This glittering diamond fringe tiara was given by King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Great Britain to their eldest daughter as a wedding gift in 1889. Worn by her as a tiara and as a necklace, it was also worn by her daughter and granddaughter-in-law, before being auctioned in 1959. Click HERE for the post on Princess Alexandra, Duchess of Fife, and HERE for the post on the Fife Tiara.
This stunning fringe tiara, “of alternating and graduating rays, varying from nearly two inches long in the centre to half an inch at the extreme ends”, was given by the Prince and Princess of Wales (later Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) to their eldest daughter, Princess Louise when she married the Duke of Fife in 1889. Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife wore the Fringe tiara for an official portrait, but otherwise wasn’t pictured wearing it as a tiara. However, she often wore the fringe as a necklace with her diamond tiara.
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In 1931, the Fife Fringe Tiara was inherited by her eldest daughter, Princess Alexandra, 2nd Duchess of Fife, who wore it at the wedding ball of her niece, Princess Ingrid of Sweden and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in 1935. The Duchess also owned a Diamond Fringe Tiara that she inherited from her mother-in-law, the Duchess of Connaught.
In 1937, the Duchess of Fife loaned the Fife Fringe Tiara to her sister-in-law, Lady Patricia Ramsay, for the Coronation of King George VI. Judging by the shape of the elements, it appears it was the Fife Fringe, not the Connaught Fringe, which belonged to her late mother, that was loaned.
Watch as the kokoshnik tiara is transformed into a necklace!💎 This tiara was worn by Princess Louise, granddaughter… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
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Historic Royal Palaces (@HRP_palaces) May 22, 2019
Watch as the kokoshnik tiara is transformed into a necklace!💎 This tiara was worn by Princess Louise, granddaughter… twitter.com/i/web/status/1…
—Historic Royal Palaces (@HRP_palaces) May 22, 2019
While the Connaught Fringe Tiara was auctioned after the Duchess of Fife’s death in 1959, the Fife Fringe was inherited by her successor, the 3rd Duke of Fife, and still remains with the family. It is currently on long-term display with the Fife Tiara and Queen Victoria’s Emerald Tiara at the Victoria Revealed Exhibition at Kensington Palace, which marks the 200th Anniversary of Queen Victoria’s birth, and the displays feature personal objects and an intimate account of her fascinating life and long reign. You can go see it until 2020.
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