Danish Ruby Parure

In 1804, Napoleon gave money to his marshals so they could buy appropriately formal jewelry to wear at his coronation ceremony.  Jean Baptiste Bernadotte, one of Napoleon’s Generals, bought a ruby and diamond wreath tiara and accompanying parure for his wife, Désirée Clary.  Later they became King Carl XIV Johan and Queen Desideria of Sweden, and the jewels found a new Swedish home.

The jewels eventually moved from Sweden to Denmark with Queen Louise, who married the future Frederick VIII in 1869.  Louise received the tiara as a wedding gift from her grandmother, Queen Josephine of Sweden (Désirée’s daughter-in-law), because the rubies and diamonds echoed the colors of the Danish flag.  The tiara became a traditional wedding gift in the Danish royal family, and the most famous owner of this tiara was Queen Ingrid of Denmark.  She had it altered significantly, adding a couple of brooches from the parure to the form, transforming it from a wreath to a proper tiara.

When Queen Ingrid died in 2000, she left the parure to her grandson, Crown Prince Frederik, ensuring the Crown Princess would have some nice jewels in her collection.  It was Queen Mary’s first tiara, and she treats it as her “big gun” tiara.  In 2010 she had the tiara altered to better suit her head and style– bringing the leaves into a tighter orientation and removing some of the pieces on the ends of the tiara.

This tiara has so much history behind it, and has evolved as it moved down the family line, keeping it interesting and fresh!  It will be great to see where this tiara goes next, or if it will continue to evolve in the future!

Thanks for reading and have a fantastic Tiara Tuesday!