Something borrowed – and proudly so… we recall the dazzling heirloom tiaras worn by royal brides through the decades

When it comes to incorporating ‘something borrowed’ on your wedding day, few items could impress more than a family tiara.

Royal brides have traditionally walked down the aisle with a gleaming headpiece, more often than not, one passed down the  generations.

The Queen Mary Fringe tiara, worn by Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Anne and Princess Beatrice for their weddings, is just one such example.

Princess Catherine, whose wedding anniversary falls on Monday, wore the Cartier Halo tiara, borrowed from the late Queen. 

Some brides might receive tiaras as gifts from their new in-laws – as was the case when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip acquired  the spectacular York Diamond Tiara for Sarah Ferguson when she married Prince Andrew in 1986.

Either way, the effects tend to be dazzling – as these pictures show.

Queen Mary Fringe tiara

On the morning of her wedding to Philip Mountbatten in 1947, Princess Elizabeth suffered a wardrobe malfunction.

Her Majesty inadvertently tampered with the clasp on her tiara, not realising it could also be worn as a necklace.

Fortunately, royal jeweller Garrard was on hand to fix the piece – by taping up the spring. 

The Queen Mother reportedly remained calm, saying: ‘We have two hours and there are other tiaras’.

The headpiece in question was the Queen Mary Fringe tiara, which had been given to the Queen Mother by her mother-in-law, Queen Mary. 

The diamond accessory, made by Collingwood, had been Queen Mary’s wedding gift from Queen Victoria. 

Mary wore the convertible jewel in various forms, including as a headpiece and a necklace, before having it dismantled to create a new diamond fringe tiara.

In 1919, she asked Garrard to create a piece in the style of a kokoshnik (a russian headdress) comprising 47 graduated brilliant diamonds, rose-set tapering bars and 46 narrower spikes, which could be removed to form a necklace.

The Queen Mary Fringe tiara is the most-worn wedding tiara by Windsor brides. 

Elizabeth’s daughter, Princess Anne, selected the stunning piece for her first wedding in 1973.

She tied the knot with British equestrian, Mark Phillips, in a lavish ceremony at Westminster Abbey, attended by 2,000 guests.

 Princess Beatrice borrowed the tiara for her contrastingly private Windsor wedding to Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, during the Covid pandemic in 2020.

She also wore her grandmother’s vintage Norman Hartnell dress, remodelled by Angela Kelly and Stewart Parvin.

Greville Emerald tiara

Queen Elizabeth II owned another kokoshnik-style tiara: the Greville Emerald.

She lent the distinctive piece to her granddaughter, Princess Eugenie, on her wedding day in 2018.

The Art Deco design boasts a 93.70 carat emerald and six further faceted emeralds set on either side. 

It was created in 1919 by Boucheron for Margaret Greville, a British philanthropist, and later inherited by the Queen Mother. 

The emerald and diamond design was stashed in a black tin trunk and delivered to Buckingham Palace in 1943, along with a number of jewels that Margaret had bequeathed to her friend.

The piece remained in the Queen Mother’s jewellery collection until her death in 2002.

When Queen Elizabeth inherited the tiara, she revised the top edge so that it no longer resembled a traditional kokoshnik. 

Princess Eugenie is the only royal to publicly wear the piece and it has since been returned to the vault.

The Spencer tiara 

Eschewing royal tradition, Princess Diana chose to wear a tiara belonging to her father, John Spencer, for her 1981 wedding to Prince Charles.

Dating back to 1919, the Spencer tiara was crafted using diamonds from the family collection. 

It was gifted to Cynthia Spencer, on the occasion of her marriage to Albert, Viscount Althorp by Lady Sarah Spencer.

Cynthia was serving as a Lady of Bedchamber to Queen Elizabeth and required extravagant jewellery for accompanying Her Majesty at events.

The impressive garland-style headpiece features a central heart, flanked by continuous running scrolls that are interspersed with star-and trumpet-shaped flowers.

It incorporates a variety of diamonds: circular, rose-cut, cushion and pear-shaped, mounted in gold. 

Diana’s father, Earl Spencer, allowed her to borrow the tiara on a regular basis.

She was the third Spencer sister to wear it, but Princess Diana turned the tiara into an iconic piece of jewellery. 

She wore it seven times between 1983 and 1993, during royal tours and high-profile events across the globe. 

The Poltimore tiara

Princess Margaret was the second owner of the striking Poltimore tiara. 

