Vasa Tiara

Last week, we received the sad news of the passing of the beloved Princess Astrid of Norway, Mrs Ferner at the age of 94! The late Princess Astrid often wore the striking Vasa Tiara over the past 75 years, which will now return to the main line of the Norwegian Royal Family along with Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Tiara!

When Crown Prince Olav of Norway married Princess Märtha of Sweden in 1929, she received a spectacular Art Deco Diamond Tiara as a gift from the City of Stockholm. Made by C.F. Carlman, and set with nearly 1,000 diamonds in platinum, the design features stylized sheaf motifs representing the heraldic symbol of the House of Vasa, which had ruled the Kingdom of Sweden from 1523 to 1654.

This tiara was a wedding present to Princess Märtha of Sweden when she married Crown Prince Olav of Norway in 1929 from Stockholmers who had raised money for a present through a public collection. The tiara was designed by Sven Carlman, the head of court jeweller C. F. Carlman, and presented to the Princess on 17 March 1929, four days before the wedding. It cost 50,000 Swedish crowns (about 1.7 million crowns today) and contains 956 brilliant-cut diamonds of a combined weight of 49.5 carats. Most of them are white and came from Carlman’s stock, but the blueish-white solitaires were specially obtained from Amsterdam and Antwerp.

Princess Märtha first wore the Vasa Tiara with Queen Lovisa’s Turquoise and Diamond Necklace for her Wedding Gala Performance at the Nationaltheatret (National Theatre) in Oslo.

Crown Princess Märtha also wore the Vasa Tiara for King Haakon VII’s Silver Jubilee Gala in 1930, Wedding of Prince Knud and Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark in 1933, and the Wedding Gala of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden in 1935.

Over the next few years, the Vasa Tiara was worn by Crown Princess Märtha for a series of Official Portraits, a Gala in London in 1937, King Gustaf V’s 80th Birthday in 1938, and a 1939 Tour of the United States.

While Crown Princess Märtha only wore the Emerald Parure and Diamond Tiara after the Second World War, Princess Ragnhild wore the Vasa Tiara on a couple of occasions, most notably for a portrait in the early 1950s and at a Gala Performance during the British State Visit to Norway in 1955.

The Vasa Tiara was worn by Princess Astrid for the Norwegian State Visit to Britain in 1951, when she joined her grandfather, King Haakon VII, and also for an official portrait taken around the same time.

Princess Astrid also wore the Vasa Tiara with Queen Lovisa’s Turquoise and Diamond Necklace for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953 and the Coronation Gala at Covent Garden.

The Vasa Tiara was often worn by Princess Astrid in her years as ‘First Lady’ of the Kingdom, with notably appearances at the Order of Amaranth Ball in 1956, in Washington D.C in 1958, the Wedding Ball of King Baudouin and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón at the Royal Palace of Brussels in 1960, a visit to the United States in 1960, and also the Wedding of King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway in 1968 among others.

While she acquired several Tiaras after the division of the Norwegian Jewels in 1968, Princess Astrid continued to wear the Vasa Tiara frequently over the next few years, including for the Swedish State Visit to Norway in 1974, the British State Visit to Norway in 1981, Crown Prince Harald’s 50th Birthday in 1987, King Harland and Queen Sonja’s Silver Anniversary in 1993, and for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 60th Birthday Gala in 1996.

The Vasa Tiara continued to be frequently worn by Princess Astrid over the next few decades, including for the Wedding of Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, the Swedish Royal Visit to Norway in 2005, King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 60th Birthday Gala in 2006, and the Spanish State Visit to Norway in 2006.

In recent years, Princess Astrid wore the Vasa Tiara for Stortingsmiddag in 2018, the South Korean State Visit to Norway in 2019, Stortingsmiddag 2021, and the Finnish State Visit to Norway in 2024.

In line with the agreement made at the time of the division of the jewels in 1968, Princess Astrid stated that the Vasa Tiara, along with Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Circlet and Queen Lovisa’s Turquoise and Diamond Necklace are among her jewels that will eventually return to the main line of the Royal Family. Lets hope we see it worn again soon!