Historic Diamonds / Royal Stories
Every Major Diamond Wedding Tiara from the British Royal Family
By Hannah Militano, July 24, 2025
When it comes to the British Royal Family, no bride walks down the aisle without a dazzling wedding tiara steeped in history, heritage, and a whole lot of diamonds.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle ride in an Ascot Landau along the Long Walk after their wedding in St George’s Chapel in Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018. (Mike Egerton/PA Wire)
When a royal bride announces her engagement, one question immediately comes to mind: Which wedding tiara will she wear on the big day?
From Queen Elizabeth to her sister, daughter, daughters-in-law, granddaughters, and the brides of her grandsons, generations of royal women have donned legendary diamond diadems steeped in history and symbolism. These dazzling heirlooms were crafted by some of the world’s most prestigious jewelers—Cartier, Boucheron, and most notably Garrard, the first official Crown Jeweler, appointed in 1843 by Queen Victoria. Garrard’s master craftsmen not only designed original tiaras but also transformed existing royal jewels—brooches, necklaces, and more—into radiant, regal headpieces fit for a queen.
Here, Only Natural Diamonds looks back on the most regal natural diamond wedding tiaras to make it down the aisle on the heads of royal brides.
Meet the Author
- Hannah Militano covers diamond jewelry trends, the fashion industry, pop culture, and celebrity news.
- She holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Fashion Institute of Technology.
- As a journalist, her work has been featured in publications such as Editorialist, Carine Roitfeld’s CR Fashion Book, L’Officiel USA, Grazia USA, Coveteur, and more.
The History of the Wedding Tiara
Tiaras became tradition during the Greek and Roman empires, when high-ranking men and women wore them as status symbols.
French leader Napoleon Bonaparte and Empress Joséphine have been credited with popularizing the tiara as we know it today. In 1804, Napoleon was crowned Emperor of France, and his wife, Empress Joséphine, wore a dazzling diamond tiara to the coronation—an emblem of sovereignty and imperial grandeur. The couple commissioned jewelers to draw inspiration from Ancient Greek and Roman motifs, resulting in headpieces fashioned from diamonds and other precious gemstones. The trend quickly caught on, with women of the court and royal houses across Europe embracing tiaras as essential symbols of status and style.
Now, according to the royal rulebook, one’s wedding day marks the first time to officially wear a tiara, as only a bride or a married woman may wear one. Queen Elizabeth II chose to wear her grandmother, Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara, for her wedding day to Prince Philip in 1947. From there, her daughter Princess Anne and her granddaughter, Princess Beatrice, have followed in her footsteps, opting for the very same wedding tiara.
Queen Elizabeth II’s Wedding Tiara: Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara
Queen Elizabeth II wore Queen Mary’s Fringe tiara for her royal wedding to Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at Westminster Abbey in London on November 20, 1947. Queen Mary passed down the tiara to Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, in 1937, who then lent the jewel to her daughter for her wedding day as her “something borrowed.”
Garrard, the official crown jeweler at the time, has recently rediscovered two of their handwritten royal ledgers. On November 3, 1919, the ledger recounted the notes, “Mounting 633 brilliants and 271 rose diamonds from your Majesty’s own tiara, bracelet, and monogram in gold and silver settings in a Russian pattern tiara with adjustable head frame, allowing for old settings.”
Most of the diamonds were taken from a necklace/tiara purchased by Queen Victoria in 1983 from Collingwood & Co. as a wedding gift for Queen Mary, who wore it on her wedding day. Fashioned after a Russian kokoshnik tiara, the jewel has 47 pointed bars of brilliant-cut and rose-cut diamonds set in an alternating pattern with smaller prongs of lozenge-set diamonds.
The tiara is mounted on a specific frame that allows the tiara to be transformed into a necklace, which leads us to one of the tiara’s most notorious tales. The piece famously almost caused the then-Princess Elizabeth to be late to her own wedding. As she was getting ready with her dresser at Buckingham Palace, part of the wedding tiara snapped off. The court jeweler rushed to Garrard with the tiara in tow, escorted by police to ensure it was repaired in time.
In 2011, Queen Elizabeth II recalled the story to Kate Middleton when they toured a Buckingham Palace exhibition. “The catch, which I didn’t know existed, it suddenly went [gesturing her breaking the tiara with her hands].” Not often seen in public, Queen Elizabeth II inherited the tiara from her mother, who died in 2002.
