Tiara moment: who, how and when can wear royal jewelry

To a simple layman watching the life of the British royal family from photographs in the gossip, it seems that only two rules apply to tiaras: they must be worn on the head and they must shine — in every sense of the word. But in reality, here, as in all other aspects of the life of monarchs, everything is strictly regulated. Here are the five basic rulestiara moment» — that is, the moments when women of the royal family appear in public in tiaras.

Where to wear

The Windsors have taken a course on modesty and are phasing out what the local press calls the “tiara moment.” Just a few decades ago, almost any social event became an excuse to put on your family jewels. It is known that the sister of Queen Elizabeth II Princess Margaret wore tiaras everywhere — from theatrical performances to festive dinners. But these days, you can see such an ornament on a royal person less and less. Even the coronations of monarchs, which in the good old days even wore tiaras, are no longer such an occasion.

We were convinced of this in early May, when crowns were placed on the heads of King Charles in Westminster Abbey. III and his wife Camille. However, according to etiquette, royalty wear these jewelry in honor of state visits, inaugurations and coronations, to balls and royal dinners. A ban on tiaras at the particular coronation of Charles III was his private initiative, not changing the rules as a whole. By the way, despite the fact that the tiara is a kind of analogue of the crown, it is also worn by aristocrats who do not belong to the royal clan. But, as a rule, they wear these jewelry only for events involving the monarch or working members of his family.

Everything has its time

As a rule, such magnificent jewelry as tiaras and diadems are intended for events starting after 17:00. If official royal events are held during the daytime, royals come to them without diamonds, but in the evening the probability of seeing them is much higher. The only exception are weddings, which in the royal family are usually held around 11 am. For the sake of such an occasion, not only the brides, but also other queens, princesses, duchesses and some countesses present can put on their tiaras in the light of day.

After the wedding only

It is assumed that these ornaments — for married women. For example, Kate Middleton never wore a tiara in public until she married Prince William. Her debut piece was the Halo tiara by Cartier in the form of a halo, which was lent to the bride of the heir to the throne by Elizabeth II. Made in 1936, William’s great-grandfather King George VI bought the jewel for his wife, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, three weeks before he succeeded his brother Edward on the royal throne. Elizabeth Sr. later gave this tiara to her daughter Elizabeth for her 18th birthday.

But she never wore it, but she willingly lent it first to her younger sister, Princess Margaret, and then to her daughter, Princess Anne. It was in it that Kate arrived at her wedding in Westminster Abbey. Since then, she has been seen wearing tiaras on numerous occasions, including those that belonged to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana. And this rule applies not only to women who “married into the royal family” like Kate Middleton, Meghan Markle, Sarah Ferguson and Sophie Rhys-Jones, but also to princesses by blood, such as Prince Andrew’s daughters Eugenie and Beatrice, daughter of Princess Anne Zara Philips, or granddaughter of George VI Lady Sarah Chatto.

Etiquette expert Grant Harrold explained this in an interview with a British radio station. BBC:

For married ladies, a tiara has always been a sign of this status: it showed that they were busy and not looking for a husband. It was a sign to the gentlemen that it was not worth trying to woo such a lady.

Jeffrey Mann, who wrote the book Tiaras – A History of Luxury, also testified:

The bride wears the tiara for the first time on her wedding day. This headdress demonstrates a kind of “coronation” of love and the loss of marital innocence. The bride, as a rule, marries in her family tiara, and after the wedding, she must wear jewelry received from the groom. This is a veiled message to those around her that she has moved from her family to another.

Of course, not all brides of princes have their own family tiaras. In the case of Kate and Meghan, the issue was decided by Queen Elizabeth II, which allowed the commoners of the family to use her jewelry box. And, for example, the bride of Peter Phillips Autumn, the tiara for the wedding was lent by the mother of the groom, Princess Anna. By the way, she was a happy exception to all the rules. — the late queen spoiled her only daughter and allowed her to wear tiaras until marriage.

Each tiara — by lady

Have you ever noticed that if a particular piece of jewelry is worn by a particular royal, no one else appears wearing it? The thing is that in Britain, unlike Sweden or, say, the Netherlands, tiaras, as a rule, although they are given for a while, belong to their temporary owners for life, or at least for the period while they remain in the royal family. For example, Catherine, Princess of Wales, was lent three of these jewels by the Queen: that Halo wedding tiara, the Love Knots Cambridge tiara, and the Lotus Flower.

And although she no longer wore the very first jewel after the wedding, she still remains at her disposal, and you will not see it on anyone else. This, by the way, is explained very simply: the ladies could not just choose any tiara that they liked. In the run-up to an important event, such as a wedding, the Queen would either give them a piece of jewelry to wear, or give them several to choose from. Apparently, the “Halo” did not please Kate, in contrast to the same “love knots” made on the basis of a diadem that belonged to Princess Augusta of Hesse, Duchess of Cambridge.

But Elizabeth II, as a rule, was guided by serious reasons when choosing tiaras. For example, there was a lot of talk about the fact that Meghan Markle originally wanted to walk down the aisle with Prince Harry in an emerald tiara in May 2018, but she was refused. Subsequently, the author of the book “Battle of the Brothers: William and Harry” Robert Lacy wrote:

We were told the Queen felt she should say no to Meghan’s original choice — beautiful emerald headdress, which, as they said, “comes from Russia.” This meant that information about the tiara’s past was confidential, meaning it was one of those jewels that ended up in the Windsors’ treasury after the Russian Revolution through “unknown”, possibly dishonest channels, and at an undisclosed price. Some dark history could be connected with this decoration. For this reason, the emerald tiara was rarely, almost never, put on public display, and neither the palace nor Meghan herself would have been happy that spring if the tabloids began to speculate about which Russian princess wore this tiara and how she was killed.

Whether a lady from the royal family has a say in the style or size of the tiara is not known in history.

In order not to lose

The only part of the tiara that an outside observer can see is the precious top. But all these decorations are made on a wire base, which is pressed against the hair. This base is usually wrapped in a velvet ribbon that matches the color of the tiara’s wearer’s hair. The ribbon may have a thin elastic at the back so that it can be tucked into an updo. And in the royal houses of other European countries, they resort to even more sophisticated tricks: the base of the tiara is woven into a lock of hair or a thin braid of the desired shade.

To this day, the placement of the tiara on the head is controversial. If you look at old photographs taken in the 20s of the last century, you can see that these decorations were often located in front of the head, even going down to the middle of the forehead. However, nowadays tiaras are worn pushed back. And if modern jewelry does not lose anything from this, then ancient jewelry with this placement is not turned forward, but upwards, which reduces their brilliance and sparkle. The British Tatler recommends finding the right point like this: “Place your thumb on the cavity of the chin, and the index finger between the eyebrows. Keeping your fingers this distance apart, move your thumb up and place it between the eyebrows, then the index finger will rest in the perfect place to place the tiara.