Season 3 Tiaras of The Crown

June 07, 2021 by Rachael Dickson in English History

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” 10: “War”
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!

Elizabeth in The Crown (Olivia Colman) in the opening scene of S3, looking at stamps based off of S1-S2 actress Claire Foy and S3-S4 actress Olivia Colman. Both stamp portraits are wearing replicas of the George IV diadem.

S3E1 Olding: Season 3 opens with the meta acknowledgement of the actress change from Claire Foy to Olivia Colman as portrayed in the new stamp portraits. Both portraits feature the George IV diadem. (Of interest: The Court Jeweller pointed out that the stamps actually changed out in 1967, when this scene is set in 1964).

In real life, the stamp design was changed for practical reasons having nothing to do with the Queen’s age. The first stamp design featuring Queen Elizabeth II in 1952 was based on a photo by Dorothy Wilding which featured the Queen in three-quarter shoulder length profile. Stamp designers apparently found it difficult to incorporate the Queen’s profile into new stamps, resulting in some murmurs of removing the Queen from the stamps altogether. Instead, they switched to a more direct profile that worked better for design purposes. This version, which debuted in June 1967, uses of a plaster bust design made by Arnold Machin based off of photos by John Hedgecoe. This is still the profile of the queen used on stamps today. (Source: Postal Museum)

L to R: the original Dorothy Wilding photograph stamp, the new Andrew Machin design stamp, and a modern stamp with the queen’s profile on it.

Later in the episode, the Queen wears an odd made-up tiara at the art exhibition. It’s like, very Disney princess and doesn’t actually resemble any of the queen’s real tiaras.

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L to R: Elizabeth in The Crown, wearing an invented tiara; Margaret in The Crown wearing a replica of the Poltimore tiara; the real Princess Margaret wearing the Poltimore tiara in a bathtub taken by her then husband Lord Snowden in 1962 and at an event (Credit: Reginald Davis / Shutterstock).

S3E2 Margaretology: During Margaret’s fabulous 1965 American tour montage, she wears a replica of the Poltimore tiara for a photo shoot with her in the bathtub. This refers to a very famous photo of Margaret that was actually taken by her photographer husband Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1962. In the full shot, you can actually see Antony in the mirror behind Margaret right in the corner of the photograph. The actual photo didn’t come out until 2006, four years after Margaret’s death. (Source: Town and Country)

Margaret also wore the Poltimore tiara at her wedding and at several other events.

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L to R: Elizabeth in The Crown; Queen Elizabeth II; The Queen Mother; Princess Elizabeth (the future Queen)(Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty); Princess Anne (Credit: PA Images / Getty); Princess Beatrice (Credit: Getty)

S3E3 Bubbikins: On a state visit, the queen wears a replica of Queen Mary’s fringe tiara. This is a real tiara, but as the Court Jeweller points out, the Queen didn’t own this tiara in the 1960s. The Queen Mother owned it at the time, but eventually bequeathed it to her daughter Elizabeth in 2002. Fun fact: Then-Princess Elizabeth wore it for her wedding in 1947, her daughter Princess Anne borrowed it for her wedding in 1973, and Elizabeth’s granddaughter Princess Beatrice (Prince Andrew’s daughter with Sarah Ferguson) wore it for hers in 2020.

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L to R: Prince Charles at his investment as Prince of Wales in The Crown; the real life Charles in his investment portrait (Credit: Bettmann / Getty); the investment coronet (Credit: Royal Collection Trust).

Episode 6 Tywysog Cymru: Charles is invested as Prince of Wales at Cardiff Castle in this episode and sports a jaunty new coronet as part of that. Although a Prince of Wales coronet had been made for Prince Edward in 1911, along with various other ceremonial accoutrements (rod, ring, sword, and a robe with doublet and sash), a new coronet had to be made for Charles, as Edward (also known as David) had taken his coronet with him when he went into exile post-abdication in 1936. Apparently, the royal family was much more willing to make a new coronet than talk to Edward to get the old one back. (Source: Town and Country)

The new coronet design was deliberately modern and simple. A more extravagant design was previously rejected as out of touch with a lot of the economic struggles happening in the country at the time.

Charles also wore a crown while playing Richard II in the episode. Although this was obviously just a theater prop, it actually does have some real similarities to the original crown worn by Richard II. Both are gold, open crowns topped with fleurons. (Source: Richard II’s Treasure)

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L to R: Prince Charles playing Richard II in The Crown; Charles’s play crown in The Crown; Richard II’s portrait

Episode 9 Imbroglio:

The Queen, Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret all wear invented tiaras at Elizabeth and Philips’s 25th anniversary celebration. In real life, this was celebrated with a luncheon in November 1972, not a fancy formal dinner like that shown in The Crown.

The Court Jeweller referred to the Queen Mother’s made up tiara as an “invented diamond scroll tiara.” It really doesn’t look like any other crowns I’ve seen.

Princess Margaret is wearing a made up ruby tiara. The Court Jeweller points out that Margaret had plenty of tiaras, but no ruby tiaras (however, her engagement ring was famously a ruby).

L to R: Elizabeth wearing an invented tiara in The Crown; the Queen Mother wearing an invented tiara in The Crown; Margaret wearing the same invented tiara on a promotional poster for The Crown that she wore in the anniversary dinner scene.

Episode 10 Cri de Coeur: Although none of the characters wear tiaras or crowns in this episode, we do get a quick look at a commemorative Silver Jubilee tea towel which shows the Queen wearing the George IV diadem. It’s a slightly odd design, as the Queen appears to be wearing a more casual outfit with her diadem, which is really not a thing that would happen in real life.

