Happy Birthday to Countess Bettina Bernadotte, who turns 50 today! The illustrious Director of the Mainau Estate on Lake Constance and President of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, Countess Bettina has close ties to the Swedish Royal Family, and has often been seen wearing the Bernadotte Swag Tiara!

The oldest daughter of Countess Sonja and Count Lennart Bernadotte, Countess Bettina’s father was born Prince Lennart of Sweden, Duke of Småland, the son of Prince Vilhelm, Duke of Södermanland and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, but lost his titles and succession rights upon his first marriage in 1932, 20 years before he was made Count of Wisborg in Luxembourg, settling on the Island of Mainau, inherited from the Baden Royal Family. The eldest of five children (with four older half siblings), Countess Bettina did a degree in Business Administration in Tourism at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University in Ravensburg and worked as a independent corporate consultant for companies in the tourism industry before assuming the leadership of Mainau GmbH, a private enterprise to manage the island for the benefit of the Lennart Bernadotte-Stiftung, in 2007. Countess Bettina is president of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings and member of the Board of the Foundation Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, and is thus a regular presence at the annual Nobel Prize Ceremony. In 2004, Countess Bettina married  and they have three children.We wish her a very happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns!

Composed of Diamond Swags topped by multi-coloured gemstones, this Tiara is of unknown provenance, but was supposedly a gift from  Prince Vilhelm, Duke of Södermanland to morganatic daughter-in-law, Countess Karin Bernadotte, around the time of her Silver Wedding Anniversary in 1957. Countess Karin Bernadotte had initially worn a faux Tiara, but had there not been a Russian Revolution, she would have inherited the magnificent jewels of her mother-in-law, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, which included Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna’s Emerald Tiara.

Countess Karin was pictured wearing the Swag Tiara on numerous occasions through the 1950s and the 1960s, but was not seen in public after her divorce from Count Lennart Bernadotte in 1971.

Count Lennart’s second wife, Countess Sonja, was only seen wearing another Tiara, created from cufflinks belonging to King Gustav V of Sweden, which we will feature in a few weeks.

However, the Bernadotte Swag Tiara seems to have retained in Count Lennart’s possession, since it began to be worn by Countess Bettina Bernadotte, who wore it for the Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden in 2010.

Countess Bettina intercepts the Swag Tiara with the Cufflink Tiara, and, as the President of the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, has worn the Bernadotte Swag Tiara at the Nobel Prize Ceremonies in 2015 and 2016 as well as for the King’s Dinner for Nobel Laureates in 2017 and the King’s Dinner for Nobel Laureates in 2018

Countess Bettina Bernadotte also wore the Bernadotte Swag Tiara for the King’s Dinner for Nobel Laureates in 2019 and the King’s Dinner for Nobel Laureates in 2022.

More recently, Countess Bettina Bernadotte wore the Bernadotte Swag Tiara at the King’s Dinner for Nobel Laureates in 2023 and there is no doubt it will continue to be worn for years to come!

The Braganza Tiara