When Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark will marry Mathew Kumar in Athens tomorrow, she will continue a sixty-year tradition began by her mother of wearing the heirloom Khedive of Egypt Tiara, a Gift to the Swedish Crown Princess, which went to her only daughter, the Danish Queen, and has been worn as a Bridal Tiara by all her female descendants!
When Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden married Princess Margaret of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in 1905, after meeting on a trip to Egypt, the future Swedish Crown Princess received this Cartier Wreath Scroll Tiara as a wedding gift from the Khedive of Egypt, a fitting gift to honour the beginning of their romance.
Crown Princess Margareta wore the Khedive of Egypt Tiara often during her few short years as a member of the Swedish Royal Family, even fixing it as a bodice ornament in one of her most iconic portraits.
The Tiara was also worn in a series of other portraits, and even at the wedding of her only brother to the Duchess of Fife in 1913, with the Connaught Tiara as a necklace.
When Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden tragically passed away in 1920, she left the Khedive of Egypt Tiara to her only daughter, the future Queen Ingrid of Denmark, while the elder son, Prince Gustaf Adolf, inherited the Connaught Diamond Tiara and Aquamarine Kokoshnik Tiara, Prince Bertil inherited the Boucheron Diamond Laurel Wreath Necklace, Prince Sigvard received the King Edward VII Ruby Tiara, and Prince Carl Johan a Diamond Necklace.
Princess Ingrid notably wore the Khedive of Egypt Tiara in her 21st Birthday Portraits in 1931 as well as for numerous occasions in the early 1930s, including the Wedding Gala of Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha in Coburg in 1932, and a Wedding Gala in Stockholm as well as numerous Balls and Banquets, including the the Wedding of the Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Margareta Fouché d’Otrante and her own Wedding Gala in 1935.
As Queen of Denmark, Queen Ingrid preferred to wear the Danish Ruby Parure, Pearl Poiré Tiara or Danish Emerald Parure instead of the Khedive of Egypt Tiara, which was notably worn for the Danish State Visit to Britain in 1951, a Banquet at the Danish Embassy in Paris in 1951, and the Danish State Visit to Ethiopia in 1970 among only a handful of royal occasions.
However, Queen Ingrid frequently loaned the Khedive of Egypt Tiara to her cousin, Princess Margaretha of Sweden and Denmark, who wore it for the British State Visit to Denmark in 1957, the Iranian State Visit to Denmark in 1959 and the Wedding Ball of King Baudouin and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón at the Royal Palace of Brussles in 1960 among numerous occasions.
The Khedive of Egypt Tiara was also by Queen Ingrid loaned it to her niece, Princess Margaretha of Sweden for the future Queen Margrethe’s (both namesakes of their late grandmother) 18th Birthday Banquet in 1958.
In 1964, Princess Anne-Marie was the first of Queen Ingrid’s daughters to wear the Khedive of Egypt Tiara for her Wedding of King Constantine II of Greece, followed by Crown Princess Margrethe in 1967, and Wedding of Princess Benedikte in 1968, along with their grandmother’s Irish lace veil. Princess Benedikte discussed this tradition in the ‘De Kongelige Juveler’ Documentary:
When my youngest sister, Anne-Marie, married, I think my mother thought it would be suitable to wear as a bride because it’s very pretty, light – it’s not a heavy one – and she was very young. It was suitable. And then, of course, because she had worn it, my eldest sister and I also were allowed to wear it. And of course it was a wonderful thing to wear one’s grandmother’s tiara with the history and all. It was lovely, very lovely.”
Queen Ingrid also continued the family tradition with her granddaughters, first loaning the Khedive of Egypt Tiara to Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg for her first wedding to Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth in 1998, then to Princess Alexia of Greece in 1999, and the Tiara was also worn by Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg in 2011.
The Khedive of Egypt Tiara remained in Queen Ingrid’s possession for eighty years, throughout her years as Princess, Crown Princess, Queen, and Queen Mother, and was one the two Tiaras, the other being the Danish Ruby Parure, worn by Queen Ingrid in her widowhood, with appearances during the Norwegian State Visit to Denmark in 1974, the British State Visit to Denmark in 1979, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway’s Confirmation in 1988, the Norwegian State Visit to Denmark in 1991, Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik’s 25th Wedding Anniversary in 1992, Prince Joachim’s Wedding Ball in 1995, and Queen Margrethe’s 60th Birthday in 2000, just a few months before her death in 2000.
After Queen Ingrid’s death, the Khedive of Egypt Tiara was inherited by her youngest daughter, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece, who had also borrowed it for her grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden’s 90th Birthday in 1972.
Over the past 60 years, Queen Anne Marie has primarily worn her Greek Emerald Parure and Greek Ruby Parure for the most important occasions, but has worn the Khedive of Egypt Tiara quite often in recent years, with notable debut at the Wedding of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway in 2001.
A few years later, Queen Anne Marie wore the Khedive of Egypt Tiara for the Wedding Gala of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in 2004.
The Khedive of Egypt Tiara was also worn by Queen Anne Marie for the Wedding of Prince Joachim of Denmark in 2008, and after being put on a new base, made an appearance at Queen Margrethe’s Ruby Jubilee Gala and the Wedding Gala of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy, as well as for Crown Prince Frederik’s 50th Birthday Gala.
In 2022, we saw the Khedive of Egypt Tiara worn again by Princess Alexia for Queen Margrethe’s Golden Jubilee Gala in Copenhagen.
Since being widowed last year, Queen Anne Marie has only worn the Khedive of Egypt Tiara, which was worn with Queen Alexandrine’s Diamond Sautoir Necklace and Queen Ingrid’s Diamond Earrings for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s Golden Jubilee Banquet in Stockholm.
The following month, Queen Anne Marie wore the Khedive of Egypt Tiara again, this time with her her Sapphire Necklace, Queen Ingrid’s Diamond Earrings and her Diamond Swan Brooch, this time for Prince Christian of Denmark’s 18th Birthday Banquet in Copenhagen.
We had originally published an article on the Khedive of Egypt Tiara to coincide with the originally scheduled Wedding of Princess Theodora of Greece in May 2020, but we will finally see her wear the family heirloom for her Wedding to Mathew Kumar at the Metropolitan Cathedral in Athens, almost exactly 60 years after her mother began that tradition at her Wedding to King Constantine II of Greece.