I couldn’t find a real tea towel from the Silver Jubilee that actually looks like the one in the show, but it may be a combination of a few different designs and ideas.

The Queen wore several different crowns and tiaras to various events during her Silver Jubilee, including the Vladimir tiara with emerald drops and the Imperial State Crown.

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L to R: Antony Armstrong-Jones in The Crown holding up a tea towel with the Queen on it; two real tea towels from the Silver Jubilee; the Queen at a Silver Jubilee event wearing the Vladimir Tiara with emerald drops; the Queen at a Silver Jubilee event wearing the Imperial State Crown (Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty).

Season 2 Tiaras and Crowns of "The Crown"

March 03, 2021 by Rachael Dickson in TV and Film

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

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.

S2E1 Misadventure: The Queen wears Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara for a diplomatic reception; Philip adorably flirts with her when he fixes her zipper right before they enter the room.

I’ve been wondering why they’ve used /this/ tiara so much on the show, and I think it might be because it’s such a familiar looking tiara to modern audiences. It was one of Princess Diana’s favorites and Duchess Catherine now wears it a fair amount too. I couldn’t rind any recent photos of the Queen herself wearing the tiara however.

(Information from the Court Jeweller’s blog post on this episode)

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L to R: Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth wearing a replica of Queen Lover’s Knot Tiara for The Crown; Elizabeth II wearing the lover’s knot tiara; Diana, Princess of Wales wearing the Lover’s Knot tiara (Credit: Anwar Hussein / Getty); Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge wearing the lover’s knot tiara (Credit: John Stillwell / Getty).

Later in the episode, the Queen attends the ballet wearing the Vladimir tiara in its “widowed” style (without pendant drops). I could not find screenshots of this except through the Court Jeweller, but you can go see them over there. This tiara does seem to be one of Elizabeth’s favorite tiaras, as she’s worn it consistently (widowed, with pearl drops, and with emerald drops) throughout her reign.

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Queen Elizabeth II in various tiaras.
Credit Left to Right: Mark Cuthbert / Getty; Tim Graham / Getty; Reginald Davis / Shutterstock

S2E3 Lisbon: After a contentious talk on the royal yacht, Elizabeth agrees to give Philip the title of “prince,” and a mini coronation is held for him. During the ceremony, Elizabeth wears a replica of Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik. The Queen Mother wears the replica Greville tiara and Margaret wears the made-up tiara she wore to the coronation in the first season.

As noted by The Court Jeweller in their blog post on the episode, I’m fairly sure that no such ceremony took place when Philip was made a British prince. After Philip’s return from his trip around the Commonwealth, press reports kept coming out that Elizabeth and Philip were having marriage troubles. This annoyed the Queen so much that she not only issued a denial, but granted Philip the title of Prince in February 1957. This was reported in the newspapers but there’s no sign that there was any sort of official ceremony for it.

Philip was made a British prince in 1957. He actually was born “Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark” but gave up his Greek and Danish titles to become a naturalized British citizen shortly before his engagement to Elizabeth was announced in 1947. He apparently had been offered the title in 1955 and turned it down then, but his uncle Lord Mountbatten and his aunt, Queen Louise of Sweden, sort of insisted that he take it the second time. Philip probably didn’t want any fuss to be made about it.

Philip of course gets his own “Prince” coronet, which should be different from a ducal coronet, although I’ve had trouble actually putting a finger on what a standard prince coronet looks like. From what I’ve read online, a ducal coronet is usually a gold circlet with 8 strawberry leaves, with a crimson silk velvet lining with a gold tassel at its center, trimmed with a base of ermine. However, it looks like real Philip’s coronet at the coronation (when he was a duke, not a prince) actually…did not look like a ducal coronet at all. You can see in the photo that he actually has alternating crosses pattée and fleurs-de-lis, in an echo of the design of St. Edward’s Crown and the Imperial State Crown. Perhaps this was a special consort crown made for him? I’ve had trouble finding information on it anywhere, unfortunately.

Real Philip’s Coronation coronet is what is recreated in the Crown for his fake promotion to Prince ceremony. However, during the actual coronation scene on The Crown, he wore a totally different crown, which DOES appear to be just a regular ducal crown, with strawberry leaves. Weirdly enough though, it’s the exact same crown style that Lord Mountbatten is wearing in the coronation scene, even though he’s an earl, not a duke. Perhaps The Crown thought that the earl coronet was too odd looking for any named character to be seen wearing it? The earl coronet also has strawberry leaves, but features silver balls at the top.

Basically there were just some very strange decisions made around coronets for this show lol.

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Left: A scene from The Crown; Right: Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip (Credit: Paul Popper / Getty).

S2E4 Beryl: Princess Margaret wears the Cartier halo tiara for her birthday portrait by Cecil Beaton (So I guess they finally got the right to recreate it for the Crown!). In real life, she didn’t wear any tiara for this specific portrait. She also later wears the halo tiara at Elizabeth and Philip’s tenth anniversary dinner (and to dump Billy’s ass). At the tenth anniversary dinner, Elizabeth wears a replica kokoshnik (probably Queen Alexandra’s kokoshnik again, although it looks a little taller. Maybe it’s the angle). I don’t think we have any photos of the actual anniversary dinner so sadly, I can’t confirm, but there are photos of them dancing and Elizabeth wearing a kokoshnik. The queen mother wears the Greville tiara, but couldn’t find a photo of her in this scene; you can check it out on Court Jeweller.

