Next week marks the 70th Anniversary of the Death of Queen Mary! The Teck Princess who lived through the reigns of six monarchs and was the Queen Consort for 25 years, as well as a Queen Mother and Queen Grandmother, Queen Mary assembled much of the British Royal Family’s spectacular Jewellery Collection, so we are featuring some of the jewels in the days leading up to the anniversary, continuing with Queen Mary’s Surrey Fringe Tiara!
Queen Mary’s Crown | Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara | Vladimir Tiara | Delhi Durbar Tiara | Cambridge Emerald Parure | Lover’s Knot Tiara | Fringe Tiara | Gloucester Honeysuckle Tiara | Cambridge Sapphire Parure | Iveagh Tiara | Amethyst Tiara | Ladies of England Tiara | Surrey Fringe Tiara | The Jewels of Queen Mary
When Princess May of Teck married the Duke of York, the future King George V, in 1893, she received a series of spectacular gifts of jewellery from various parts of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, among which was this striking stylised Diamond Fringe Tiara, a gift from the County of Surrey, which was almost identical to a Diamond Fringe Necklace given as a wedding gift by Queen Victoria.
Describing the Wedding of the Duke of York and Princess May of Teck in 1893, Queen Victoria wrote that bride had worn her present at the ceremony. The Princess can be seen wearing a Diamond Fringe as a Tiara in photographs after the ceremony, but it is unknown if Queen Victoria mixed up the two pieces.
In 1901, the then Duchess of Cornwall and York wore the Surrey Diamond Fringe Tiara with her 11-row Pearl Choker for an Official Reception in Ottawa, during a Tour of Canada, when a series of Official Portraits were taken. The Tiara was also worn for a stylised portrait, with the Ladies of England Tiara as a necklace.
The then Princess of Wales wore the Surrey Diamond Fringe as a necklace with her Boucheron Loop Tiara and Love Trophy Collar for a series of official portraits in 1905, which was the last time that the piece was publicly photographed.
A few years after the Accession of King George V and Queen Mary in 1910, the Surrey Diamond Fringe Tiara was broken up, with some of its diamonds used to create the Gloucester Honeysuckle Tiara, while the others were used to top the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, in place of the pearls used in Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara. The Diamond Fringe Necklace from Queen Victoria was used to create Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara in 1919.
Queen Mary’s Crown | Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara | Vladimir Tiara | Delhi Durbar Tiara | Cambridge Emerald Parure | Lover’s Knot Tiara | Fringe Tiara | Gloucester Honeysuckle Tiara | Cambridge Sapphire Parure | Iveagh Tiara | Amethyst Tiara | Ladies of England Tiara | Surrey Fringe Tiara | The Jewels of Queen Mary