Princess Margaret’s Wedding Tiara: The Poltimore Tiara
Princess Margaret wore the Poltimore Tiara to marry Tony Armstrong-Jones in May 1960. The nuptials marked the first royal wedding to be broadcast on television, drawing an estimated 300 million international viewers when Margaret arrived at Westminster Abbey in a horse-drawn carriage, wearing her Norman Hartnell bridal gown and the enormous diamond headpiece.
Many suspected she would borrow a wedding tiara from her sister, Queen Elizabeth II, who had ascended to the throne in 1952. Margaret would have been given free rein over the assortment of tiaras in the Royal Collection.
Instead, the Princess purchased the Poltimore diadem for £5,500 when the Poltimore family put the Poltimore Tiara up for auction in 1959 as “a highly important tiara.”
Known for marching to the beat of her own drum, Princess Margaret didn’t earn her reputation as the royal rebel for nothing. With a discerning eye for jewelry and a flair for the unconventional, she famously favored the grand Poltimore Tiara not just for its beauty, but because its towering silhouette gave her a boost in the height department. After all, Margaret stood just five feet one.
It was designed by Garrard in 1870 for Florence, Lady Poltimore, who was the wife of the second Baron Poltimore and Treasurer to Queen Victoria’s household from 1872 to 1874.
The tiara is sprinkled with cushion-cut and old-cut diamond clusters, which alternate with diamond-embellished scroll motifs, evoking the floral motifs that were in fashion during the Victorian era. The convertible tiara can transform into a fringe necklace and 11 different brooches. A few months ahead of the royal wedding, Margaret wore the Poltimore Tiara in its necklace form at a gala ballet performance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden. She went on to wear it as a necklace again in October of that year for a film premiere in Charing Cross.
Armstrong-Jones, the 1st Earl of Snowdon, was a successful British photographer, known for his portraits featured in Vogue, Vanity Fair, and The Sunday Times. In 1962, he captured one of his most iconic images: Princess Margaret lounging in a bathtub at Kensington Palace, wearing the Poltimore Tiara atop a sky-high beehive. The moment was so memorable, it was later recreated in Season 3 of The Crown, with Helena Bonham Carter portraying the glamorous royal.
Although the photo wasn’t originally meant for public release, Lord Snowdon kept it private until 2006—four years after Princess Margaret’s passing in 2002. He then included the image in a gallery exhibition in London, where it was briefly on display before being withdrawn from public view more than a decade later.
That same year, her children decided to sell some of her jewels, including her wedding tiara. The Poltimore sold at Christie’s Auction House in 2006 for $1.7 million to a private buyer. Its current whereabouts are unknown.
Princess Anne’s Wedding Tiara: Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara
When Queen Elizabeth II’s daughter, Princess Anne, married Mark Phillips at Buckingham Palace in 1973, she followed in her mother’s footsteps by wearing Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara with her Tudor-style wedding gown. However, unlike her mother, she managed to avoid any wedding day mishaps with the spiky diamond diadem. The tiara stayed firmly in place, perfectly complementing her sleek center-parted updo and no-fuss bridal style.
Princess Diana’s Wedding Tiara: The Spencer Tiara
When Princess Diana married Prince Charles in 1981, she chose to wear her family heirloom, the Spencer Tiara, a sentimental and sparkling statement. Their fairytale wedding captivated the world, drawing an estimated 750 million viewers and becoming the second most-watched royal event in history.
Rather than borrowing a tiara from Queen Elizabeth II’s extensive Royal Collection, Diana chose to honor her own family heritage. Her father, the 8th Earl Spencer, lent her the Spencer Tiara—a cherished heirloom passed down through generations. It’s even rumored that she was offered the Queen’s Lover’s Knot Tiara, a piece that would later become a staple in her royal wardrobe, but she declined in favor of tradition and personal significance.
Diana floated down the aisle of St. Paul’s Cathedral in her voluminous David and Elizabeth Emanuel gown, her family tiara gleaming atop a breathtaking 459-foot-long tulle veil. “When Diana wore her family heirloom on her wedding day, it became one of the most famous tiaras in modern history,” says Claire Scott, Design and Development Director at Garrard.
