Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara

Today marks the 110th Anniversary of the Death of Queen Sophia of Sweden and Norway, who passed away on this day in 1913! The Nassau Princess amassed a huge jewellery collection (full of family heirlooms) that has been spread among her descendants in various European dynasties, so to mark the anniversary, we are featuring her trademark Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara!

A striking Tiara composed of 580 diamonds forming foliage, arabesques, and a Sunday, topped with nine diamond prongs, this striking Tiara seems to originate from an earlier Diamond Comb that was remodelled in the 1870s to its present form. Unlike most tiaras, the base is quite rigid inflexible, making the Tiara more uncomfortable for those heads it does not fit.

The earlier Diamond Comb was pictured on Queen Louise for an Official Portrait in the 1860s, and while other jewels worn including the Floral Bracelet went to Denmark with her daughter Queen Lovisa, the Diamond Comb remained in Sweden, where it was given to her sister-in-law, the then Princess Sofia.

Princess Sofia had the Diamond Comb altered into the present form of the Tiara by the mid 1870s, when she was pictured wearing it for an Official Portrait, with it being worn by Queen Sofia for numerous portraits over the years, including a notable one taken in the 1890s with the Diamond Stomacher.

Queen Sofia also wore the Nine Prong Tiara for Official Portraits taken to mark her and King Oscar II’s Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1907, shortly before his passing, though she retained the Tiara until her death in 1913, when it passed to King Gustav V.

When Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden married Lady Louise Mountbatten in 1923, King Gustaf V of Sweden gifted Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara to the new Crown Princess Louise, which she debuted the following month at a spectacular Gala Performance at the Kungliga Operan in Stockholm, shortly before it was worn for her first series of Official Portraits, paired with the Hesse Emerald Brooch and Emerald Cross.

The Nine Prong Tiara was Crown Princess Louise’s most splendid heirloom until she gained the Braganza Tiara and the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, but it continued to be worn for notable occasions, including the Wedding Gala of Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1932 and King Gustav V’s 80th Birthday in 1938.

Queen Louise continued to frequently wear Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara through the years, with notable appearances at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in 1953, during the British State Visit to Sweden in 1956, for the Dutch State Visit to Sweden in 1957, at the Swedish Opening of Parliament in 1962, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden’s 80th Birthday in 1962. and for a State Visit to France in 1963 before her passing in 1965.

Princess Sibylla frequently wore the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure, but Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara remained unworn until her daughter, Princess Christina, became the leading lady at the Swedish Court, wearing the Tiara for the Danish State Visit to Sweden in 1973 and later that year at the Nobel Prize Ceremony, following the Accession of her brother, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

A few years later, the Nine Prong Tiara was worn by Princess Margaretha, the eldest sister of the groom, for the Wedding Gala of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden at the Royal Opera in Stockholm in 1976, with the Napoleonic Amethyst Parure.

The Nine Prong Tiara got a new wearer that year, and was debuted by Queen Silvia during the Swedish State Visit to The Netherlands before being worn for the Nobel Prize Ceremony in 1976, when Queen Silvia complained of the weight of the tiara digging into her scalp during the long ceremony and banquet:

Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara was also notably worn by Princess Lilian of Sweden at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in 1977, followed by two more appearances at the Nobel Prizes in 1991 and 1992.

Queen Silvia had the Nine Prong Tiara properly fitted to her head, and it was worn for the Nobel Prize Ceremony and the Spanish State Visit to Sweden in 1979, on a State Visit to Germany, for a Mexican State Visit to Sweden in 1980, and Crown Prince Harald’s 50th Birthday in 1987 as well as being worn for the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in 1982, 1983, 1986 and 1989.

Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara continued to be worn through the 1990s, appearing at Queen Margrethe’s 50th Birthday in 1990, Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik’s 25th Wedding Anniversary in 1992, and during Swedish State Visit to Norway in 1993 as well as for the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in 1994, 1995, 1997 and 1999.

In the 2000s, Queen Silvia wore the Nine Prong Tiara for Queen Margrethe’s 60th Birthday in 2000, at the Wedding of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway in 2001, for the Jordanian State Visit to Sweden and the Swedish State Visit to Thailand in 2003, the Swedish State Visit to Brunei in 2004, King Harald’s 70th Birthday Banquet in 2007, and on a State Visit to The Netherlands in 2009, as well as the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009.

In 2010, the Nine Prong Tiara was loaned to Princess Birgitta with Princess Sibylla’s Sapphire Necklace for the Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, when the Tiara kept falling over her eyes during the banquet.

Queen Silvia wore the Nine Prong Tiara at that years’ Nobel Prize Ceremony and it was also worn for the Wedding Ball of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco in 2011, Wedding Gala of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy in 2012, the Wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden in 2013, the Chile State Visit to Sweden, and the Canadian State Visit to Sweden in 2017, as well as the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

More recently, Queen Silvia has worn Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara for the German State Visit in 2021, Queen Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee Banquet and the King’s Dinner for Nobel Laureates in 2022, as well as the Swedish State Visit to Estonia and the Nobel Prize Ceremony earlier this month, bringing our tally of her appearances in the Tiara to over 100 in the past 47 years. There is no doubt Queen Silvia will continue to wear the Tiara for years to come!