Today marks the 150th Anniversary of the Death of Queen Amalia of Greece, who passed away on this day in 1875! The Duchess of Oldenburg who became the Queen of the first Greek King King from 1836 to 1862, and spent the rest of her life in exile in the King’s native Bavaria, we are revisiting Queen Amalia’s magnificent Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara!
Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara | Bavarian Amethyst Parure | Diamond and Pearl Tiara
Commissioned from the Bavarian Court Jeweller Caspar Rieländer by King Ludwig I of Bavaria for his wife, Queen Therese, the tiara features sixteen pearls in diamond arches, hanging from lover’s knot bows, mirrored by sixteen pear-shaped pearls on top, which were accompanied by pearl chandelier earrings and a large pearl necklace.
The Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara is one of the earliest examples of the popular design of Lover’s Knot Tiaras, of which the most famous is the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara which inspired Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara now worn by the Princess of Wales.
Queen Therese wore her Lover’s Knot Tiara for a plethora of portraits in the 1820s and 1830s, with varying degrees of artistic license taken on its representation, along with a variety of pearl jewels, though she wore the earrings of the parure in other portraits.
At some point, Queen Therese gave the Lover’s Knot Tiara to her daughter-in-law, Queen Amalia of Greece, wife of her second son, who wore the piece in a portrait. It remained with her during her exile, and since the Greek Royal Couple had no children, it returned to the main line of the Bavarian Royal Family after her death in 1875.
While it was not pictured on subsequent Bavarian Queens, the Lover’s Knot Tiara was worn in the 1920s, after the fall of the Bavarian Monarchy, by Crown Princess Antonia, wife of the then Pretender Crown Prince Rupprecht and sister of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg, in a series of portraits, along with the rest of Queen Therese’s Pearl Parure.
Crown Princess Antonia wore the Earrings from Queen Therese’s Pearl Parure on numerous occasions, including for the Wedding of her sister, Princess Hilda of Luxembourg, to the Prince of Schwarzenberg in 1930.
The Wittelsbach Family had a difficult time in exile and concentration camps during the Second World War, and the Crown Princess never returned to Germany, but the Lover’s Knot Tiara survived as was worn by Princess Irmingard of Bavaria, daughter of Crown Prince Rupprecht and Crown Princess Antonia at one of her wedding ceremonies to Prince Ludwig of Bavaria in 1950, she wore the Bavarian Sapphire Floral Tiara at the other one.
Today, the Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara and Parure, as well as Queen Therese’s Ruby and Spinal Parure, is on display at Munich’s Residenz, the former Royal Palace that is now a Museum. However, the ladies of the Wittelsbach Family still have a variety of historic Tiaras at their disposal.
Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara | Bavarian Amethyst Parure | Diamond and Pearl Tiara
Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara
Bavarian Ruby Tiara
Diamond and Pearl Tiara
Pearl and Diamond Floral Tiara
Douglas Floral Tiara
Diamond Rosette Tiara
Bavarian Sapphire Floral Tiara
Bavarian Sunburst Tiara
Bavarian Amethyst Parure
Prussian Meander Tiara
Prussian Sapphire Parure
Fabergé Tiara
Prussian Ruby Parure
Sapphire and Pearl Brooch
Hanoverian Floral Tiara
Brunswick Tiara
Hannover Diamond Necklace Tiara
Prussian Diamond Tiara
Queen Charlotte’s Nuptial Crown
Hanoverian Crown Pearls
Sapphire Tiara
Diamond Scroll Tiara
Württemberg Diamond Tiara
Ruby Tiara
Emerald Floral Tiara
Baden Sunburst Tiara
Baden Ruby Laurel Wreath Tiara
Thurn und Taxis Sapphire Tiara 
Emerald Tiara
Emerald and Ruby Choker
Sapphire Bow Brooch
Princess Olga’s Emerald Earrings
Hesse Emerald Brooch
Thurn und Taxis Tiaras
Habsburg Fringe Tiara
Kinsky Tiara
Douglas Floral Tiara
Sapphire Suite
Diamond Earrings
