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Tiara Highlights of 2024

Going into 2024 I expected it to be a boring year for tiara but I was glad to be wrong!

The New Queen Mary

Last January, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark shocked everyone by abdicating in favor of her son Frederik. The most exciting part to me of course was getting to see the new Queen Mary start to use the Danish Crown Jewels and the jewels from the Danish Royal Property Trust. Mary didn't disappoint and quickly wore the Emerald Parure Tiara for her first official portrait and the Pearl Poiré Tiara for the state visit to Norway. But not content with now having access to all three of the Danish big guns tiaras, Queen Mary worked with the Danish Royal Collection to create a new Diamond Bandeau Tiara out of the largest rose cut diamonds from a diamond belt in the crown jewels that hadn't been worn in a century. She's truly embodying the spirit of her namesake and patron saint of royal jewelry fans, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom. There are still quite a few pieces that she hasn't worn so I'm excited for the future.

Rediscovery of Queen Mary's Lozenge Tiara

Probably the biggest news for us royal jewelry watchers was the rediscovery of Queen Mary's Lozenge Tiara in the collection of Queen Azizah of Pahang. Saad Salman from The Royal Watcher noticed the similarities of the two tiaras while at the wedding of Prince Muhammad and Natasya Adnan in October. He mentioned it to Queen Azizah who graciously allowed him to examine the tiara and determined that they were indeed the same piece. She had purchased the "lost" tiara in New York City in 1988 with no idea of it's previous royal provenance and it's been worn by her family ever since.

Malaysian Tiara Buying Bonanza

I don't know what was going on in Malaysia this year but everyone decided they needed a new tiara. Did they get some sort of Groupon or maybe a BOGO deal? This doesn't even include two tiaras that were made from previously owned necklaces. Crown Princess Zaheeda of Kedah, Princess Julie of Kedah, Princess Aminah of Johor, Queen Zarith Sofiah of Johor, Princess Afzan of Pahang, and Queen Norashikin of Selangor all debuted brand new tiaras.

Princess Sofia's Surprise

In April, Princess Sofia debuted London blue topaz gemstones for the top of her signature Palmette Tiara bringing the total different versions of the tiara up to seven. But that somehow wasn't the biggest tiara news for her this year because in December she surprised us all by wearing the Aquamarine Kokoshnik Tiara for the first time! She had worn the Palmette Tiara for every single tiara event since 2017 and 27 times in a row!

Opening of the Buckingham Palace Vault

With a new reign means a new person in charge of loaning out jewelry and King Charles and Queen Camilla seem to have a much more 'jewelry is meant to be worn' approach than the late Queen. In addition to her standard Greville Honeycomb Tiara, Queen Camilla has worn six new to her tiaras since becoming queen. I didn't expect her to wear new ones quite so quickly but I have really enjoyed seeing her explore the vault. They also have a jewelry is meant to be shared mentality that I am loving! Queen Elizabeth II tended to give out a few long term loans to each person and that was the only person that wore that piece of jewelry. This year, the Duchess of Edinburgh wore the Lotus Flower Tiara which was on loan to the Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla wore the Five Aquamarine Tiara that was on loan to the Duchess of Edinburgh. I don't think the BRF are suddenly going to be at the level of Dutch or Swedish jewelry sharing but they are certainly moving in the right direction.