Howard de Walden Tiara

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the Death of Countess Irene von Harrach, Baroness Howard de Walden, who passed away on this day in 1975, just two weeks after the death of her mother-in-law, the Dowager Baroness! The German Countess who married the wealthy British Baron, Lady Howard de Walden possessed this magnificent Sunburst and Oak Leaf Tiara!

The daughter of Count Hans-Albrecht von Harrach of Rohrau and Thannhausen and Countess Helene von Arco-Zinneberg, who was raised in Vienna, Countess Irene Maria Rosario Pauline von Harrach of Rohrau and Thannhausen married the 9th Baron Howard de Walden, and 5th Baron Seaford in 1934. The couple had four daughters, including the 10th Baroness Howard de Walden and Countess Czernin von und zu Chudenitz, and were among the richest families in Britain, owning racehorses and valuable real estate in London. Baroness Howard de Walden passed away just two weeks after the death of her mother-in-law, the Dowager Baroness.

The large diamond tiara, with its fine design of oak-leaves and acorns alternating with suns rising from leaves.

In 1902, the Dowager Baroness Howard de Walden was photographed wearing the Sunburst and Oak Leaf Tiara for a series of portraits, while she served as a ‘delightful hostess for her son at Seaford House and Audley End’.

The Sunburst and Oak Leaf Tiara were worn by the 8th Baroness Howard de Walden for a series of portraits taken at Seaford House in London in the early 1920s, before a Presentation Court at Buckingham Palace.

The elements of the Tiara has been redesigned by Chaumet by 1934, when it was worn by Countess Irene von Harrach soon after her marriage to the future 9th Baron Howard de Walden.

The 8th Baroness Howard de Walden wore the Tiara at the Coronation of King George VI in 1937, and while she was not pictured, her daughter wrote:

I was bedazzled by its magnificent pageantry as the rest of the world.

On returning home, I put on Mama’s tiara and earrings and looked too regal for words. How I wish I had one.

The 9th Baroness Howard de Walden was pictured wearing the Sunburst and Oak Leaf Tiara in her Coronation Robes after the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.

Lady Howard de Walden also wore the Tiara for the Rose Ball at Grosvenor House in London in 1955, and was later described wearing the Tiara at the Queen Charlotte Ball in 1965.

While the other Yellow Sapphire Tiara was sold off in 1971, the fate of this Tiara remains unknown, though the couple’s daughter, the late 10th Baroness Howard de Walden, who wore the Tiara for her Wedding to Count Joseph Czernin von und zu Chudenitz in 1957, was the fifth-richest woman in Britain, and it presumably remains in the collection of her son, the Count Peter Czernin von und zu Chudenitz, 11th Baron Howard de Walden.