Toward the end of the episode, Elizabeth and Philip miserably get undressed and go to bed after a diplomatic function of some sort; Elizabeth wears the lover’s knot tiara for this. Couldn’t find a photo of this moment, but it is on Court Jeweller.

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Top L to R: Claire Foy as Queen Elizabeth and Matt Smith as Prince Philip in The Crown; Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip dancing at a state ball in Malta, 1967 (Credit: Hulton Archive / Getty); Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret in The Crown; Portrait of Princess Margaret.

Bottom L to R: Vanessa Kirby as Princess Margaret in The Crown; Princess Margaret (Credit: Daily Mail / Shutterstock); Princess Margaret; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

S2E6 Vergangenheit: David and Wallis wear paper/plastic crowns to a costume party. I couldn’t find a screenshot of Wallis’s crown, but I found a view of David’s (also, how wonderful is that octopus hat?). They really did wear paper crowns to a costume party at one point, but the ones in the show looked nothing like that.

S2E7 Matrimonium: For her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones, both in The Crown and in real life, Princess Margaret wore the Poltimore Tiara. This tiara was apparently one of Margaret’s favorite pieces, and belonged to her personally.

Left: Princess Margaret and Husband Anthony Armstrong-Jones leave Westminister following their wedding (Credit: Bettmann / Getty)
Right: Matt Smith and Vanessa Kirby as Prince Phillip and Princess Margaret in The Crown.

S2E8 Dear Mrs. Kennedy: The Queen wears the Vladimir Tiara with the emerald drops for her dinner and dance with Nkrumah.

Left: Queen Elizabeth II (Claire Foy) dances with Kwame Nkrumah (Danny Sapani) in The Crown.
Right: Photo of the actual dance between Queen Elizabeth II and Ghana President Kwame Nkrumah, 1961 (Credit: AP).

And that’s it for Season 2! There weren’t any tiaras or crowns in the last two episodes of the season, alas, as those were focused more on Charles angst and Philip ‘n’ Elizabeth angst rather than on any cool ceremonial occasions.

Season 1 Tiaras and Crowns of "The Crown"

January 26, 2021 by Rachael Dickson in TV and Film

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

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.

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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.

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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).

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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. — 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. :)

Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part II)

October 28, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in English History, TV and Film

Related Blog Posts:

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
Diadems, Tiaras, and Crowns, Oh My! - an overview of types, definitions, and purposes
The Classic Disney Influences in the Costumes of "The Descendants”

I decided a while back that I wanted to compare the crowns and tiaras in Disney films to real life crowns and tiaras, posted up one blog post about it in April, and then…nothing for a long time because pandemic depression.

So uh, here is part 2 finally. I’m not saying that these original crowns/tiaras WERE inspirations for those in the films (some actually post date the crowns/tiaras in the films), but am just looking for similarities.

Today, I’m going to look at crowns and tiaras in Cinderella, Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Frog, and The Sword in the Stone!

The king’s crown (Cinderella, 1950); a modern replica of the Crown of Rus (Ukraine); the Frankfurtian crown of Charles VII
Cinderella at her wedding (1950); Grace Kelly at her wedding to Monaco’s Prince Rainier in 1956; Audrey Hepburn in her wedding dress for cancelled wedding with James Hanson in 1952 (Credit: Bettmann / Getty)

The King’s Crown: Although the king doesn’t wear a crown in either the cartoon or live action versions, in the animated version, he does throw his crown out of the window. I managed to get a screenshot of it. It’s notably trimmed in ermine, a fur associated with European royal crowns and robes, but is otherwise pretty unusual, as it features very tall golden spikes, appears to be open to the sky, and is otherwise pretty unadorned (are those rubies around the edge maybe?).

As I mentioned in my first post about Disney crowns, most actual crowns (which remember, are used for coronations and formal ceremonies, as opposed to the the more decorative function of tiaras) these days are closed. Open crowns were much more of a thing in medieval times. If you ignore the padding on the inside, the appearance of the crown bears some similarities to Ukraine’s Crown of Rus, as both feature gold sides ascending into spikes of varying heights. The only gold spiky open crown I could find was the smaller of the imperial coronation crowns of Charles VII (Holy Roman Empire, made in Frankfurter in 1742). The Frankfurter crown is also relatively unadorned with jewels.

Cinderella’s wedding cap: Cinderella (Cartoon) doesn’t wear a tiara in the animated version, but she does have this odd headband/cap thing on her head, which honestly looks more like the juliet caps of the 1950s, as seen on Grace Kelly, more than any sort of tiara. This makes sense, as Disney is known for using a lot of modern clothing elements (modern meaning the years in which the film was developed and released), so the use of a 50s style wedding headdress and dress silhouette is totally on brand for them.

Cinderella’s wedding outfit (2015); Cinderella with her prince (2015); Queen Letizia’s floral tiara (created 1879, Queen Letizia of Spain); Empress Farah Pahlavi’s floral tiara (Credit: Historical Collection / Alamy); (unknown date of creation, but worn in the 1970s, Empress of Iran)

Cinderella (Live action) - The gold, brightly colored floral tiara that Cinderella wears in the live action version has a few real life counterparts. It reminds me a bit of maybe queen Letizia floral tiara or Empress Farah Pahlavi’s floral tiara.

