The romantic story of a famous Lover's Knot Tiara

 

The Princess of Wales in the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara in July 2017

It's based on a gift of love so it's rather appropriate that this tiara has such a romantic name. The Lover's Knot Tiara, now the go to diadem of the Princess of Wales, links this future queen to one past and plenty of other royal women in between. This diadem has a long royal history but in recent times it was closely associated with two women who have been Princess of Wales - Diana and Catherine. 

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Diana, Princess of Wales wearing  the Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara

The tiara was very familiar through the 1980s and 1990s as it was worn regularly by Diana, Princess of Wales - she was given the diadem on her marriage by the Queen and it became a firm favourite with her even though it was so heavy it reportedly gave her headaches. It was worn by Diana in some of her most famous appearances and became an almost iconic part of her royal image.

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It gets its name from the shape that some of the diamonds have been set into. The lover's knots run along the top of the tiara, between inverted arches of diamonds. There is also a row of round sparklers at the base of the tiara and more brilliant gems perched on the top - and then we get to the pearls. There are nineteen of them, gathered up from different sources, and suspended from diamond clips from the sparkling lover's knots themselves. It is pretty, traditional and very impressive.

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As Duchess of Cambridge for eleven years, it seems appropriate that Kate wore this piece as it has links with a previous holder of that title whose dynasty is now on the throne of England. Back in 1818, when  Augusta of Hesse-Kassel married Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, she was given a pearl lover's knot tiara among her many sparkling gifts. 

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Augusta's granddaughter became Queen Mary and when she decided she needed a new tiara, as you do, in 1913 she looked for ideas in her family scrap book and commissioned a version of the Lover's Knot tiara worn by Augusta from Garrards. When Queen Mary died she left it to her own granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II.

Queen Mary in the Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara

Queen Mary's original was very like granny's with an extra row of pearls on top but in its best known modern version, worn by Diana with such regularity and now by Kate, that has gone and the tiara is all the better for it. The pearls are so stunning they don't really need the competition on top. This is a perfect combination of diamonds and pearls.

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There were some who questioned whether it was too soon for Kate to be seen in a tiara so associated with Diana when she first wore it to the annual Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace back in December 2015 but by the time it made a repeat appearance at the same event in 2016, Kate's use of this famous tiara was much less talked about. It now seems as much Catherine's as Diana's. Now it's back in royal circulation, we can expect to enjoy many more looks at these pearls.