17 August, 2011

Acessorizing

The Vladimir Tiara, Russia,c.1890. Made for Grand Duchess Vladimir, aunt of the last Russian Tsar Nicholas II, the tiara was smuggled out of Russia during the Revolution by a British diplomat. In 1921 it was sold by the Grand Duchess’s daughter, Princess Nicholas of Greece, to Queen Mary, who adapted the tiara to take fifteen of the celebrated Cambridge emeralds as an alternative to the original pearls. The tiara was inherited by The Queen from her grandmother Queen Mary in 1953.