King Triton (The Little Mermaid, 1989), Detail from Dispute between Minerva and Neptune over the Naming of the City of Athens by René-Antoine Houasse, c. 1689-1706
Ariel at her wedding (1989), the Braganza Tiara - 1829, Queen Rania’s diamond tiara (Credit: Tim Graham Picture Library / Getty); (Rania of Jordan, unclear where or when tiara was made) ,
Ariel and her daughter Melody (The Little Mermaid II: Return to the Sea, 2000), Princess Astrid of Norway wearing the Norwegian Gold Bandeau (possibly inherited from Princess Ingeborg of Sweden); Queen Sonja of Norway wearing the Norwegian Emerald Parure (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty); (possibly dating back to the 1820s-1830s)
Melody (2000); Madeleine, Princess of Sweden, wearing her Aquamarine bandeau

King Triton’s crown doesn’t look like any crown I’ve ever seen, but I believe it’s supposed to be different because he’s an underwater king. It looks like it’s supposed to emulate coral, not metal, and seems to echo the spikes of Triton’s trident, rather than any crown. I checked to see if his crown looks anything like traditional depictions of Poseidon. I only found one depiction of Poseidon/Neptune that looked anything like this. For the most part, statuary and paintings of Poseidon’s crown do /not/ look like Triton’s crown, but I did find one painting that has a crown with some similarities - Dispute between Minerva and Neptune over the Naming of the City of Athens by René-Antoine Houasse. The painting’s crown appears to go all the way around Poseidon’s head though, while Disney Trident’s crown appears to sit on the front of his head only. Note: Triton sports the same long hair and beard that Poseidon usually sports (although Triton’s is more extreme). Fun fact: Triton in Greek mythology is the son of Poseidon and is usually represented as a merman (and looks nothing like the disney character).

Ariel’s wedding tiara greatly resembles Aurora’s tiara from Sleeping Beauty, which I talked about previously. As I said then, “I couldn’t find any plain gold tiaras in this shape, but I did find a few modern silver and diamond that resemble it, such as the Braganza Tiara and Queen Rania’s Diamond Tiara. “

Ariel sporting an emerald tiara and jewelry set in Little Mermaid 2 - This tiara reminds me a lot of the Norwegian gold bandeau, which is primarily gold and studded with white, green, and red stones. I really haven’t seen many tiaras with white stones in them at all, much less matched with green, so I was pretty excited to see such a close match to Ariel’s crown. Also, with her matching crown, earrings, and necklace, Ariel is actually wearing a parure, which is a jewelry set all intended to be worn together. I’ve included a picture of the Norwegian Emerald Parure to demonstrate what a full emerald jewelry set looks like in real life.

Princess Melody’s tiny tiara most resembles Princess Madeleine of Sweden’s aquamarine bandeau. This tiara, which some have dubbed “the cyclops” has a very simple design, and was assumed to be modern for a long time, but actually goes back several generations, possibly to the art deco period.

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Tiana (The Princess and The Frog, 2009), Sophie, Countess of Wessex, wearing her Wedding Tiara (1999) (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty); a painting of Queen Victoria wearing Queen Adelaide’s fringe tiara (England, 1831)
Lottie (2009); Princess Madeleine of Sweden wearing her aquamarine bandeau (made for her in 2000 for her 18th birthday), Princess Astrid of Belgium wearing the Savoy Aosta Tiara (~1920s France) (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty)

Tiana’s wedding tiara has an unusual design that reminds me more of lilly pads than most crowns, but it does have some resemblance to the wedding tiara of Sophie, Countess of Wessex, and a depiction of Queen Victoria wearing Queen Adelaide’s fringe tiara (the fringe tiara looks a little different today, more narrow and with the diamond fringe cutting closer to the head - I’m not sure if that’s because of the painter’s interpretation of the tiara or if the tiara has been reset over time into a different shape).

Charlotte “Lottie” wears a very simple looking tiara that reminds me a bit of the Savoy-Aosta tiara in shape, but also definitely reminds me of Princess Madeleine’s aquamarine bandeau, which I included in the previous section on Princess Melody’s tiara in Little Mermaid 2.

Arthur (The Sword in the Stone, 1963), the Imperial Crown of Brazil (made in Rio de Janeiro in 1841), or Napoleon iii’s crown (made in 1855 in Paris and sold in 1885 by the Third Republic, this photo is a reproduction), Crown of queen Elisabeta of Romania (made in 1881)

Arthur’s crown in The Sword in the Stone is surprisingly modern for a film set in medieval England, as medieval kings tended to have crowns open to the sky rather than this covered crown with big imperial semi-arches Arthur is wearing here. See: the tapestry from c. 1385 depicting what King Arthur’s crown actually would have looked like (if he even existed). I think they chose this crown design more to emphasize how young and small Arthur is rather than to depict anything resembling historically accurate. Sidenote: a crown like this is very heavy and would DEFINITELY only be worn for ceremonial occasions and only a brief amount of time.

The crown reminds me greatly of the Imperial Crown of Brazil, Napoleon III’s crown, or Queen Elizabeta of Romania’s crown. You can see the resemblance in the shape, colors, and the lines of jewels along the base of the crown. All three of these crowns date to the 1800s. The legend of King Arthur goes back to the 500s or so, and the Sword in the Stone film is set in 1200s-1300s ish.

Disney Crowns and Tiaras: Historical and Modern Inspirations (Part I)

April 25, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in English History, TV and Film

Related Blog Posts:

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!
Diadems, Tiaras, and Crowns, Oh My! - an overview of types, definitions, and purposes
The Classic Disney Influences in the Costumes of "The Descendants”

I’m going through all the crowns and tiaras shown in Disney animated films, analyzing their historical inspirations, and comparing them to actual crowns and tiaras worn by royals around the world! I’m not definitively saying that these original crowns/tiaras WERE inspirations for those in the films, but am just looking for similarities. There are so many though, that I’m just going to try to talk about 5 or so in each post.

