Duchess of Wellington’s Diamond Tiara

Today marks the 80th Anniversary of the Death of Lilian, the 5th Duchess of Wellington, who passed away on this day in 1946! The Duchess may have received this magnificent Diamond Tiara as a wedding gift from her father, a wealthy Scottish Industrialist!

When Lilian Maud Glen Coats married the then Marquess of Douro in 1909, from her father, later the 1st Baron Glentanar, she received a Diamond Tiara, which bears striking resemblance to Lady Decies’ Cartier Tiara and was described in news reports as:

‘A diamond tiara, all round and tipped with large pear-shaped diamonds, surrounded by smaller stones; and lines and festoons of still smaller brilliants between each tip.

The then Marchioness of Douro notably wore her Diamond Tiara to present her daughter, Lady Anne, to the King and Queen at Buckingham Palace in 1928.

Lady Anne Wellesley is one of the most important débutantes of the year, and is also one of the prettiest of the young girls who are making their entry into Society this season. She is the only daughter of the Marquess and Marchioness of Douro, and is a granddaughter of the Duke of Wellington.

The Marchioness of Douro also wore the Diamond Tiara for a Waterloo Ball held at Grosvenor House in London in 1931, which was one of the highlights of the 1931 London Season.

The ballroom at Grosvenor House, where the ball is being held, will be transformed as far as possible to look like the Duchess of Richmond’s house at Brussels with the foyer as an old-Fashioned courtyard. Lady Douro, who is organising the ball, will receive the guests in a costume which is a replica of the ball dresses of 1815.

Lady Douro, daughter-in-law of the present Duke of Wellington, will sit at the head of special Waterloo supper party She will wear the famous family pearls and diamonds and and a genuine Empire gown worn by one of her ancestresses of the period.

Lady Douro is the wife of the present Duke of Wellington’s heir. They live at Stratfield Saye House, Berkshire, the Duke of Wellington’s seat which was purchased by Parliament and presented to the Duke and his heirs. Lady Douro, by the way, possesses and, indeed, often wears, a brooch much cherished in her family. It is a miniature of Queen Victoria set in pearls and diamonds given by that Sovereign to the second Duchess Wellington, and bears an affectionate inscription on the back.

In 1934, the now Duchess of Wellington was pictured alongside the Duchess of Sutherland wearing the Diamond Tiara for the State Opening of Parliament, as well as for a Ball held at Londonderry House the previous evening.

The Duchess of Wellington Opening-of-Parliament regalia: tiara, ear: rings, orchids, furs, and a beautiful pearl orchids, furs, necklace that once belonged to Marie Antoinette

The following year, the Duchess of Wellington wore her Diamond Tiara with several Diamond Rivières for a series of portraits by the legendary Madame Yevonde.

The Duchess also wore the Diamond Tiara for the State Opening of Parliament in 1936, when she also wore an heirloom Pearl Parure which remains a Wellington Heirloom.

The Diamond Tiara was also worn by the Duchess of Wellington for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey in 1937.

Her Grace The Duchess Of Wellington is here seen in her Coronation Service robes. They are particularly beautiful and have been in the Duke’s family since the Coronation of Queen Victoria in 1838. The Duchess, who was the Hon. Lilian Maud Glen Coats, is a daughter of the first Lord Glentanar. She married the fifth Duke (then Marquess of Douro) in 1909. He succeeded to the dukedom in 1934.

The Duchess lost her husband in 1941, and her only son, the 6th Duke, died in action during the Second World War, so after the Duchess’ death in 1946, the Diamond Tiara was likely inherited by her daughter, Lady Anne Rhys, the Duchess of Ciudad Rodrigo, who ceded the Spanish Dukedom and two estates in Andalucia to her uncle in 1949 and is largely absent from society pages, so the fate of the Tiara remains unknown.