Queen Emma’s Diamond Aigrette

Today marks the Anniversary of the Deaths of Queen Emma of the Netherlands and her granddaughter, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, so to mark the day, we are featuring a striking jewel worn by both ladies which continues to be a favourite of Queen Máxima: Queen Emma’s Diamond Aigrette!

When Princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont married the elderly King William III of The Netherland in 1879, she received some spectacular wedding gifts, including this striking Diamond Aigrette, composed of twelve ornate diamond twigs, with small hanging collet diamonds at the ends, allowing them to swing in the light. The Diamond Aigrette was a wedding gift from King William III’s sister, Princess Sophie, the Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

Queen Emma was only photographed wearing her Diamond Aigrette on one occasion, soon after the death of King William III in 1890, when the Diamond Aigrette was worn for a portrait in morning clothes.

It took quite a few decades for Queen Emma’s Diamond Aigrette to reappear in public, until it was worn by her granddaughter, Queen Juliana, as a brooch for a Gala in The Hague in 1954, as well as for a few other Gala Events through the 1940s and 1950s.

In the 1980s or 1990s, the Diamond Aigrette was worn by Princess Margriet for a Gala.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CPWwuudh_hI/

After Queen Juliana, it took a few more decades for Queen Emma’s Diamond Aigrette to reappear, with it being famously worn by the then Crown Princess Máxima in her hair for her 40th Birthday Concert in 2011.

Embed from Getty Images

Since then, Queen Máxima has worn Queen Emma’s Diamond Aigrette as a brooch for several occasions, including a Film Premiere in 2011, the German Media Award in 2014, and the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics in PyeongChang in 2018.

Embed from Getty Images

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Royal Watcher (@the_royal_watcher)

More recently, Queen Máxima wore Queen Emma’s Diamond Aigrette with the House Diamond Earrings for a Return Concert of the Nederlands Danstheater in the Megaron Mousikis Concert Hall in Athens, during the Dutch State Visit to Greece last year. There is no doubt we will continue to see this striking Royal Heirloom for years to come!