Celebrity
Queen Mary of Denmark wears historic tiara not seen in public for 140 years to state banquet in Finland
Queen Mary has surprised royal watchers by wearing a tiara not seen in public for 140 years during a state banquet in Finland, the second time she has chosen unexpected jewels from the royal vaults since her husband became King.
The Danish Queen and King Frederik are in the Nordic country for a two-day visit focused on strengthening cultural and business ties between the two nations.
The main event on the first day of their visit was a banquet held inside the Presidential Palace in Helsinki.
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Queen Mary wore a black floral gown by Danish designer Jesper Høvring, first seen in 2019.
But it was the 53-year-old’s choice of jewels that has made headlines.
Queen Mary wore Queen Caroline Amalie’s gold tiara with antique gems and Princess Vilhelmine Marie’s bracelet with Vesuvius stone to the gala dinner.
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The tiara was made in 1820 for Caroline Amalie, who was married to Denmark’s Christian VIII, who reigned from 1839 to 1848.
The 11-set gems were collected by her husband during the couple’s trip to Italy where they visited Rome and the excavations in Pompeii, among other places.
The bracelet, made of gold and decorated with semi-precious stones from the Vesuvius area, and the tiara are now part of Denmark’s royal collection.
They are typically displayed in the Treasury under Rosenborg Castle, along with Denmark’s four sets of Crown Jewels which Queen Mary has also worn.
For the banquet on Tuesday evening, Mary also re-wore a golden brooch with citrine, amethysts, pearls and diamonds from a parure that belonged to Frederik VII’s third wife, Countess Danner.
It was first seen on the Queen in November when she unveiled a monument to the former commoner-turned countess. For the gala, Mary wore for the first time the matching earrings from the set.
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Queen Mary clearly has a keen interest in Denmark’s historic jewels within the royal collection.
In December, it was announced by the Danish palace that Queen Mary had used part of the Crown Jewels to make a new tiara: the rose-cut diamond bandeau.
Now she is Queen of Denmark, Mary has exclusive access to the four sets of historic jewels, which date to 1840.
They include the brilliant-cut diamond set, an emerald set, a pearl-ruby set and a rose-cut diamond set.
Queen Mary’s new tiara was made from stones that are part of the rose-cut diamond set of Crown Jewels, the parure that has been worn the least by previous Danish Queens.
She decided to have the large diamond belt from the rose-cut set re-fashioned into a tiara that could be worn throughout her reign.
It was the first time in more than 180 years that the Crown Jewels had been reworked in such a drastic fashion.
The palace said the Queen was “resuming the old tradition of adapting the Crown Jewels to the demands and needs of the time”.
It added the rose-cut diamonds would now get “a new use that will pull the set out of the shadows and onto the big stage at royal events, as the stones were originally intended”.
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