Five famous tiaras Queen Mary brought into Royal Family – including Queen’s two favourites
Queen Mary was famed for her love of jewellery, and she had a knack for creating stunning necklaces, show-stopping earrings and timeless tiaras. Several of the tiaras Mary commissioned are worn by the Queen today, while others have been worn by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex in recent years. Express.co.uk takes a look at five of the most famous of Queen Mary’s tiaras.
Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara
The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara was a wedding present to the Duchess of York, the future Queen Mary, in 1893.
The tiara was gifted to Mary by a committee chaired by her future lady-in-waiting, Lady Eva Greville.
Adorned with several diamond peaks, the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara appears frequently in portraits of the Queen on coinage and banknotes across the Commonwealth.
Alongside the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is frequently cited as the Queen’s favourite diadem.
READ MORE: Poltimore Tiara: ‘Rebellious’ Margaret’s stunning wedding diadem
Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara
The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara can be worn three ways, with either emeralds, pearl drops or without any gems at all for a ‘widowed’ setting.
With regards to how it came into Queen Mary’s possession, Adele Narcisi, Gemmologist & Design Consultation at Queensmith said: “This iconic piece was smuggled out of Russia following the fall of the Tsar, and perfectly encapsulates the opulence of the Russian monarchy.
“In 1920, the British Royal Family acquired the tiara, and it became a part of Queen Mary’s collection.”
Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara
Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara features several diamond spikes interspersed with thinner gem-encrusted bars.
Most famously, Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara was worn by the Queen when she was still a Princess in 1947, upon the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Since then, Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara has been worn by Princess Anne and Princess Beatrice on their respective wedding days.
Queen Mary’s Bandeau Tiara
Queen Mary’s Bandeau Tiara is an Art Deco piece, and its most recent outing was in 2018.
Meghan Markle wore the timeless tiara for her wedding to Prince Harry at St George’s Chapel, Windsor.
The tiara was crafted to fit around a brooch Queen Mary received from the County of Lincoln in 1893.
