Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara

Happy Birthday to Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who turns 46 today! The popular Heir who is set to become the first Swedish Queen Regnant in over 300 years, the Crown Princess has access to the massive Swedish Royal Jewellery Collection, and today’s piece is an heirloom that has become an iconic part of her image over the past few decades; the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara!

Composed of exquisite cut steel leaves set en tremblant in gold, with gold acorns, this spectacular Napoleonic Heirloom originates from Queen Hortense of Holland, the daughter of Empress Josephine, who left it to her niece Princess Eugénie of Hohenzollern-Hechingen, from whom the Tiara passed to her sister, Empress Amélie of Brazil, in 1847 and then to another sister, Queen Joséfina of Sweden and Norway, in 1873. The Tiara remained publicly unworn for over a century until soon after the Wedding of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia in 1976, when Göran Alm, and not Queen Silvia as reported, rediscovered the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara in a cabinet at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.

Queen Silvia debuted the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara during an Austrian State Visit to Sweden in 1979, after which she wore it for a few Representation Dinners through the 1980s and 1990s, and most prominently wore the Tiara for King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway’s 60th Birthday Banquet in 1997.

Princess Lilian was pictured wearing the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara only once, for the 1982 Nobel Prize Ceremony.

By the 1990s, the Cut Steel Tiara was often seen on Princess Christina, who wore it for several Gala Dinners and Noble Prize Ceremonies up to 2006.

Crown Princess Victoria began wearing the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara in the mid-2000s and it soon became a favourite, being worn for the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in 2004 and 2010 as well as for several State Visits and Gala Dinners, including a period in 2013, when it was worn for four appearences in a row in less than three months.

Also in 2013, the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara was worn by Princess Désirée for the Wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden, and the Tiara was worn two years later to the Wedding of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden.

More recently, Crown Princess Victoria has been wearing the Laurel Wreath Tiara rather than the Cut Steel Tiara for most tiara appearences, though it was worn for the Nobel Prize Ceremony in 2016, the Finnish State Visit to Sweden in 2022, and in New Portraits of the Swedish Royal Family in 2022.

In Kungliga Smycken, the Crown Princess said that though she loves to wear the Cut Steel Tiara, it is very fragile so she only wears it to events where she doesn’t have to move around a lot. However, there is no doubt we will continue to see this spectacular heirloom for years to come!