Happy Tiara Tuesday! This week we are bringing you a dazzler from Queen Victoria's fabulous collection! Named "Queen Victoria's Sapphire Coronet" because Queen Victoria herself called it a coronet, it is also reminiscent of the base of tiny crowns used for coronation ceremonies.
This petite but sweet tiara was designed by Queen Victoria's husband, Prince Albert, and commissioned from Joseph Kitching in 1842 for £415. It features Gothic elements with kite and cushion shaped sapphires and diamonds. The sapphires are set in gold and the diamonds in silver.
This tiara was one of the few that Queen Victoria deemed appropriate to wear during her widowhood, so there are a number of images of her wearing it. She wore it all sorts of different ways though, showing it is versatile with its small size and flexibility.The tiara passed to Princess Mary in 1922 as a wedding gift from her father, King George V, when she married Viscount Lascelles (later Earl of Harewood). After her death the tiara left the public eye but stayed with the family, worn by Patricia (George's second wife), Countess of Harewood, and Andrea Lascelles at her wedding to one of the Earl's sons.
In 1997 Geoffrey Munn called the Earl of Harewood to ask if they had any pieces of royal origin because he was organizing an exhibition for Wartski’s. The countess returned his call saying they had one piece but it was "so small you probably will not want it." He did want it though and it was exhibited that same year, and then again in the Victoria and Albert Museum in 2002.
