10 Days of Tiara's -Part 3

The Vladimir Tiara

Made in 1890 this tiara originally belonged to
The Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia.




A British diplomat smuggled the tiara out of Russia during the Revolution in 1917.

Queen Elizabeth's grandmother Queen Mary bought this tiara in 1921 after the Grand Duchess died.

Queen Mary had the tiara adapted so that the hanging pearls could be exchanged with the Cambridge cabochon emeralds.

Augusta, the Duchess of Cambridge who was the grandmother of Queen Mary won the Emeralds in a charity lottery in 1818.

The emeralds were originally left to Queen Mary's brother, Prince Francis of Teck. He left the emeralds to his mistress. Ah, but Queen Mary had other ideas. Queen Mary bought back the Cambridge Emeralds. She had some of them set with diamond clasps to fit the tiara.

The tiara without the pearls and emeralds. Not nearly as impressive.

As a young child of the sixties going to school in Canada, this is the picture we looked at as we sang God Save the Queen every morning.

I like it best with the pearls. How about you?