ROYAL TIARAS

THE BURMESE RUBY TIARA

Grand Duchess Vladimir's Tiara

This tiara is a genuine Russian article, made by a Russian jeweller for the Grand Duchess Vladimir. During the Russian Revolution, the Duchess moved with her family to safety while her jewels were hidden in a vault in the Vladimir Palace. The looters never found the treasure, and a member of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service friendly with the Duchess' family managed to rescue the jewels and send them back to her. The Duchess commissioned the tiara to have Oriental pearl drops, as seen in the first image. This is the original design. When Queen Mary bought the tiara from Princess Nicolas of Greece, Duchess Vladimir's daughter, she had the last of her Cambridge emeralds made into drops and set in the tiara (above). These emeralds are interchangable with the pearls, and both styles are worn by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II today.

Queen Victoria's Diamond and Sapphire Tiara Queen Victoria's tiara was designed by Prince Albert as a gift in 1842 and made at a cost of £415. It is "a small flexible tiara in the Gothic taste with kite- and cushion-shaped sapphires and diamonds. The sapphires are set in gold and the diamonds in silver."n the Gothic taste with kite- and cushion-shaped sapphires and diamonds. The sapphires are set gold and the diamonds in

Diamond Honeysuckle Tiara Composed of five graduated diamond-set honeysuckle panels, circa 1865 - with five brooch fittings, could be worn on a frame with diamonds as seen in the picture above. The tiara was in the possession of H.M. Queen Mary (1867-1953), wife of H.M. King George V (1865-1936) and a present to her daughter, H.R.H. The Princess Royal, Countess Harewood, (1897-1965) and thence by descent.

THE POLTIMORE TIARA

Created by the famed jewelers Garrards in 1870 for Lady Poltimore, this grand tiara was famous mostly for its more recent owner - HRH Princess Margaret. The children of the late Princess, Viscount Linley and Lady Sarah Chatto, sold this and other items at an auction at Christie's in 2006.

The Princess, who died in February of 2002, wore it for her wedding to Anthony Armstrong-Jones, Lord Snowdon. Like many of the tiaras in the Royal Family, the Poltimore tiara was seen in several alternative forms such as a diamond fringe necklace and as brooches.

The Persian Turquoise Tiara was part of a parure given to Margaret by the Queen Mother on her 21st birthday. The Persian Turquoise Tiara was part of a parure given to Margaret by the Queen Mother on her 21st birthday.

In addition to the tiara, it consisted of a necklace of graduated pendant drops, matching pendant earrings, several hair pieces and a brooch.

Queen Alexandra's Kokoshnik Tiara

Queen Alexandra, the wife of King Edward VII, commissioned Garrard's to create this tiara in the style of a Russian peasant girl's headdress. Her sister Princess Dagmar, who had become Empress Marie of Russia, had a similar tiara which was the inspiration for the Kokoshnik.

It is composed of sixty-one platium bars and filled with 488 diamonds. It is often worn by HM The Queen today.

The circlet of the Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara is made up of a lower semi-circular band, set with a row of round brilliant-cut diamonds. Nineteen inverted arches arise from the lower band, also set with round brilliant cut diamonds. Where two adjacent arches meet a pillar-like structure is formed that rises up and ends in a large round brilliant-cut diamond, forming a diamond spike. There are nineteen diamond spikes of this nature, and the size of these diamonds decrease gradually from the center towards both ends. A combination of lovers knots and scroll motifs is placed at the upper end of each inverted arch. The center of each lovers knot is occupied by a large round brilliant-cut diamond, from which arises two large drop-shaped pearls, one suspended in the space inside the inverted arch, and the other rising above the surface of the tiara as a spike. There are nineteen arches and nineteen drop-shaped pearls inside the arches, and nineteen drop-shaped pearls rising as spikes, making a total of 38 drop-shaped pearls. The largest drop-shaped pearl is exactly in the central arch of the tiara, with nine drop-shaped pearls gradually decreasing in size occupying the nine arches on either side. The pearl spikes that rise up above the surface of the tiara also follow a similar trend in size and arrangement. Thus the Lovers Knot Tiara is perfectly symmetrical about its median line. The tiara is essentially made of repeated units of the same motif, consisting of the inverted arch, with the lovers knot and the scrolls and the two pearls, the pendant and the spike situated inside the arch.