Today marks the 175th of the Birth of Queen Lovisa of Denmark, who was born on this day in 1851, 175 years ago! The Swedish Princess who became the Queen of Denmark and the mother of Danish and Norwegian Kings, Queen Lovisa had a legendary jewellery collection and to mark the anniversary, we are featuring Queen Lovisa’s Star Tiara!
Pearl Poiré Tiara | Queen Josefina’s Diamond Tiara | Danish Ruby Parure | Star Tiara | Crown Diamond Parure | Pink Topaz Parure | Danish Diamond Rivière | Pearl Poire Brooch | Diamond Brooches | Antique Diamond Parure | Antique Diamond Earrings | Pearl Brooch
The exact origin of these six-pointed Diamond Stars is not known but it appears that the central stone could be pearls and later rubies.
Queen Lovisa had a legendary jewellery collection inherited from the Swedish, Dutch, and Napoleonic Royal Families, which included the Pearl Poiré Tiara, Queen Josefina’s Diamond Tiara, Danish Ruby Parure, and Pink Topaz Parure, and was large enough that:
“if it was all laid out on a card table, you could not see the fabric underneath”.
Crown Princess Louise wore one of the six-pointed Diamond Stars in her hair with the Pearl Poiré Brooch for a portrait taken in the early 1870s.
Queen Lovisa notably wore the Diamond Star Tiara, set with what seems like pearls or turquoises, for a series of portraits which were widely shared around the time of her husband’s accession to the Throne in 1906.
Along with Queen Désirée’s Ears-of-Wheat Tiara, Queen Lovisa left the Diamond Star Tiara to her third son, Prince Harald, whose wife, Princess Helena, notably wore the Ruby Star Tiara for the Wedding of her daughter, Princess Alexandrine Louise of Denmark, to Count Luitpold of Castell-Castell in 1937.
A few months later, the Ruby Star Tiara was worn by Princess Helena’s eldest daughter, Princess Feodora, for King Christian X of Denmark’s Silver Jubilee Banquet in Copenhagen in 1937.
In the 1950s, the Ruby Star Tiara seems to have been worn by the aforementioned Princess Alexandrine-Louise of Denmark, Countess of Castell-Castell for a Concert at Christiansborg Palace.
Several years later, the Ruby Star Tiara was worn by Princess Alexandrine-Louise ’s daughter, Countess Amélie of Castell-Castell, for the Wedding of her cousin, Count Ingolf of Rosenborg, in 1968.
The Ruby Star Tiara seems to have remained in the possession of Countess Amélie, now von Miller zu Aichholz, who wore it for a portrait in the 1980s or 1990s. Let’s hope we see it worn again soon!
