Today marks the 115th Anniversary of the Death of Queen Maria Pia of Portugal, who passed away on this day in 1911. The Savoy Princess, daughter of the first King of the unified Italy, who married King Luís I of Portugal, witnessed the tragic assassination of both her son, King Carlos I, and her grandson, Prince Luís Filipe, before being forced into exile, where she died only a few months later. Renowned for her love of jewels and luxury, Queen Maria Pia assembled a spectacular jewellery collection. Among its greatest treasures was the magnificent Diamond Floral Tiara, which we are featuring today!
The Diamond Floral Tiara was created in 1886 by the Portuguese Crown Jeweller, Leitão & Irmão, for Queen Maria Pia. An imposing creation inspired by naturalistic motifs, it represents three large flowers surrounded by an intricate composition of buds and leaves, all set with more than 3,000 brilliant- and rose-cut diamonds. The design perfectly reflects the fashion of the late nineteenth century, when floral tiaras became especially popular among European royalty. It bears a striking resemblance to the Sapphire And Diamond Floral Tiara belonging to Queen Maria Pia’s cousin and sister-in-law, Queen Margherita of Italy.
Queen Maria Pia first wore the new tiara during the celebrations surrounding the wedding of her eldest son, the then Prince Dom Carlos of Portugal, to Princess Amélie of Orléans in 1886. She later chose it for a series of official studio portraits, pairing it with some of her most important jewels, including the sapphire pendants from the Portuguese Crown Treasure Collection.
However, the story of this tiara holds an unexpected surprise: Although it was completed in 1886, the diamonds used to create it actually came from an older jewel already in Queen Maria Pia’s collection. As revealed by Portuguese historian João Júlio Teixeira, the Queen had the stones removed from an elaborate diamond tiara she had received as a wedding gift from King Luís I upon their marriage in 1862.
This earlier jewel was itself an extraordinary creation. Crafted in gold and silver and set with 4,000 diamonds, it was a large articulated tiara of Orientalist inspiration that could be worn either closed as a crown or opened as a diadem. It was composed of nine matching decorative elements of varying sizes: five larger principal motifs alternating with four smaller ones in the same decorative style. All rested upon a base decorated with a continuous pattern of scrolling vegetal ornaments.
Interestingly, fragments of the original silver and diamond framework were retained by Queen Maria Pia after the jewel was dismantled to create the Diamond Floral Tiara. These surviving elements, discovered Teixeira’s research, provide physical evidence of the existence and transformation of this jewel.
Unfortunately, Queen Maria Pia was never photographed nor painted wearing this remarkable jewel. The only known representation appears to be a marble bust of the Queen preserved today at the National Palace of Ajuda in Lisbon.
The tiara was not originally commissioned for Queen Maria Pia. Following the death of his elder brother, King Pedro V, at just twenty-four years of age in 1861, King Luís I inherited the jewel. Pedro V had originally commissioned it in 1858 from Raimundo José Pinto, then Portuguese Crown Jeweller at that time, for his future bride, Princess Stephanie of Hohenzollern.
The short-lived Queen Stephanie first wore the magnificent diamond tiara during the religious wedding ceremony in Lisbon in 1858. Contemporary reportes show that the jewel proved so exceptionally heavy and uncomfortable that it cut into the Queen’s scalp during the ceremony, causing her to bleed. The tiara had to be removed and was quickly replaced with a delicate wreath of fresh flowers.
Like Queen Maria Pia after her, Queen Stephanie was never formally portrayed wearing the diamond tiara. For many years, no visual record of her wearing the piece was known. Only recently did author Isabel Stilwell discover a remarkable series of drawings in the Hohenzollern archives at Sigmaringen, sketched by Queen Stephanie herself and sent to her family in Germany, illustrating the various outfits and jewels she wore throughout the different wedding celebrations. These precious drawings provide the only contemporary depiction of the remarkable tiara as it appeared during her reign.
Returning to Queen Maria Pia, the final chapter in the story of the Diamond Floral Tiara is as dramatic as the Queen’s own life. After becoming a widow, the Queen found herself deeply indebted to numerous creditors. To secure financial assistance, she entered into a discreet arrangement with a trusted banker and the Banco de Portugal. In exchange for substantial loans, nearly all of her jewels were deposited as collateral. Although she was permitted to continue wearing them, ownership effectively passed to the banks until the debts could be settled.
When the Portuguese Republic was proclaimed in 1910, and after Queen Maria Pia´s death in exile in Italy in 1911, the loans were left unpaid. Shortly afterwards, Banco de Portugal and Burnay Bank organised a public auction of almost 400 lots of jewellery and silver from the late Queen’s collection. The magnificent Diamond Floral Tiara ranked among the most important lots of the sale and was purchased by a Spanish dealer. From that point onwards, its trail disappears.
This article was written by assistant editor, David Rato, who runs the Spanish Royal Jewels account on Instagram!
