Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the Death of Philippa, Countess of Galloway, who passed away on this day in 1974! The American Heiress who was the sister of Countess Carnarvon and married the Earl of Galloway, over the past few years we’ve been compiling our research on the Countess of Galloway’s Diamond Tiara!
A striking Diamond Tiara of scrolls in a Greek key pattern, this jewels was reportedly created by William Ogden along with F.Kreuter of Hanau at some point in the first two decades of the 20th century.
The Greek Wave Tiara first appeared in the late 1910s or early 1920s, when it appears to be worn by The Hon. Mary Hope-Morley, who was the first cousin of the 6th Earl of Carnarvon, who was married to the Countess’ sister.
When American heiress Philippa Fendall Wendell married the 12th Earl of Galloway in 1924, she received a ‘beautiful tiara of delicate design’ from a Mr and Mrs Griffith, and that was likely the Tiara she wore two months later for the State Opening of Parliament.
The Countess of Galloway also wore the Greek Wave Tiara when she was presented to King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace by her mother-in-law, the Dowager Countess of Galloway, in 1926, with her photograph appearing in Tatler.
Over a decade later, the Countess of Galloway was photographed wearing her Diamond Tiara at the Coronation of King George VI ad Queen Elizabeth in 1937, which appeared along with this description in Tatler:
American-born Lady Galloway, in whom charm, chic, and human kindliness are allied to great good looks, has been married since 1924. She and her husband definitely prefer the country to London, and live mainly in Scotland, where they have two Lowland homes, Cumloden, in Wigtownshire, and a shooting lodge in lovely Glen Trool. The twelfth Earl of Galloway, Lord Lieutenant of the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright, and a captain in the Scots Guards Reserve, is descended from Sir William Stewart of Jedworth, a kinsman of the first two Stuart kings and one of the leading men in Scotland during their reigns. He sits in the House of Lords as Baron Stewart of Garlies. Lord and Lady Galloway’s only son, Lord Garlies, is just nine, and they have a twelve year old daughter, Lady Antonia Stewart.”
While the Countess of Galloway’s Diamond Bandeau was pictured at the State Opening of Parliament in 1924 and 1926, the Greek Wave Tiara was pictured on another lady, possibly the Dowager Countess of Galloway, at the State Opening of Parliament in 1937.
Both of Lord and Lady Galloway’s children did not have surviving children, with Lady Antonia Dalrymple passing away in 2017 and the 13th Earl of Galloway passing away in 2020, but the Tiara seems to be have sold some years previously to the Albion Art Collection, where it presumably remains to this day.
