Cartier Valkyrie Tiara

While the focus has been on all the Royal Tiaras at the many State Banquets this week, we should not forget to mention that the glamourous Countess of Rosebery wore the Duchess of Roxburghe’s magnificent diamond-winged Cartier Valkyrie Tiara at the 2026 British Museum Ball last weekend!

The Tiara is composed of a pair of spectacular detachable Diamond Wings created by Oscar Massin in the 1880s set on a Diamond Bandeau commissioned by the Duchess of Roxburghe at Cartier in 1935, which was said to have been the last ‘winged’ Tiara created decades after the style had gone out of fashion.

Years later, in 1935, Cartier in London were to receive a final order for a winged tiara, this time from the Duchess of Roxburghe’

The Valkyrie tiara comprises more than 2,500 cushion-shaped, single-cut, circular-cut and rose-cut diamonds, set in a gold and silver frame. Inspired by the winged helmets worn by the heroines of Wagner’s opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen, the tiara is the last of its type ever made by Cartier. The pair of “en tremblant”‘ wings were constructed using wire-coiled springs so that they move slightly when worn.

American Heiress Mary Goelet, the Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe gave this magnificent Diamond Tiara alongside a Cartier Pearl and Diamond Suite to Lady Mary Crewe-Milnes, when she married her only son, the 9th Duke of Roxburghe, in 1935, as first revealed by the wonderful Beth. The Tiara, and particularly the Diamond Wings, is described in several press clippings:

The Duchess of Roxburghe has given to her future daughter-in-law a black and white pearl and diamond necklace with matching earrings and brooch, a pair of and white diamond bracelets, and a beautiful diamond winged ornament for the hair.

Lovely pieces of jewellery, specially designed for the bride in black and white pearls and diamonds, were given by the Duchess of Roxburghe to her daughter-in-law. These are a black and white pearl necklace with matching earrings and brooch, a pair of black and white pearl and diamond bracelets, and a beautiful diamond winged ornament for the hair.

From the Duchess of Roxburghe to Lady Mary Crewe-Milnes there was also a pair of pearl and diamond bracelets, and tiara shaped like two Merceury wings, set in the centre of a narrow diamond bandeau.

While she was never pictured wearing the Valkyrie Tiara, the Duchess of Roxburghe as described wearing the Diamond Wings at a Ball at Syon House in 1951.

The Duchess of Roxburghe, in purple, wore great diamond bows on the bodice of her dress, and diamond Cupid’s wings in her hair.

The Duchess of Roxburghe retained her Jewels after her acrimonious divorce, with her being forced to leave Floors Castle after a six-week siege in 1953, and wore the Diamond Wings for the Battle of Balaclava Centenary Ball in 1954.

Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe in white and with magnificent diamond wings in her hair

The Duchess inherited West Horsley Place from her mother, the Marchioness of Crewe, in 1967, where she lived until her death on this day in 2014, at the age of 99. Her magnificent Jewels were in the Bank in London.

Visiting the bank where jewels belonging to the late Mary, Duchess of Roxburghe (and four massive oak chests full of silver and vertu) had been on deposit was something else. Four tiaras and ropes of pearls and diamonds and a huge quantity of treasure emerged from the darkness. Some of the objects wrapped in newspaper from 1953, the year of her divorce, hidden for over half a century. The sea of red leather cases and bespoke Cartier cream boxes (each with the initial M in Celtic font) was overwhelming and the contents mind boggling

Following the Duchess’ death in 2014, West Horsley Place was inherited by her grandnephew Bamber Gascoigne, who auctioned off much of the Duchess’ jewellery collection to fund the restoration. The highlight of the sale were three splendid Tiaras, including her Art Deco Cartier Tiara, as well as the Cartier Pearl Suite.

The fourth Tiara, the Cartier Valkyrie Tiara, seems to have been inherited by the now 8th Earl of Rosebery, then Lord Dalmeny. The late Duchess was a first cousin of the 7th Earl of Rosebery, in addition to being a granddaughter of the 5th Earl and the legendary Hannah de Rothschild.

In 2018, the Duchess of Roxburghe’s Cartier Valkyrie Tiara went on display in the Scottish Design Galleries of the V&A Dundee, following arrangements negotiated through Sotheby’s, while the Earl of Rosebery was the Chairman of Sotheby’s UK & Ireland. The lead curator said:

This tiara is a stunning example of design being directly influenced by the person who commissioned it. In 1935 the Duchess of Roxburghe had just married into a Scottish dynasty. When she asked Cartier to make one last Valkyrie tiara, she was commissioning a piece of exquisite craftsmanship and unexpected design, inspired by the fashions of her childhood.

The Duchess’s fondness for the style was sparked by seeing winged tiaras worn at balls and parties as a child, prompting her to approach Cartier more than a decade later to produce one last grand homage to the bygone fashion.

Now, the Countess of Rosebery wore the Duchess of Roxburghe’s diamond-winged Cartier Valkyrie Tiara at the British Museum Ball last weekend, saying she felt ‘hugely honoured’ and ‘deeply grateful’ to wear the Tiara:

Harry and I are committee members for the ball and wanted to do something very special this year. I have actually never seen an image of the tiara being worn and thought that this would be the right moment to commemorate it, given that the British Museum is home to some of the world’s greatest objects,

This was an evening to celebrate that and all that they do to bring us in touch with our collective past. For example, bringing the Bayeux Tapestry back to England for the first time since its creation. So it just felt like this was the appropriate setting for it.’

Gallello Atelier made me the most beautiful gown that I feel just worked perfectly with the language of the Valkyrie Tiara. I wanted to look like a sculpture that had just stepped down from its plinth… The image of Audrey Hepburn descending the stairs in the Louvre in front of the Winged Victory of Samothrace just kept recurring whenever I thought about this look, and I wanted to capture something of that cinematic moment

The Countess of Rosebery frequently wears the magnificent Rosebery Tiara and the Primrose Tiara, so lets hope she will now also be wearing the Cartier Valkyrie Tiara again soon!