry special in Point de Vue.

Instagram - Vincent Meylan

He writes that several sets of Queen Ratna's jewelry were created by FRED in the early 1960s including the emerald parure and the diamond wave parure both of which she wore on the state visit to the Netherlands in 1967. FRED also created several pieces of pearl and diamond jewelry from an older pearl necklace. Meylan has close up photos of all of these pieces in the Instagram post and there are pictures of Queen Ratna wearing them in post #3 above.

 

[Tiara Mania]

I purchased the new issue of Point de Vue with Vincent Meylan's article about the Nepalese royal jewels made by FRED. I don't speak French so this is what I've gleaned trying to use Google translate. If anyone speaks French please let me know if I've made mistakes or if there is something I've missed.

If you don't subscribe, someone on Foro DINASTÍAS scanned the article and it includes many beautiful pictures so I recommend taking a look.

When the monarchy was abolished in 2008, the state kept the crown, scepter, and diamond palmette tiara but the rest of the jewelry was considered personal and kept by the family.

Fred Samuel was recommended through a Nepalese merchant and was asked to come to where King Mahendra and Queen Ratna were staying in Paris. They had brought a chest full of older jewelry that they wanted changed into modern styles. The first set bought in July 1960 was the emerald parure which upon request featured the seven naga heads motif which is a symbol of the Nepalese monarchy. He used emeralds from the older jewels but provided new diamonds since the older diamonds were of poorer quality. They also purchased a ruby and diamond set that did not include a tiara. This is likely the jewelry worn with the diamond palmette tiara for the state visit from the UK in 1961 linked in post #1.

From 1960 to 1963, they bought sets made with the nine gemstones considered lucky by Nepalese tradition including diamond, sapphire, ruby, emerald, garnet, topaz, coral, cat's eye and pearls.

Six parures were created from the older jewelry for Queen Ratna, Princess Shanti, Princess Sharada, Princess Shova, and the king's two future daughter in laws (Aishwarya & Komal). It's not clear to me if these were all made at once or if they are spanning a few years because it's talking about Queen Ratna's pearl necklace, earrings, and ring that she wore for the state visit to the Netherlands in post 3# which were made in 1963 as one of the sets but the one for Princess Shanti had to have been made in 1960 because she wore it for the state visit to the UK that year. The pearl set also doesn't seem to include a tiara like the others because there is not one pictured with the pearl set in the article. So, the diamond parures for the three princesses are likely the ones I've linked above in posts #4 and #7 that I thought were the same at first. I don't know which of Queen Aishwarya's this would be but Komal's is probably the diamond ribbon parure from post #8 that she primarily wore before becoming queen.

In May 1964, Queen Ratna ordered a necklace with 45 round pearls and 23 drop pearls set with diamonds and yellow gold that she later gave to Queen Aishwarya.

In December 1965, they ordered a new diamond parure including a tiara, necklace, earrings, ring, and bracelet in a wave design. This is the tiara worn by Queen Ratna for the state visit to the Netherlands in post #3.

In 1994, King Birendra and Queen Aishwarya ordered three new diamond parures for Princess Shruti and their two future daughter-in-laws. I think Princess Shruti's is the one with an inverted v base that she wore to her wedding since that is pictured in the article but she wore two other diamond tiaras so I'm not positive. Since neither of their sons married before the massacre in 2001 the latter two sets were never used.