Today marks the 5th Anniversary of the Death of the late Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, the elder sister of King Juan Carlos I and aunt of King Felipe VI. The late Spanish Infanta possessed a striking jewellery collection, which included centuries-old family heirlooms, like her Sapphire Tiara!
The Tiara is composed of seven loops, that decrease in size, from the centre to the tips. Each one of them is centred by a round sapphire. These are connected at the base with diamond swags topped by eight small sapphires in between the loops. The piece has a naturalistic design inspiration, as the seven main elements try to replicate flower petals.
According to Pablo Milstein, the Sapphire Tiara belonged to the first Countess of Paris, Marie Isabelle of Orléans (née Infanta of Spain), daughter of Infanta Luisa Fernanda and Antoine, Duke of Montpensier. It was inherited by her daughter, Infanta Luisa, and then given to Doña Maria de las Mercedes, the Countess of Barcelona.
The Countess of Barcelona was only photographed wearing the Sapphire Tiara on one occasion, the Debutante Ball of her niece, Princess Sandra Torlonia, at the Palazzo Torlonia in Rome in 1954.
Later that year, the Sapphire Tiara was loaned to the Countess of Barcelona’s half-sister, Infanta Isabel Alfonsa, Countess Zamoyski, on the occasion of Infanta Pilar’s Debutante Ball, in Estoril. The Countess later recalled in her memoirs that:
Isabel my sister, who was too simple, said that she did not like to dress elegantly, and then we, Alfonso and Dolores, my brothers, the Bavieras, Don José Eugenio and Marisol, decided to put her beautiful for this occasion. In the end she was looking great, just like La Chata! She spent the whole night tight-lipped because she said that the taste of the lipstick disgusted her. “
The Tiara was then given by the Countess of Barcelona to her eldest daughter, Infanta Pilar, who started wearing it right after her coming of age, most notably for the Wedding Ball of Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofia, in 1962, and the Wedding Ball of King Constantine II and Princess Anne Marie, in 1964.
A few years later, Infanta Pilar wore her Sapphire Tiara with some pieces from her Diamond Suite for the lavish Gala at Hotel Palácio, in Estoril, on the eve of her Wedding to Spanish aristocrat Luiz Goméz-Acebo y Duque de Estrada in the Mosteiro dos Jerónimos in Lisboa.
Infanta Pilar wore the Sapphire Tiara on many occasions, both in Spain and abroad, for various social events and State Banquets at the Royal Palace of Madrid during her brother’s reign One of the last times the Tiara was worn by the Infanta was in 2006, during a State Banquet given in honour of the Portuguese President Cavaco Silva.
The Sapphire Tiara was also loaned a few times to Infanta Margarita, who wore it for the British State Visit to Spain in 1988 and on the Belgian State Visit to Spain in 1994.
In the 1980s, Infanta Pilar loaned the Sapphire Tiara to the new daughter-in-law of family friends, Don Alfredo Ceño and Baroness Hertha Von Stengel, for her wedding ceremony in Murcia.
While the Infanta’s only daughter wore another family heirloom tiara on her wedding in 1990, the Sapphire Tiara was used as a bridal Tiara for two of the Infanta’s daughters-in-law. Bárbara Cano wore it for her 2002 wedding to Bruno Gómez-Acebo, and Laura Ponte turned it upside down for her 2004 wedding to Beltrán Gómez-Acebo. Since the Infanta’s death in 2020, the whereabouts of this tiara remain unknown.
Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Tiara
Queen Maria Cristina’s Loop Tiara
Queen Isabella II’s Emerald Suite
Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Necklace
Infanta Pilar’s Diamond Suite
Infanta Pilar’s Turquoise Suite
The Jewels of Infanta Pilar of Spain
