Season 1 Tiaras and Crowns of "The Crown"
All My Posts on The Crown
S3: 1 & 2: “Olding” & “Margaretology” 3: “Aberfan” 4: “Bubbikins, 5: “Coup” 6: “Tywysog Cymru” 7: “Moondust" 8: “Dangling Man” 9: “Imbroglio” 10: “Cri de Coeur”
S4: 1: “Gold Stick” 2: “The Balmoral Test” 3: “Fairytale” ( + Cinderella References) 4: “Favourites” 5: “Fagan” 6: “Terra Nullius” 7: ”The Hereditary Principle” 8: “48:1” 9: “Avalanche”
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2
Other Posts about Crowns and Tiaras:
Diadems, Tiaras, and Crowns, Oh My! - an overview of types, definitions, and purposes
Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part I) - Snow White, Alice in Wonderland (cartoon and live), Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent, Robin Hood, and the Great Mouse Detective
Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part II): Cinderella, Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, and The Sword in the Stone!
In a previous post that focused mostly on the medals and sashes often worn by royal characters on formal occasions in The Crown, I included a small amount of information on tiaras in the show, but never went into much depth. I’ve been wanting to do an quick overview of every tiara and crown worn by an English royal woman on the show for a while, and am just now getting around to it. My brain needs a break from all the research and just needed a quick look at something pretty so - here you go!
The Court Jeweller’s past in-depth blog posts featuring ALL the jewels in The Crown S1-S3 and overviewing the jewels in S4 were absolutely invaluable in gathering information about each tiara and crown in the show. Ella Kay does a brilliant job over there and has blogged about tiaras and jewels for years and years, so if this quick overview piques your interest, please go read everything on her blog; it’s absolutely fascinating and incredibly in depth on all sorts of royal jewellery from many different countries. The Tiarapedia she’s put together is also an incredibly valuable resource for anyone looking for tiara information.
S1E1 Wolferton Splash: Princess Elizabeth wears Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara for her wedding. (Information from the Court Jeweller’s blog post on this episode)
L to R: Claire Foy as Princess Elizabeth wearing a replica of Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara for The Crown. Princess Elizabeth wears the real Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara on her wedding day in November 20, 1947 (Credit: Popperfoto / Getty). Famously, the fringe broke and had to be hurriedly repaired before the ceremony (you can see that it looks slightly uneven around the middle).
S1E3 Windsor: The new Queen Elizabeth wears the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara while out at a formal occasion. I could not find any photos of Elizabeth wearing this tiara in this episode except on The Court Jeweller blog, but you can go see it over there on her blog post about this episode.
S1E5 Smoke and Mirrors: In a flashback, Elizabeth’s father Bertie (whose regnal name was George VI) tries on the St. Edward’s Crown. Elizabeth also tries on this crown in the present. Note: she’s wearing almost exactly the same colors and outfit she wore in S1E1 when she gazed on the crown toward the end of the episode, possibly indicating how she’s inherited the throne so much sooner than planned.
L to R: Claire Foy as Elizabeth II in The Crown, trying on a replica of St. Edward’s Crown; Elizabeth II posing with St. Edward’s Crown in real life (Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty).
Next, Elizabeth tries on the imperial crown. I couldn’t find photos of this moment except at The Court Jeweller, but you can go look at the screenshots over there.
Queen Elizabeth goes out on the town in her furs and tiara: The Vladimir Tiara, worn with pearl pendants
L to R: Claire Foy as Elizabeth II wearing a replica of the Vladimir Tiara in The Crown; Elizabeth II wearing the Vladimir Tiara (Credit: Anwar Hussein / Getty).
The Queen Mother and Princess Margaret are both shown wearing tiaras at the coronation . The Queen Mother did in fact wear the circlet from her crown, although the replica of it is a bit awkward. In real life, Princess Margaret wore the Cartier Halo Tiara at the coronation, but The Court Jeweller reports that there were copyright issues preventing it from being used, so they replaced it with another. I’m not quite the tiara expert that others are, but the tiara in the show seems to slightly resemble Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau, which Meghan Markle wore on her wedding day to Prince Harry. (Information from The Court Jeweller’s blog on this episode)
Margaret also wore some sort of coronet for part of the coronation ceremony. In the United Kingdom, peers (what we would think of as nobles, with a specific title such as Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, or Baron) wear specific coronets for their rank to the coronation of a new monarch along with their coronation robes. Coronets do not have any stones. Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth also both wore simple coronets at their father’s coronation.