The accessory was made by Garrard for Florence Bampfylde, wife of the 2nd Baron Poltimore, in 1870.

She wore the tiara several times throughout her lifetime, pairing it with her robes for the 1902 coronation of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

It featured a graduated line of cushion-shaped and old-cut diamond clusters, alternating with diamond-set scroll motifs that were mounted in silver and gold.

Not only could the headpiece be worn as a necklace, but its diamond elements were also designed to be separated into eleven brooches.

The tiara included a small screwdriver to enable the wearer to make these changes. 

In 1959, Florence’s descendants sold the tiara at auction, where it was purchased by a London jeweller on behalf of its client, Princess Margaret. 

Breaking away from tradition, Margaret wore the tiara on several occasions as an unmarried woman before showcasing it on her wedding day in 1960.

She married society photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones, becoming the first daughter of a King to marry a commoner.

After Margaret’s death, the tiara was part of an auction of her estate and sold for £926,400. 

Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau

‘It was beautiful, seemingly made for Meg,’ Prince Harry recalled in his memoir, Spare. 

Shortly before the wedding of Harry and Meghan Markle in 2018, the Queen invited the couple to view a selection of tiaras.

Meghan chose Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau, which Harry remembers as the one that ‘stood out’ to the couple.

The dazzling piece features a diamond brooch that Mary of Teck, later Queen Mary, received as a wedding gift from the County of Lincoln in 1893.

The brooch featured a large collet-set diamond, surrounded by nine brilliant diamonds, with several smaller stones placed between these.

‘The gift was most graciously received and greatly admired by Her Serene Highness, who expressed her warm appreciation of the kind and loyal feeling which prompted the gift,’ The Chronicle wrote. 

She wore the brooch on several occasions before deciding to transform it into something with more versatility. 

In 1932, she commissioned Garrard to create a diamond and platinum bandeau-style tiara, placing the County of Lincoln brooch at its centre. 

The eleven sections are pavé set with large and small brilliant diamonds in a geometric design.

Additionally, the cluster style of the brooch is mirrored in a set of smaller diamond clusters placed on either side of the tiara.

The brooch is detachable and Mary continued to wear it as a standalone jewel after the tiara had been completed. 

The Cubitt tiara 

The Cubitt tiara, worn by Camilla Shand, originally belonged to her grandmother, Sonia Keppel.

Sonia’s mother, Alice Keppel, who was married to the Hon. Roland Cubitt, was the last mistress of King Edward VII.

Sonia lent the diamond tiara to Camilla for her 1973 wedding to Andrew Parker Bowles at St. James’s Palace.

When Sonia died in 1986, the accessory was inherited by Camilla’s mother, Rosalind.

Camilla continued to showcase the piece three times after marrying Prince Charles in 2005. 

Camilla wore the tiara to the annual diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace on two occasions, as well as a dinner at the Royal Academy of the Arts in 2015. 

Maintaining family tradition, her daughter, Laura Parker Bowles, incorporated the tiara into her wedding ensemble when she married Harry Lopes in 2006.

Princess Andrew’s Meander tiara

Princess Andrew’s spectacular Meander tiara has been passed down through four generations of the Royal Family. 

The headpiece was initially given to Princess Elizabeth by her mother-in-law, Princess Alice of Battenberg, in 1947.

The Greek design was inspired by Alice’s marriage to Prince Andrew of Greece, who was Prince Phillip’s father.

It features diamond-encrusted neoclassical motifs, including meander (or Greek key), anthemions and laurel wreaths. 

Princess Alice gifted the tiara to Elizabeth on her wedding day in 1947.

The Queen passed it on to Princess Anne, who wore the accessory during her engagement to her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, and at least four times afterwards.

In 2011, it was loaned to her daughter, Zara, for her wedding to Mike Tindall at the Canongate Kirk in Edinburgh. 

The Anthemion tiara

Sophie Wessex wore her first tiara on the day she married Prince Edward in 1999.

The Anthemion tiara, which was gifted from Queen Elizabeth II’s collection, was renovated by David Thomas, the crown jeweller, before the big event. 

It is thought that the elaborate design was crafted using four elements from Queen Victoria’s Regal Circlet. 

Sophie paired the piece with a suite of pearl jewellery, designed by her new husband. 

The Duchess wore her wedding tiara to a number of exclusive events over the following years, including the 2010 wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden.

