Royal wedding of Queen Margrethe II in 1967
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Queen Margrethe, 81, has been on the throne for half a century and is celebrating her Golden Jubilee today. On January 14, 1972, Margrethe succeeded to the throne at the age of 31, becoming the first female Danish sovereign under the new Act of Succession that allowed women to become monarch. Out of all her entire royal jewellery collection, Queen Margrethe’s most incredible tiara is her pearl tiara that has been in the Danish Royal Family for centuries.
The Pearl Poiré Tiara was given in 1825 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia to his daughter, Princess Louise, on her marriage to Prince Frederick of the Netherlands.
The tiara was then inherited by Princess Louise’s daughter, Queen Louise of Sweden, and then by her daughter, Queen Lovisa of Denmark.
It has been in the Danish collection ever since, and it’s one of the tiaras that is generally only reserved for the Queen.
According to the Court Jeweller: “The tiara was a bejewelled reminder of the monarchs’ shared family heritage, dating all the way back to its first owner, Princess Louise of the Netherlands.”
The tiara, which is made of diamonds set with eighteen pear-shaped (or “poiré”) pendant pearls, is thought to have been made in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Frederik and Lovisa became Denmark’s King and Queen in 1906.
In Lovisa’s hands, the tiara became a part of a married parure, matched up with other similar pieces of pearl and diamond jewellery to make a set.
A large diamond brooch with five pearl pendants had been made to match the tiara at the time of its original creation, and Lovisa inherited the brooch along with the tiara.
She began wearing both pieces with a pearl and diamond necklace that she had received as a wedding gift from the Khedive of Egypt.
Two pearl pendants that were originally part of that necklace were also later turned into earrings.
One more piece was also added to this “parure” — a pearl and diamond cluster brooch, which was originally the clasp of an elaborate pearl necklace.
This necklace had been Lovisa’s wedding gift from Tsar Alexander III of Russia and his wife, Maria Feodorovna.
In her will, Lovisa placed this entire group of pearl and diamond jewels in trust, ensuring that the set could never be broken up.
Although the suite is not a part of the Danish crown jewels, it passes directly from monarch to monarch, and it is generally worn only by the country’s Queen.
All of Lovisa’s successors — Queen Alexandrine, Queen Ingrid, and Queen Margrethe II — have worn the Pearl Poiré Tiara and the accompanying pearl and diamond jewels.
However, Margrethe also wore this tiara as a Princess in 1953.
For the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the British Royal Family in 1953, Denmark was represented by Prince Axel and the then-Princess Margaretha, so she borrowed and wore the pearl tiara.
Since her accession to the throne in 1972, the tiara has been worn by Queen Margarethe II.
She has worn the tiara for numerous portraits, and she often wears it for prominent events, like state visits or the annual New Year’s Levees.
Queen Margrethe wore the tiara on November 16, 2004 when she and Prince Henrik of Denmark arrived at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo for a state visit with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.
Furthermore, in 2015, she selected the tiara for a very appropriate event, a banquet in honour of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands.
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