Today marks the 65th Anniversary of the Death of Princess Ingeborg of Sweden and Denmark, who passed away on this day in 1958! the Danish Princess who married a Swedish Prince, becoming the mother of Queen Astrid of Belgium, Crown Princess Martha of Norway, and Princess Margaretha of Denmark and the grandmother and great-grandmother of King Harald V of Norway, King Philippe of Belgium, and Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Princess Ingeborg possessed one of the most spectacular Jewellery collections, which including this striking Gold Bandeau Tiara!
Emerald Parure | Boucheron Pearl Circle Tiara | Turquoise Star Tiara | Gold Bandeau Tiara | Diamond Tiara | Pearl Brooch
The Tiara, which is composed of a polished gold bandeau studded with semi-precious gemstones, is part of a Parure which consists of a gold and semi-precious gemstone corsage brooch, elements of which were used to create the top portion of the Tiara for Princess Astrid in the 1950s as well as a pair of gold and semi-precious gemstone earrings.
The Gold Bandeau and Corsage Brooch originate from Princess Pauline of Württemberg, the Duchess of Nassau, who was portrayed wearing the jewels in a portrait at some point in the 1820s or 1830s, likely soon after her marriage to the Duke of Nassau. After Duchess Pauline’s death in 1856, the Gold Bandeau and Corsage were inherited by her youngest daughter, who became Queen Sofia of Sweden, and who left them to her daughter-in-law, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden and Denmark in 1913, along with the Napoleonic Emerald Parure.
Princess Ingeborg believed that the Bandeau and Corsage were costume jewellery and was thus pictured in them rarely, most notably for a Dinner hosted by her son-in-law, King Leopold III, and daughter, Queen Astrid of Belgium, at the Belgian Embassy in Stockholm ahead of the Wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden in 1935.
At some point in the mid-1950s, Princess Ingeborg passed along the Gold Bandeau and Corsage to her granddaughter, Princess Astrid of Norway, in a story recounted by the Norwegian Historian Trond Norén Isaksen:
One day in the mid-1950s, Princess Astrid received a package in the mail from her grandmother, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden. In the package was this jewellery. Ingeborg didn’t believe they were real, but when Astrid took them to the jeweller Tostrup, she learned that they were real gold and stones. The jewellery is also much older than Princess Astrid has realised, because they actually belonged to her great-grandmother, Duchess Pauline of Nassau.
Princess Astrid had the additional elements put on top of the Gold Bandeau Tiara and the earrings created from elements of the corsage brooch, before it was debuted in a series of official portraits taken in the late 1950s, when she served as the First Lady of the Norwegian Royal Family.
Embed from Getty Images
The Gold Bandeau Tiara was most notably worn for the Wedding Gala of her first cousin, King Baudouin of Belgium, and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón at the Musée du Cinquantenaire in Brussels in 1960 and it was also worn during the Swedish State Visit to Norway in 1974.
In recent years, as Princess Astrid has grown older, she has begun wearing the Gold Bandeau Tiara more frequently, refelling smaller, lighter jewels like this and her Aigrette Tiaras, rather than the Vasa Tiara or Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Circlet. The Tiara has been worn for several State Banquets in recent years and there is no doubt we will continue to see it worn for years to come! Unlike the Vasa Tiara or Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Circlet, the Gold Bandeau Tiara will not return to the main Royal Family but will instead be eventually inherited by Princess Astrid’s children.
Emerald Parure | Boucheron Pearl Circle Tiara | Turquoise Star Tiara | Gold Bandeau Tiara | Diamond Tiara | Pearl Brooch
