Tradition is tradition and at the latest royal wedding, the bride has worn a ”something borrowed” with a poignant history as well as a link to the groom’s first wife.
Chrysi Vardinoyannis married Prince Nikolaus of Greece and Denmark in a private ceremony on February 7 in Athens, surrounded by family and friends. And as well as a dress designed by Christos Costarellos, the bride wore a tiara – the same one as Nikolaus’ first wife, Tatiana Blahnik, used for their wedding in 2010.
The reason – royal tradition. The tiara in question belongs to Nikolaus’ mother, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. The queen had previously lent the tiara to the brides of her three sons. When Nikolaus remarried, she followed the same pattern which is how both women ended up sharing the same sparkle on their wedding days.
The tiara in question is hugely sentimental to Queen Anne-Marie. It also links her to several generations of queens so it packs plenty of royal history.
The gem began life as a corsage made of diamonds and pearls that belonged to Victoria of Baden who ended up as Queen of Sweden through her marriage to Gustav V. Among her granddaughters was a princess called Ingrid who married the future King of Denmark and took a selection of jewels, including the corsage, with her to Copenhagen. Queen Ingrid of Denmark had three daughters including Anne-Marie. On her 18th birthday, Ingrid did what she had done for her other girls and presented Anne-Marie with a tiara of her own. She had had it made from the corsage and it’s been a treasured part of Anne-Marie’s collection ever since.
Anne-Marie married King Constantine II of Greece soon after turning 18 and so the tiara quickly left Copenhagen for Athens. The last queen of Greece held on to the gem despite exile when the monarchy fell. She first lent it to Marie-Chantal Miller when she married Pavlos, Anne-Marie and Constantine’s eldest son, in London in 1995. In 2021, it was worn by Nina Flohr for her Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony with Anne-Marie’s youngest son, Philippos. And in 2010, it had been used by Tatiana Blahnik when she wed Nikolaus.
Despite its links to a previous wedding, tradition overcame any reservations and Chrysi Vardinoyannis wore the tiara for her own marriage to Nikolaus which took place at the Holy Church of St. Nicholas Ragavas in Athens with Anne-Marie in attendance. The new Princess Chrysi wore the tiara for her official marriage portraits.
The tiara itself is a traditional floral style piece with the pattern worked in diamonds and studded with pearls. There is a single pearl that can sit on the top of the tiara which is sometimes used as well.
It’s now returned to the jewellery vault of Anne-Marie, ready for its next family appearance.