Today, I’m going to look at crowns and tiaras in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the various Alice in Wonderland films, the various Sleeping Beauty/Maleficent films, Robin Hood, and the Great Mouse Detective.

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(L to R): Evil Queen , “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” - 1937; Uta von Ballenstedt statue - ~1044; She Who Must be Obeyed, “She” - 1935; and Princess Kriemhild, “Die Nibelungen” - 1924.

Evil Queen (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937) - Only one character in the first full-length Disney animated film wears a crown: The Evil Queen. She sports a spiky gold “open” crown, with only a single pearl at the top. Keep an eye out for this style of crown, because we’ll see variations on it many more times in other Disney movies.

The queen’s look was mostly inspired by a statue of Uta von Ballenstedt at the Naumburg Cathedral in Naumburg, Germany. Uta was supposedly the most beautiful woman in medieval Germany. Many elements of the queen’s costume, including her headcovering, high cape, facial expression, and large pendant necklace are drawn from this. The character known as She Who Must Be Obeyed in the 1935 film “She” also is a likely inspiration for Snow White’s queen. Her crown, however, though gold like Uta’s and tall like the character in “She,” looks to be more inspired by Princess Kriemhild in the 1924 silent film “Die Nibelungen.”

I only found one actual royal crown with large spikes on it- the Danish king Christian IV’s coronation crown, made in ~1595 (below left, on the top). It does look pretty similar to the Eastern crown (also known as the Antique crown) in heraldry, except for the taller central front spike and the pearl at the top (below left, on the bottom).

It does have some similarities to the Diamond Festoon Necklace Tiara as well! (below center)

The Evil Queen’s tiara is much simpler than any of these real crowns and appears to be just solid gold, with only a single pearl on the top. Although the crown was probably designed this way to make the animation easier, historically, relatively simple gem-less metal tiaras became popular in the mid-1700s and through to the Victorian age. These cut steel tiaras were a less expensive way for women to obtain sparkly jewelry when they couldn’t afford diamonds or other precious gems. These were still time-consuming and beautiful though, as they were specifically cut and carved to shimmer as a diamond would. You can see an example below right.

Dutch Diamond Festoon Necklace Tiara - 1889

Swedish Cut Steel Bandeau - ~early 1800s
(Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Wireimage)

Notes:

Quick Reminder:
- Crown – A full circle headpiece with an emblematic function associated with sovereignty and nobility.
- Tiara – An open semi-circular headpiece that usually does not encircle the head, but perches on the top. Worn by royal and noble women at white tie events, formal state occasions, and weddings.

Open crowns, without bands overhead, are the oldest crowns and leave the wearer’s head open to the sky. The vast majority of crowns in Disney animated films appear to be open. However, historically, closed crowns became the dominant design in sovereignty headgear in the middle ages and are the dominant type today.
Although the Evil Queen wears her crown throughout the movie (except when she’s disguised as an old woman), in real life, crowns would only be worn on special occasions, such as at coronations or upon other state occasions.

L to R: Queen of Hearts, “Alice in Wonderland” film - 1951; The Queen of Hearts, “Alice in Wonderland” book - 1865 (John Tenniel); Red Queen, “Alice in Wonderland” film - 2010; The Red Queen, “Through the Looking Glass” book -1871 (John Tenniel); and Elizabeth I - 1585 (portrait by Nicholas Hilliard).

L to R: The White Queen, “Alice in Wonderland” film - 2010; The White Queen, “Alice Through the Looking Glass” film - 2016; The White Queen, “Through the Looking Glass” book - 1871 (John Tenniel); and Elizabeth I, coronation portrait - 1559 (unknown artist).

The Queen of Hearts/Red Queen; The White Queen - All of the Queens in the Alice in Wonderland (both animated and live action) movies wear spiky crowns that are relatively small and sit on top of their head instead of encircling them. This reminds me a bit of a Swedish ducal coronet (right).

In the book “Alice in Wonderland” (1865), the Queen of Hearts is drawn as a playing card character and sports a gable hood rather than a crown. She’s actually a totally different character from the Red Queen, who appears along with the White Queen in the book “Through the Looking-Glass” (1871), but the characters are commonly confused or melded together like in the live-action film series. The red and white queen characters in the books are clearly based off of chess pieces, which explains the continued spiky crown theme.

What’s interesting is that both characters in the live action films have some similarities to Elizabeth I at different times in her life. The Red Queen’s red hair, the shape of her updo, and her use of white makeup all over her face is clearly based off of Elizabeth I’s later looks. However, the white queen’s pallor and long flowing locks have some similarities to the young Elizabeth I’s look at her coronation. Both queens’ costumes have some Tudor elements to them, but neither crown looks like the Tudor crown (shown in Elizabeth’s coronation portrait), apart from the general “perched on top of head” appearance.

Notes:

Coronet – Small crown generally worn by dukes and earls at coronations, and often worn by princes/princesses at formal events. These are standardized for various peers, with different designs for each rank (e.g., Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron).

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L to R: King Stefan and Queen Leah, “Sleeping Beauty” - 1959; Crown of Scotland (sans cap); King Stefan, “Maleficent” - 2014; Queen Leila, “Maleficent” - 2014; Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden's pearl-and-diamond tiara - 1830.