L to R: Victoria Hamilton as the Queen Mother and Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret in The Crown. Hamilton wears a replica of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s crown, without its arches. Margaret’s tiara in this scene does not appear to be a replica of any one tiara but somewhat resembles the Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau.; the real life Queen Mother (wearing her crown) and Princess Margaret (wearing a coronet) at the coronation (and a very bored Prince Charles)(Credit: Hulton Deutsch / Getty); Princess Margaret wearing the Halo Scroll Tiara.
In The Crown, the Queen is shown wearing the George IV State Diadem, which is traditionally worn by queens and queens consort in procession to coronations and state openings of Parliament. Elizabeth wore the diadem on her way to the coronation and on her procession down the aisle, was then crowned with St. Edward’s crown, and then wore the Imperial State Crown as she left Westminster Abbey.
L to R: Claire Foy as Elizabeth II wearing a replica of the George IV State Diadem on The Crown; Elizabeth II wearing the real George IV State Diadem as she arrives at Westminster Abbey for her coronation on June 2, 1953 (Credit: Topical Press Agency / Getty).
L to R: Promo photo of Claire Foy from The Crown wearing the replica St. Edward’s Crown; Elizabeth II wearing St. Edward’s Crown after her coronation on June 2, 1953 (Credit: Print Collector / Getty); Promo photo of Claire Foy from The Crown wearing the replica Imperial State Crown; Elizabeth II wearing the Imperial State Crown at the end of her coronation in Westminster Abbey.
S1E6 Gelignite: Elizabeth wears the Lover’s Knot Tiara again for a formal event. Again, I couldn’t find generally available screenshots for this, so you’ll have to check it out over on The Court Jeweller’s post on the episode.
S1E8 Pride and Joy: Princess Margaret, representing the Queen while Elizabeth and Philip are touring the commonwealth, is originally given the weird tiara she wore at the coronation to wear, but asks to change it instead. At the actual event, she wears the replica version of the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara. I couldn’t find any photos of the real Princess Margaret wearing the lover’s knot (because it wasn’t hers, which is made clear within the episode’s dialogue), but here’s the real Queen Elizabeth wearing it. (Information from The Court Jeweller’s post on this episode)
A portrait of the Queen Mother wearing the Greville Tiara by Richard Stone (1986).
L to R: Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret on The Crown wearing a replica of Queen’s Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara; Elizabeth II wearing the real Lover’s Knot tiara (Credit: Mirrorpix).
S1E9 Assassins: Elizabeth wears the Lover’s Knot tiara for dinner at Downing Street (in honor of Winston Churchill’s stepping down from office). You can see The Court Jeweller’s screenshots in her blog post on the episode over here. A few other tiaras appear at Churchill’s formal dinner, but as I’m only covering royal tiaras, you’ll have to go check those out over there.
Do you think they just hadn’t had time to make more tiaras for her to wear in this first season? It’s rather odd that they repeated the lover’s knot so many times in one season.
S1E10 Gloriana: The Queen Mother wears the Greville Tiara during a ball at Balmoral. I couldn’t find any other screenshots of her wearing this, but you can see it over on the Crown Jeweller’s blog post on the topic. Here’s a portrait of the real Queen Mother wearing the Greville Tiara though.
Elizabeth wears the Lover’s Knot tiara (again). Margaret wears the weird coronation tiara again. Seriously, I really think they just hadn’t had time to make many tiara replicas at this point.
In the very final shot of Season 1, Elizabeth II is shown wearing the George IV State Diadem again for her portrait as queen.
L to R: Claire Foy as Elizabeth II wearing a replica of the George IV State Diadem on The Crown; Elizabeth II wearing the George IV State Diadem.
It was great fun putting this together and actually rather quick for me, so I’ll be putting together an overview for each season here soon. Stay tuned. :)