Designed in an intricate garland style, a heart-shaped motif sits in the center of the Spencer Tiara, flanked by looped scrolls, and sprinkled with sparkling stars and trumpet-shaped diamond flowers. Round, rose-cut, pear-shaped, and cushion-cut natural diamonds are interspersed throughout the diadem, mounted in gold.
The Spencer Tiara was created in 1767 for the Viscountess Montagu. In 1919, Lady Sarah Spencer gifted the tiara to Lady Cynthia Hamilton (Princess Diana’s grandmother) as a wedding present after she tied the knot with Albert, Viscount Althorp.
By 1937, Cynthia served as the Queen Mother’s Lady of the Bedchamber, requiring her to wear a plethora of tiaras for royal events. That’s when Garrard entered the picture. The royal jeweler modified and expanded the tiara, incorporating elements from other family jewels, resulting in the design as we know it today.
By the 1970s, John Spencer, the 8th Earl Spencer, inherited the family heirloom. Subsequently, all three of his daughters wore the Spencer Tiara on their wedding days. First, Lady Jane wore the tiara when she wed Robert Fellowes in 1978. Then, Lady Sarah wore it to marry Neil McCorquodale in 1980. Finally, Lady Diana donned the Spencer tiara to marry the then-Prince Charles in 1981. Even Diana’s former sister-in-law, Victoria Lockwood, wore the prized jewel to wed Diana’s younger brother, Charles Spencer, in 1989.
Most recently, the tiara was pulled out of the vaults for the wedding of Lady Sarah’s daughter, Celia McCorquodale, in the Spring of 2018. The Spencer Tiara remains in the possession of the Spencer family to this day.
Sarah Ferguson’s Wedding Tiara: The York Tiara
Sarah Ferguson wore the York Tiara to marry Prince Andrew in 1986. The diamond-clad headpiece was given to Sarah, Duchess of York, by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip as a wedding gift.
When she walked down the aisle of Westminster Abbey, Ferguson wore a huge crown of flowers above her veil with the York Tiara hidden underneath. The sartorial transformation was said to symbolize her leap in status, from commoner to a member of the royal family.
While many royal brides opt for a tiara from Her Majesty’s collection or a treasured family heirloom—like Princess Diana did—Sarah Ferguson’s was a rare exception. Her tiara was brand new, an unusual choice by royal standards. Commissioned by the Queen from Garrard, the piece was gifted to Ferguson upon her marriage to Prince Andrew and aptly named the York Tiara in honor of her new title, Duchess of York.
Following the couple’s divorce in 1996, Ferguson retained ownership of the tiara, which remained out of the public eye for years—until 2023, when Princess Beatrice brought it out of the vault for a royal banquet in Amman celebrating the wedding of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh‘s Wedding Tiara: The Anthemion Tiara
Former PR executive Sophie Rhys-Jones wore the diamond-studded Anthemion Tiara when she married Prince Edward, the Queen’s youngest son and now Duke of Edinburgh, in 1999. A gift from Her Majesty drawn from her private jewelry collection, the tiara has remained a staple in Sophie’s rotation ever since. Now one of the most respected and active working royals, the Duchess of Edinburgh frequently revisits the regal headpiece for significant royal occasions.
Crafted from radiant white diamonds, the Anthemion Tiara takes its name from the classical motif it features—a stylized fan-like pattern of radiating petals. While its exact origins remain unconfirmed, many believe the tiara was assembled from vintage detachable elements that once adorned Queen Victoria’s Regal Circlet, originally created by Garrard in 1853.
Sophie has worn the tiara to at least five royal weddings, including the 2001 wedding of Prince Haakon of Norway and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, the 2004 Danish royal wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson, and the 2011 ceremony of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco. Most recently, she donned the beloved piece at the 2019 state banquet at Buckingham Palace held in honor of President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK.
Autumn Kelly’s Wedding Tiara: Princess Anne’s Festoon Tiara
Autumn Kelly wore Princess Anne’s Festoon Tiara for her wedding to Peter Phillips at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on May 17, 2008. The couple reportedly met at the 2003 Montreal Grand Prix, but Kelly didn’t realize Peter’s royal status until she later saw him on television with his family.
