Dutch Sapphire Tiara

Today marks the 90th Anniversary of the Death of Queen Emma of the Netherlands and the 20th Anniversary of the Death of her granddaughter, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, so to mark these major anniversaries, we are featuring the magnificent Dutch Sapphire Tiara!

The spectacular Tiara set with 655 diamonds and 33 large Ceylon sapphires was made by Maison van der Stichel in 1881, possibly based on an Oscar Massin design from 1867. King Willem III paid Vita Israels 100.000 Dutch guilders (around 1.2 million Euros today) for the Tiara and two bracelets, which joined an earlier sapphire and diamond necklace and a Sapphire Bow Brooch to from a complete parure.

Queen Emma wore her Sapphire Tiara and the assembled Parure on for numerous Portraits throughout the 1880s and 1890s, including one taken during her Regency, with a Diamond Rivière as a corsage ornament.

Queen Emma most notably wore the Sapphire Tiara for the Inauguration of her daughter, Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands, in 1898, which marked the end of her regency. While she was not pictured in it, the Tiara remained in Queen Emma’s possession until the end of her life, with the frame being altered and some of the diamonds removed by Van Kempen, Begeer, & Vos in 1928.

After Queen Emma’s passing in 1934, the Sapphire Tiara was among the jewels inherited by her only granddaughter, the then Crown Princess Juliana, who wore the Tiara for a series of portraits taken around the time of her Wedding to Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld in 1937.

Crown Princess Juliana also wore the Sapphire Tiara and Parure for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth in London in 1937, as well as for the Coronation Gala in London.

The Sapphire Tiara was not as often worn by Queen Juliana, but she did wear it on a handful of occasions, including for the Dutch State Visit to Sweden in 1957, the Wedding Ball of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece in 1962 and a State Visit from Luxembourg in 1967, putting the Tiara into the Orange-Nassau Family Foundation at some point in the 1960s.

In the 1960s, the Sapphire Tiara was worn by Crown Princess Beatrix for a handful of occasions, including the Anglo-Dutch Society Dinner in London as well as for the Wedding of Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg in 1968.

Queen Juliana continued to wear the Sapphire Tiara into the later years of her reign, being worn for a State Visit from Indonesia and for a Return Banquet during the Dutch State Visit to Britain in 1972.

In 1981, a smaller version of the Sapphire Tiara was loaned to Princess Margriet for the Wedding Gala of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg at the Palais Grand Ducal in Luxembourg.

Along with the Württemberg Ornate Pearl Tiara, the Sapphire Tiara was the most prominent Tiara worn by Queen Beatrix, being worn for the Dutch State Visit to Luxembourg in 1981 and the Dutch State Visit to Britain in 1982, as well as a State Visit from France.

In later years, Queen Beatrix wore the Sapphire Tiara for a State Visit to Latvia and for a State Banquet at the Royal Castle of Laeken during the Dutch State Visit to Belgium in 2006.

In 2013, the Sapphire Tiara was altered by Court Jeweller Steltman in The Hague and worn in that form by Queen Máxima for the Inauguration of King Willem-Alexander of The Netherlands.

Two years later, Queen Máxima wore the original form of the Tiara for a State Visit to Denmark in 2015, along with her Inauguration Gown.

Queen Máxima also wore the Sapphire Tiara for King Harald and Queen Sonja’s 80th Birthday Banquet at the Royal Palace of Oslo in 2017.

Queen Máxima also wore the Sapphire Tiara for new official portraits taken by Erwin Olaf at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam in 2018, to mark the 5th Anniversary of their Reign.

Most recently, Queen Máxima wore the Sapphire Tiara on the Dutch State Visit to Norway in 2022, and there is no doubt it will continue to be worn for years to come!