Princess Alice of Greece’s Diamond Necklace Tiara

Today marks the Anniversary of the Death of Princess Alice of Greece, who passed away at Buckingham Palace on this day in 1969! The deaf Battenberg Princess who married a Greek Prince before sheltering a Jewish Family from the Nazis, becoming a nun and the Queen’s mother-in-law, Princess Andrew possessed some spectacular jewels, which included this versatile Diamond Necklace Tiara!

When Princess Alice of Battenberg, daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse, married Prince Andrew of Greece, son of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece, in Darmstadt in 1903, she received this versatile Diamond Necklace with six-pointed diamond stars as a wedding gift, possibly from her parents or from her uncle, the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, in addition to a spectacular Aquamarine and Diamond Parure given by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Princess Alice debuted the Diamond Necklace with her mother’s Pearl Star Tiara, a wedding gift from Queen Victoria, for her two wedding ceremonies in Darmstadt in October 1903.

In 1907, Princess Alice wore the Diamond Star Necklace as a Tiara for a series of portraits.

One of the final appearances of the Diamond Necklace Tiara came in 1910, when Princess Alice appeared on the cover of Tatler Magazine, after which the Tiara disappeared from public view.

A few years later, Princess Andrew began wearing her iconic Diamond Meander Tiara, which could have been created from refashioning the Diamond Necklace Tiara. The Meander Tiara is now in the possession of Princess Anne.