King Stefan (1959) and Queen Leah (1959) - Both of these crowns resemble the crown of Scotland without its velvet cap, minus the top arches.

King Stefan (2014) - This crown is very similar to the Swedish Ducal Coronet I talked about previously under the Red Queen/White Queen section, only larger, fitting around his entire head instead of perching on top like with the Alice Queens.

Queen Leila (2014) The shape of her crown reminds me of the pearl-and-diamond tiara of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, made circa 1830.

L to R: Princess Aurora, “Sleeping Beauty” -1959; the Braganza Tiara - 1829, Queen Rania’s diamond tiara (Credit: Tim Graham Picture Library / Getty), King Hubert, “Sleeping Beauty” - 1959; and the crown of Boleslaw I the Brave (replica made in 2001-2003 after originals were lost after 1036 and 1794).

Aurora (1959) - I couldn’t find any plain gold tiaras in this shape, but I did find a few modern silver and diamond that resemble it, such as the Braganza Tiara and Queen Rania’s Diamond Tiara.

King Hubert - I haven’t seen many crowns like this that don’t have arches but DO have a cap, but I DID find this one from the Polish crown jewels, which has arches but they’re so low to the cap that you can only see them from certain angles - The Crown of Bolesław I the Brave, which was the coronation crown of the Polish monarchs.

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L to R: King John and Queen Ingrith, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019; George IV State Diadem -1820 (Credit: Royal Collection Trust); Aurora, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019; Danish Ruby Parure Tiara ; Queen Ingrith, “Maleficent: Mistress of All Evil” - 2019; and the Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara - ~1858 .

King John and Queen Ingrith’s crowns both resemble the George IV State Diadem in their shape, color, and overall sparkliness.

Aurora’s gold vine crown bears a resemblance to the Danish ruby parure tiara.

Queen Ingrith’s silver tiara looks like the Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara in height and overall shape.

Queen Ingrith’s tall, thin tiara shares a lot in common with the tall small crowns worn by the red and white queens in Alice in Wonderland (as discussed earlier).

I’ve actually never seen Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, and now I really want to, if only to figure out why Queen Ingrith gets to wear three different crowns throughout it all!

L to R: Prince John, “Robin Hood” - 1973; King John of England’s tomb effigy; portrait of King John; King Richard, “Robin Hood” - 1973; Richard I’s tomb effigy; and Richard I .

Since the stories of Robin Hood include the historical figures Prince John (later King John I) and King Richard I as characters, we can actually look at portraits of them to see how similar the film’s crowns are to their historical counterparts’ crowns. Richard, of course, was known as Richard the Lion-Heart, so both he and Prince John are portrayed as lions.

The crown in Robin Hood appears to be a simplified form of the medieval crown used by King John and Richard I, as seen in their tomb effigies and portraits above. The animated and historical versions all appear to be gold, open crowns with alternating colors and sizes of gemstones, although the animated version has a much more simplified crenelation decoration than the fleur-des-lys/cross like decorations on the historical ones.

I’m fairly sure that the crown or crowns depicted (they LOOK awfully similar, don’t they?) are wearing their state crowns, the “working” crowns of monarchs that they wore regularly, rather than the coronation regalia, which was generally far older, heavier, and more valuable. Although the crown of St. Edward, the traditional coronation regalia for English kings, existed at the time of their reigns, Edward the Confessor wasn’t actually made a saint until 1161, and we don’t actually have any records that his crown was used again before Henry III’s in 1220. Both King Richard and King John reigned before than, from 1189-1199 and 1199-1216 respectively, so it seems likely that they were using different crowns. In addition, written records describing St. Edward’s crown describe it as having arches, while the crown seen in these effigies and paintings is clearly open and without arches.

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The Mouse Queen, “The Great Mouse Detective” - 1986; Queen Victoria - 1882 (photographer Alexander Bassano); Queen Victoria’s small diamond crown - 1870 (Credit: Royal Collection Trust); and the Imperial State Crown - 1932 (Credit: Royal Collection Trust).

The mouse queen in “The Great Mouse Detective” is clearly an homage to Queen Victoria, as the character appears to have a similar age, shape, and dress to the real life Victoria. Her small crown worn over a veil is the biggest giveaway, as Victoria herself wore such a miniature crown over her widow’s cap following the death of her husband Prince Albert. After Albert died in 1861, the Queen withdrew from public life. Though she eventually came back into the public view in 1870, she refused to wear the imperial state crown again, partly due to its weight and partly because she could not have worn it over her widow’s cap. The miniature imperial crown was created as a substitute. Victoria continued to wear black and white “widow’s weeds” until he death in 1901.

The mouse queen’s crown does appear to have a velvet cap and at least one gemstone in the base that aren’t visible in Victoria’s crown. Though I haven’t seen a crown /exactly/ like the mouse queen’s, it does appear to borrow some inspiration from the Imperial State Crown of the UK, which has a similar velvet cap and prominent gemstone in its base.

That’s it for now! I have many many many more crowns and tiaras to talk about in the future. :) These posts are very fun but oh man, they take a long time. Thanks for reading everyone!

Diadems, Tiaras, and Crowns, Oh My!

