It's that day of the week again! Happy Tiara Tuesday, and boy do we have an incredible tiara today! This week's tiara is the Romanov Ruby Lotus Flower Tiara, made by Bolin in 1874 for Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the same year she married Prince Alfred.
The tiara is a part of a parure, which also has a matching devant de corsage and necklace. Although the Romanov's have a history of being superstitious about rubies, Tsar Alexander II lacked these worries, and gave this stunning ruby tiara to his daughter, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.
This tiara features luscious cabochon cut Burmese rubies set in a grande lotus flower motif, surrounded by diamonds in cushion settings.
The Grande Duchess left this tiara to her daughter, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Eventually it made its way to Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark. Princess Margarita was the last royal wearer of the tiara, wearing it to a few royal weddings. She died in 1981 and her jewels were auctioned off, including this tiara, which went up for auction in 1989.
An interesting point was made in the auction description, that the tiara used to have faceted rubies and at some point they were replaced with less expensive cabochon rubies. Unfortunately this tiara has not been seen since its auction, and its whereabouts are not public knowledge. Hopefully we will see this tiara make a dazzling reappearance someday!
Thanks for reading and have a great Tiara Tuesday!
