The Mountbatten tiara belonged to Edwina, Countess Mountbatten. Made around 1910, it features borders of channel-set diamonds in platinum with scrolls and thirteen trefoils in between. There’s a similar design in Chaumet’s archives, but the maker’s mark on the actual tiara is said to be “unclear.” It was last seen in a Cartier case, though, and Cartier did some fantastic work …
Tiara Tuesday: Princess Stéphanie of Belgium’s Tiara
Princess Stéphanie of Belgium’s tiara was made by Chaumet. She got it when she married the heir to the Austrian throne in 1881. We have very little information about this tiara, but we have a crap-ton of information about Stéphanie herself, so buckle up – it’s gonna be a bumpy ride. Poor Stéphanie grew up basically ignored by her shitty …
Tiara Tuesday: The Arabic Scroll Tiara
The Arabic scroll tiara comes by special request from a website visitor – Kareem, this one’s for you. This tiara was created for Queen Rania of Jordan in 2005, at the special request of King Abdullah. Abdullah asked Yan Sicard, one of Rania’s favorite jewelers, to design and craft it with her in mind. Sicard’s firm, FRED, used 1,300 diamonds …
Tiara Tuesday: The Braganza Tiara
The Braganza tiara was made for Empress Amélie of Brazil in 1829, as a wedding present from her husband, Emperor Pedro I. Brazil used to be a Portuguese colony, and the surname of the Portuguese royal family is Braganza (Bragança in Portuguese), hence this tiara’s name. You might also remember Charles II’s queen, Catherine of Braganza – she was a …
Tiara Tuesday: The Astor Tiara
The Astor tiara belonged to Nancy Langhorne Astor, a Southern girl who became the first woman to serve as an MP in the British House of Commons. The tiara, made by Cartier, holds the famous 55.23-carat Sancy diamond in its center. In 1906, the tiara was valued at $75,000 – without the Sancy. Go ahead and gawk. I’ll just wait …
Tiara Tuesday: The Norwegian Emerald Tiara
Legend has it that the Norwegian emerald tiara originally belonged to Empress Josephine. Yes, that Josephine – Napoleon’s first wife. It’s dedicated to this week’s two birthday girls, Dava Stewart and Jillian Ashe. If you’re like me, you’re probably wondering, what’s with the whole “legend says” thing? Was this Josephine’s tiara or wasn’t it? And why the hell is this …
I’m Giving Away Free Books. Want Some?
To celebrate releasing The Red Road, I’m giving away two free paperback book prize packages! And because I like reading different genres of books, I think my readers do, too. So you’ll also get my thriller (The Romanov Legacy) and my award-winning romantic suspense novel (The Cherbourg Jewels). It’s insanity, right? I already made a special trip to the post …
Surprise Romanov Connections from Tiara Tuesday
In this week’s Tiara Tuesday post, I wrote about Princess Helena Victoria and Princess Marie Louise, two granddaughters of Queen Victoria. Turns out that each of them had surprise Romanov connections. I did not see this coming, you guys. Helena Victoria Romanov connection: Helena Victoria, or “Thora” as she was called, was very close with her cousin, Princess Alix of …
Tiara Tuesday: Princess Helena Victoria’s Tiara
Princess Helena Victoria’s tiara is a diamond neo-classical tiara decorated with a central honeysuckle motif and eighteen graduated ribbon scrolls. Helena was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, born a princess of Schleswig-Holstein (say that five times fast). She never married, which is when most royal women receive their tiaras, so she probably inherited this one from her mother, also conveniently …
The Princess in the Concentration Camp
I came across this story while researching a post for Tiara Tuesday. And now that I know it, I can’t forget it, so I’m going to share it with you. It’s about Mafalda of Savoy, an Italian princess who died in a concentration camp during World War II. Before the Storm Princess Mafalda of Savoy was born in Rome in …