As the son of Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips, Peter became the first of Queen Elizabeth II’s grandchildren to marry. For the occasion, Kelly wore a custom gown by British designer Sassi Holford and borrowed the elegant diamond Festoon Tiara from her new mother-in-law, Princess Anne.
The magnificent antique Diamond Festoon Tiara was gifted to Princess Anne in 1973 by The Worldwide Shipping Group to commemorate her launching of the tanker World Unicorn. That same year, Queen Elizabeth II’s only daughter wore the glittering tiara in a series of official portraits by Lord Lichfield, released in celebration of her 23rd birthday.
She later donned the tiara in another portrait session—this time by renowned photographer Norman Parkinson—alongside her then-fiancé, Captain Mark Phillips, at Windsor Castle ahead of their royal wedding. Over the decades, the Festoon Tiara has remained one of Princess Anne’s most-worn pieces, making regular appearances at state banquets and formal royal occasions. Most recently, she wore it to the Windsor Castle banquet honoring the French State Visit to the UK in July 2025.
Zara Tindall’s Wedding Tiara: Princess Andrew’s Meander Bandeau Tiara
Zara Tindall (née Phillips) wore the Meander Bandeau Tiara—one of her mother Princess Anne’s most cherished pieces—when she married England rugby star Mike Tindall in Scotland in 2011. She paired her ivory silk Stewart Parvin bridal gown with delicate diamond drop earrings and the striking tiara, adding a regal touch to her understated bridal look.
The Meander Bandeau Tiara is notable for being the only tiara in the royal collection to come from Prince Philip’s side of the family. It originally belonged to his mother, Princess Alice of Battenberg, later known as Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark after marrying Prince Andrew, hence the tiara’s name.
Its Greek key design, known as a “meander,” is crafted entirely from natural diamonds and accented with a central circular laurel wreath flanked by two honeysuckle motifs. Many believe the tiara was either a wedding gift from her 1903 marriage to Prince Andrew or part of his inheritance following the 1913 assassination of his father, King George I of Greece. The earliest photographs of Alice wearing the tiara date back to 1914.
Princess Alice was frequently seen wearing the piece before gifting it to her daughter-in-law, then-Princess Elizabeth, upon her 1947 marriage to Prince Philip. Although Queen Elizabeth II never wore the tiara publicly, she passed it on to Princess Anne in 1972. Anne has since worn it on numerous occasions and generously lent it to her daughter Zara for her wedding day.
Kate Middleton’s Wedding Tiara: The Cartier Halo Scroll Tiara
Kate Middleton’s debut tiara moment was steeped in historical significance. When she married Prince William on April 29, 2011, at Westminster Abbey, she wore a custom Alexander McQueen bridal gown and completed the look with the dazzling Cartier Halo Scroll Tiara. Crafted with remarkable precision, the piece features nearly 1,000 diamonds—739 brilliant-cut and 149 baguette-cut—making it a radiant symbol of royal elegance.
When he was still the Duke of York, George VI commissioned Cartier to create the delicate diamond and platinum tiara as a gift for his wife, the future Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. The piece was completed in 1936—just three weeks before he unexpectedly ascended the throne.
Popularized by Cartier, the ‘halo’ tiara style best suited the softer hairstyles of the 1930s and was meant to be worn at a dramatic angle towards the front of the head.
Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother later gifted the tiara to her daughter, the future Queen Elizabeth II, on her 18th birthday in 1944. Many consider it to be the very first piece in the late monarch’s extensive tiara collection. While Queen Elizabeth II was never publicly photographed wearing the Halo Scroll Tiara, it was later worn by both Princess Margaret and Princess Anne—until it found renewed fame when Catherine Middleton selected it for her royal wedding in 2011.
Meghan Markle’s Wedding Tiara: Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau Tiara
Meghan Markle wore Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau Tiara when she married Prince Harry on May 19, 2018. The Duchess of Sussex paired her off-the-shoulder Givenchy gown by designer Clare Waight Keller with a cascading veil, Galanterie de Cartier diamond stud earrings, and the dazzling royal headpiece—formerly known as the Filigree Tiara.
The tiara has deep historical roots dating back to 1893, when Queen Mary—then Princess Victoria Mary of Teck—received a stunning assortment of jewels as wedding gifts upon her marriage to the future King George V. Among them was a striking brooch from the County of Lincoln, featuring a large center diamond surrounded by nine smaller stones.
