Royal Wedding Tiaras: Infanta Elena of Spain

Today marks the 21st anniversary of a very big royal wedding indeed. Infanta Elena of Spain was never going to be a queen but when she married, on March 18th 1995, she made history for hers was the first regal wedding to be held in Spain for almost 90 years. All royal weddings need a tiara (or two or three) and for this historic event the bride showed her solidarity with her new husband's family. Elena wore the Marichalar tiara.

The Infanta Elena of Spain and Jaime de Marichalar on their wedding day, March 18th 1995

The diadem of diamonds and platinum had been given to her by her soon to be in-laws before the wedding. It had belonged to the Countess of Ripalda, mother of Elena's groom, Jaime de Marichalar, and was presented to the eldest child of King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia before she said 'I do'. And the bride made a lot of people very happy by choosing to wear this gift for her wedding at Seville Cathedral on March 18th 1995.

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The tiara is made up of a row of laurel leaves made of diamonds with another layer on top of that in a Greek key design (a meander). It is very sparkly, rather delicate and it had a lot of work to do on Elena's wedding day because it kept in place a very long veil which had another shorter veil attached to the top. 

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  This elegant tiara became a favourite of the Infanta Elena throughout her married life and even following her separation and divorce, the Duchess of Lugo retained the piece and continued to wear it - perhaps most famously at the royal wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Daniel Westling in June 2010.