Sunday 13 June 2010

Royal jewels: Princess Sibylla’s tiara

Although commonly known as Princess Sibylla’s tiara, this beautiful piece of jewellery first belonged to her mother-in-law Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden. Made by E. Wolff & Co. in 1904, it was presented by the Duke and Duchess of Connaught to their eldest daughter when she married Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in June 1905.
Margareta never lived to be queen and the tiara was inherited by her eldest son, Prince Gustaf Adolf, and became a favourite of his wife, Princess Sibylla. Following her death in 1972 it is the property of King Carl XVI Gustaf and has been used frequently by Queen Silvia, who first wore it to the opera on the eve of her wedding.
Princess Christina wore it as a bride in 1974 and again at the Nobel banquet in 2001 and in 1983 it was also lent to Princess Lilian for King Olav V of Norway’s 80th birthday celebrations in Oslo.
The tiara is in the shape of loops made up of forget me not flowers bound together by bows. The diamond drops hanging within the loops can be unhitched and Princess Madeleine frequently wears the drops attached to a simple necklace string. She has so far never worn the tiara itself, but perhaps her sister’s wedding on Saturday could be a good occasion to do so (unless the bride herself chooses to wear this lighter diadem rather than the cameo tiara)?
The above photo of Crown Princess Margareta wearing court dress and the diadem was taken by court photographer Florman shortly after her arrival in Sweden. I bought it at an antiquarian bookseller in Stockholm and as far as I have been able to tell it has never been published before.

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for an interesting articles and also the other too. The photo of Crown Princess Margaret in courtdress has also been published by several magazines during the 90th birthday celebrations of King Gustaf VI Adolf and also after his death.

    Claes

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for this - I have never seen it printed, but I have some magazines from those occasions you mention, so I should take an extra look in them.

    ReplyDelete

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