April 06, 2020 by Rachael Dickson in English History, Just for Fun

Other Posts about Crowns and Tiaras:

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!
The Medals, Sashes, and Tiaras of The Crown; Tiaras/Crowns Overviews: Season 1 ; Season 2

*The Diadem of Ravenclaw from Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows*

Princess Eugenie of the UK wearing the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara (1919)
(Credit: WPA Pool / Getty)

*The Crown of Saint Wenceslas (Bohemia, 1347)*

So I’ve been hosting virtual lecture parties lately, since we’re all self-isolating and cooped up. At the most recent one, I presented on Diadems, Tiaras, and Crowns - talking about the different types and specific examples of each type. I had a lot of fun pulling together this slideshow and included as many pictures from around the world as I could. My specific examples though, are all English/UK in origin, as that’s my passion and it’s frankly just a lot easier to find information on these than many of the other crowns and tiaras out there.

I will be putting all the information into blog post format at some point, but that’s going to take me a while because - lots of formatting and image upload! For today, I’m just loading up the slideshow so y’all can look through it at your leisure. Enjoy! If you have any questions, feel free to ask; I love talking about this sort of stuff!

Diadem of Princess Sit-Hathor Yunet (19th century BC, Egypt) — Diadem of Princess
Sit-Hathor Yunet
(19th century BC, Egypt) (Credit: Hans Ollermann)

Greco-Roman bust (100 BC-100 AD) — *Greco-Roman bust* *(100 BC-100 AD)*

*17th Dynasty diadem (1580-1550 BC, Egypt)*

*Diodotus of Bactria on a coin, (first century AD, around modern Afghanistan)*

Diadems:

• Diadem – refers to any circular piece worn on the head to symbolize status and power.

• Name originates from the Greek diadein - “to bind around”

• Early diadems were just ribbons or laurel wreaths.

• Crowns, tiaras, coronets, and other royal headpieces all fall under the diadem umbrella.

• Very few crowns are known by this title today. I could only find one modern one.

*Replica, Imperial Crown of Russia (1762-1917)*

*Holy Roman Empire (11th century – 1806)*

Crown of Japanese Emperor Kōmei (1846-1867) — Crown of Japanese
Emperor Kōmei (1846-1867)

*Crown from Kathmandu Valley (13th century, Nepal) (Credit: Sepia Times / Getty)*

*Silla (5th-7th centuries, modern day Korea)*

*The Iron Crown of Lombardy (4th-5th century, modern day Italy)*

Crowns:

• Crown – A full circle headpiece with an emblematic function associated with sovereignty and nobility.

• Open crowns, without bands overhead, are the oldest crowns, but closed crowns became the most popular ones in the middle ages and are the dominant type today.

*Margaret of York (sister of Edward IV and Richard III) (1454, England)*

Charles, Prince of Wales (1969, UK)
(Credit: Royal Collection Trust)

Coronets:

Coronet – Small crown generally worn by dukes and earls at coronations, and often worn by princes/princesses at formal events.

• These are standardized for various peers, with different designs for each rank (e.g., Duke, Marquess, Earl, Viscount, Baron).

• Very often seen in heraldry on coats of arms and shields

• I really couldn’t find evidence of actual coronets outside of Europe, so it may just be a weird Europe only thing. It looks like they’re more often used in heraldry, like on coats of arms, then in real life – I struggled to find any pictures of them.

• Charles’s coronet for his investment in 1969 was controversially modern and abstract. A new one had to be made after his great-uncle, the former Edward VIII, took his into exile after he abdicated the throne. The designer used electroplating to make the crown, which hadn’t been used before, and was unsatisfied with how the orb kept coming out until a technician suggested electroplating a ping pong ball. It worked.

*The Gandikj Diraja Tiara for the Raja Permaisuri Agong (1957, Malaysia)*

*A Pearl and Emerald tiara (420–589, China)*

*Queen Rania’s Boucheron Emerald Leaves Tiara (2003, Jordan)*

*Cameo Tiara of Empress Josephine (1804, France)*

Queen Margrethe II’s Aigrette (~19th century, Denmark)
(Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty)

Tiaras:

• Tiara – An open semi-circular headpiece that usually does not encircle the head, but perches on the top.

• Worn by royal and noble women at white tie events, formal state occasions, and weddings.

• Traditionally, the wearer must be a bride or already married.

• Some tiaras are versatile and have elements that can be switched out or worn differently, such as brooches and different types of brooches.

• Really haven’t found many dating to before 1800 except this one from china in the top right corner

• They’re not worn before 6 pm except for weddings.

• Though tiaras used to be brightly colored, modern tiaras tend to be neutral colored.

• Parure – a jewelry set which usually includes tiara, necklace, brooch, sometimes a bracelet.

*Queen Letizia floral tiara (1879, Spain)*

Princess Mary’s Midnight Tiara (2009, Denmark)
(Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty)

*Princess Lalla Salma’s Tiara (2002, Morocco)*

*Part of the Nine Provinces Tiara (1926, Belgium)*

*The Ruby Olive Wreath Tiara (~1870s-1880s, Greece) (Credit: Pascal Le Segretain / Getty)*

*Princess Hisako’s tiara (modern, Japan)*

*Princess Tsuguko’s tiara (modern, Japan)*

*Queen Sirikit’s traditional tiara (1960, Thailand)*

*Dutch Aquamarine Parure Tiara (1927, The Netherlands)*

*Kinsky Honeysuckle Tiara (1870, Liechtenstein)*

*Citrine and Pearl Tiara (~1980s, Luxembourg)*

A couple of specific examples! These are all English/UK in origin because that’s the history I know most about and frankly, it’s way easier to find details and information on these then most of the others.

diadem 2.jpg — Credit: Royal Collection Trust

George IV State Diadem:

• Made 1820 to be worn by George IV during his coronation procession.

