In 1919, Queen Mary asked the London jewelers House of Garrard to turn a necklace into a tiara. That necklace had a special significance: It had been gifted to Mary by Queen Victoria, who had received it as a wedding gift in 1893. Garrard made a diadem comprised of 47 tapered diamond bars. The design was influenced by a Russian kokoshnik, an ornate halo-shaped headdress worn by women of the country’s imperial court. (Though, true to British sensibility, this one was much simpler than those donned by the recently overthrown Romanovs.)
In 1936, Queen Mary passed it on to Queen Elizabeth (now referred to as the “Queen Mother”). Eleven years later, the Queen Mother lent it to her daughter, the then Princess Elizabeth, for a very special occasion: her wedding to Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten.
It’s then that the tiara had its most famous—and infamous—moment. Before Elizabeth was due to walk down the aisle, it snapped. Luckily, a court jeweler quickly mended the rare piece.
In 1973, the Queen Mother loaned the tiara for another royal wedding—that of her granddaughter Princess Anne. An estimated 500 million people watched the Westminster Abbey ceremony to Mark Phillips. And, just like her mother before her, Queen Elizabeth extended the same offer to her own granddaughter, Princess Beatrice. Now, an emotional connection to five Windsor women lives on.