In 1932, Queen Mary commissioned Garrard to design a diamond bandeau-style tiara set in platinum to showcase the detachable County of Lincoln Brooch at its center. According to the Royal Collection Trust, the tiara is composed of “a flexible band of eleven sections, pavé set with large and small brilliant diamonds in a geometric design.” The headpiece was passed down to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and later loaned to Meghan for her modern royal wedding.
According to royal biographer Robert Lacey, Meghan Markle’s sparkling tiara moment may not have been her first choice. In his book Battle of Brothers, Lacey claims that Queen Elizabeth II rejected Markle’s initial request to wear “a beautiful emerald headdress that was said ‘to have come from Russia,’” due to its alleged association with scandal.
Many have speculated that the piece in question was the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, later worn by Princess Eugenie just five months after Meghan’s wedding. However, that tiara was created by the French jeweler Boucheron and merely takes inspiration from Russian design. Others believe Meghan may have been referring to the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, a storied piece smuggled out of Russia during the revolution and purchased by Queen Mary in 1921.
Still, more recent accounts offer a different perspective. Prince Harry’s 2023 memoir Spare and the 2020 biography Finding Freedom by Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand both refute the claim that the Queen denied Meghan’s tiara request. Instead, the tension reportedly lay between Prince Harry and the Queen’s longtime dresser, Angela Kelly, whom Harry felt was deliberately making the process more difficult.
In the months following her wedding day, Markle shed some light on the process of selecting the perfect royal wedding tiara. She told Harper’s Bazaar,“When it came to the tiara on the day, I was very fortunate to be able to choose this gorgeous art deco style bandeau tiara.” The Duchess continued, “Harry and I had gone to Buckingham Palace to meet with her Majesty the Queen to select one of the options that were there, which was an incredibly surreal day as you can imagine.”
Prince Harry told the outlet, “Funnily enough, it was the one that suited the best, the one that looked the best on you without question.” He added, “I shouldn’t have really been there – but an incredible loan by my grandmother. Very sweet.”
Princess Eugenie’s Wedding Tiara: The Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara
Princess Eugenie wore the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara for her wedding to longtime love Jack Brooksbank at St. George’s Chapel in 2018. Many had expected her to don the York Tiara as her wedding tiara—the same one her mother, Sarah Ferguson, wore on her wedding day—but Eugenie surprised royal watchers with a dramatic and historic choice.
Crafted by French jeweler Boucheron in 1919 (though jewelry historian Vincent Meylan suggests it may have been closer to 1921), the tiara features a striking design of brilliant and rose-cut diamonds pavé-set in platinum, accented by nine cabochon emeralds. It originally belonged to Dame Margaret Greville, a renowned society hostess and philanthropist, who bequeathed a significant portion of her jewelry collection to her close friend Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, upon her death in 1942.
When the Queen Mother passed away in 2002, her jewelry—including the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik—was inherited by Queen Elizabeth II. The tiara had not been seen in public for over 50 years until Eugenie wore it for her nuptials, making it a truly memorable “something borrowed.” Neither Queen Elizabeth ever wore the piece publicly, which had led many to believe it was no longer part of the royal collection.
The kokoshnik style, inspired by traditional Russian court headdresses, first gained popularity in the early 19th century. This particular example embodies the sleek elegance of 1920s Art Deco design, blending imperial grandeur with modern sophistication.
Princess Beatrice’s Wedding Tiara: Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara
When Princess Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a quiet, pandemic-era ceremony in 2020, she paid heartfelt tribute to her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, in several deeply meaningful ways.
In a touching nod to Her Majesty, Beatrice wore a vintage Norman Hartnell gown that the Queen had originally donned for the State Opening of Parliament in April 1966. The gown was slightly altered for a more modern silhouette, but its timeless elegance remained intact. She completed the look with Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara—the same dazzling wedding tiara worn by Queen Elizabeth on her own wedding day in 1947, and by Princess Anne in 1973.
Taking “something borrowed” to an entirely new level, Princess Beatrice became the third royal bride to wear the beloved Fringe Tiara, reinforcing a sparkling family tradition that spans generations. With every detail of her bridal look, she honored her grandmother’s enduring legacy of grace, style, and royal continuity.