The nuptials took place on Sophie and Edward’s 11th wedding anniversary, inspiring the royal to wear an interlocking heart brooch that she received as a first anniversary present from her husband in 2000.

Sophie requested for the Anthemion tiara to be re-modelled to coincide with the couple’s 20th anniversary in 2019. 

The tiara underwent alterations, including repositioning the diamond elements and adding a new row of diamonds beneath them, with the assistance of jeweller Harry Collins.

Cartier Halo tiara

The glittering Cartier Halo tiara served as Kate Middleton’s ‘something borrowed’ for her wedding to Prince William in 2011.

The headpiece consists of 739 brilliant cut diamonds and 149 baguette diamonds. 

It dates back to 1936, when George VI commissioned Cartier to create a tiara using the diamonds and platinum he had purchased for his wife three weeks before he became King George VI and she became Queen Elizabeth (the future Queen Mother).

However, Elizabeth was only seen wearing the tiara once before she became Queen Consort. She gifted the accessory to her eldest daughter, Elizabeth, on her 18th birthday in 1944, although the late Queen never wore the Cartier Halo tiara publicly.

The York Diamond tiara 

Sarah Ferguson walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey in 1986 wearing a floral crown. 

But when she and Prince Andrew stepped away to sign the register, the flowers were removed to reveal a glittering diamond scroll headpiece.

The York Diamond tiara was used to signify Sarah’s new status as Duchess of York. 

Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip are said to have purchased the piece from Garrard, gifting it to Sarah after she joined the Royal Family.

She wore the tiara on a number of occasions throughout her marriage. 

And it has remained in Sarah’s personal property following her divorce from Prince Andrew.

The royal showcased the sparkler at several glamorous events, such as Elton John’s White Tie and Tiara Ball in 2001. 

In recent years, however, the tiara has been hidden in Sarah’s safe – until it finally saw the light of day last summer. 

Her daughter, Princess Beatrice, showcased the twinkling design at the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Prince Rajwa of Jordan.

The Iveagh tiara

The highlight of Lady Rose Gilman’s (née Windsor) wedding ensemble was her Iveagh tiara.

The kokoshnik-style accessory was a wedding gift to Queen Mary from Irish aristocrats, Lord and Lady Iveagh.

Named after its benefactors, who were members of the Guinness family, the tiara can either be pronounced as ‘eye-vee’ or ‘eye-vah’.

The piece was frequently worn by Mary, who did not make any changes to its form – a rarity for the Queen, who enjoyed experimenting with her jewels. 

The royal notably wore the tiara to a gala performance of Sleeping Beauty by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet at Covent Garden in 1946, marking the re-opening of the Royal Opera House following the Second World War.

Mary bequeathed the headpiece to her daughter-in-law, Princess Alice (who married Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester) in 1953, who eventually passed it along to her own daughter-in-law, Birgitte, Duchess of Gloucester.

In 2008, the Iveagh tiara was worn by Birgitte’s daughter, Lady Rose, at her wedding to George Gilman, which took place at the Queen’s Chapel, St James’s Palace.

It was last seen adorning the head of the Duchess at the Queen’s Dinner during the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting festivities in 2018.

The Snowdon Floral tiara

This sparkling set of brooches, mounted on a tiara frame, has been preserved for significant occasions. 

Seen in all its splendour on the wedding day of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto in 1994, the Snowdon Floral tiara was on loan from her mother, Princess Margaret.

Margaret was given the set by her ex-husband, Antony Armstrong-Jones, to mark their marriage in 1960.

On her wedding day, Lady Sarah’s tiara was surrounded by a wreath of greenery, adding to the English garden theme.

In recent years, she has worn the brooches separately on poignant occasions, such as her mother’s funeral in 2002. 

The Kent City of London Fringe tiara

This Russian-inspired diamond tiara, featuring a series of fringes and spikes, once belonged to Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (mother of Prince Edward, the current Duke, Prince Michael of Kent and the Hon Alexandra Ogilvy).

The glinting piece was given to Marina, who was a Greek princess by birth and a British princess by marriage, from the City of London in 1934.

She paired the tiara with a white silk and silver lamé brocade gown for her wedding to Prince George, Duke of Kent at Westminster Abbey. 

Marina’s daughter, Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, also wore the opulent accessory on her wedding day. 

She was the 12th member of the royal family to be married at Westminster Abbey.

In 1968, the Kent City of London Fringe tiara was inherited by Prince Michael of Kent.

His wife, Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz, wore the piece when they wed in Vienna in 1978.