• Traditionally worn by Queen Consorts at coronations and the state openings of Parliament, but Queens Regnant Victoria and Elizabeth II have worn it as well.

• Gold and silver frame, with strings of pearls, 1333 diamonds (over 320 carats), including a 4-carat yellow diamond, positioned on alternating crosses pattée and florals. The four florals represent roses, thistles and shamrocks, the flowers of England, Ireland, and Scotland.

• Crosses Pattee – type of Christian cross that appears very early in medieval art – extremely common in crowns in Christian countries

• Open Crown, in which the the head is open to the sky.

• Commonly appears on stamps and currency.

*Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and Elizabeth II (both young and old), all wearing the diadem.*

St. Edward’s Crown:

• First hereditary coronation regalia in Europe. The monks at Westminster Abbey claimed that Edward the Confessor asked them to look after his regalia for the coronations of all future English kings (although they probably just took it from his grave when he was reinterred there).

• A 1660 replica of Edward the Confessor’s crown, which was sold during the English Civil War. The medieval Crown dated to 1043. It was used in Richard II’s abdication in 1399, and was used to crown Anne Boleyn in 1533 (unprecedented for a consort).

• St. Edward’s Crown is 11.8 inches tall and 4.9 pounds. It’s made of gold, embellished with 444 stones, including amethysts, garnets, peridots, rubies, sapphires, topazes, tourmalines, and zircons.

•It has a closed Crown with high arches and a velvet cap trimmed in ermine

• From 1689-1911, monarchs chose to be crowned with a lighter, bespoke coronation crown personalized to each sovereign, while st. edward’s crown rested on the high altar.

• It’s currently used on royal arms of the UK, royal badges of England, the badges of the police forces of England and wales, the coastguard, british army, royal marines, royal airforce, and royal mail.

• This is a closed crown have bands around the temples and one or two bands over the head. Crowns with two bands or more usually for sovereigns; the prince of wales’ coronet only has one band. High arches in crowns are a symbol of sovereignty demonstrating that the king of England owed obedience to no one but God.

• The bottom is trimmed in ermine, which is very commonly seen in crowns, coronation cloaks, and peerage caps. Ermine comes from the winter coat of the stoat, which is a species of weasel with white fur and a black-tipped tail.

Imperial State Crown:

•Worn by the English monarch during the coronation when leaving Westminster Abbey and at the annual state opening of Parliament.

• A mere 2.3 pounds, compared to the 4.9 pound St. Edward’s Crown.

• It contains 2,901 precious stones, including the Black prince’s ruby and the Cullinan II on the front, St. Edward’s sapphire at the top, and the Stuart sapphire on the back.

St. Edward’s sapphire on the top cross is the oldest gemstone in the royal collection. Thought to have come from the coronation ring of Edward the Confessor from 1042.

Black Prince’s ruby – 170 carats = one of the oldest parts of the crown jewels, given to the black Prince in 1367. Henry V wore a gem-encrusted helmet that included this ruby. Mayyyy have been worn by Richard III on his helmet at the Battle of Bosworth, in which he died.
Stuart Sapphire on the back (lower left picture) – 104 carat - Probably belonged to Charles II and was definitely among the jewels that James VII took with him when he fled to France after the glorious revolution in December 1688.

• Fun fact: the arches are detachable, so the crown can also be worn as an open crown/circlet.

Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara:

• The tiara’s diamonds came from an 1893 necklace and the tiara was made in 1919.

• Diamond fringe tiaras were incredibly popular after they became fashionable at the imperial court of the Romanovs. There are numerous fringe tiaras like this in the royal collection and many of them can also be worn as necklaces.

• Worn by both the Queen and Crown Princess Anne at their weddings.

Vladimir Tiara:

• Originally owned by Duchess Marie, a German princess who married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich in 1874.

• When the Grand Duchess fled from Russia in 1917, her jewels, including this tiara, remained in a hidden safe in Vladimir Palace. Later, her son and his friend disguised themselves as workmen, sneaked into the palace, and smuggled out the contents of her safe. This tiara was later sold by her daughter to Queen Mary of the UK, along with numerous other Russian imperial jewels.

• It can be worn with hanging emerald or pearl drops or it can be worn “widowed,” that is, without any drops.

Queen Mary, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Kate, Duchess of Cambridge

Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara:

• This tiara is commonly referred to as the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara, but in fact, it was only based off of that tiara. Queen Mary had this tiara created as a copy of the Cambridge tiara, which was owned by her cousin, using elements harvested from several other tiaras in her existing collection.

• In 1981, when Prince Charles married Diana Spencer, Queen Elizabeth presented her with several pieces of family jewelry, including this tiara, as lifetime loans. Diana wore this tiara very often and it became highly associated with her. In more recent times, the tiara has been sported most often by Diana’s daughter-in-law, Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge.

Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau (left):

• The Diamond Bandeau was made for Queen Mary in 1932 and specifically was made to feature the detachable brooch in the center. This brooch was given to Queen Mary in 1893.

• Meghan Markle wore the tiara for her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018. It was the first time the tiara had been worn in public in over 50 years.

• There are actually several tiaras in the royal family’s possession that haven’t been seen in public for 50-100 years!

The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara (right):

• The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of the Queen’s most commonly worn tiaras.

• This was given to Queen Mary for her wedding in 1893 by a committee of women, which is where it gets its name. She presented it as a gift to then-Princess Elizabeth on her wedding day; the Queen still refers to it as “Granny’s Tiara.”