Today marks the Anniversary of the Death of Edwina, Countess Mountbatten of Burma, who passed away on this day in 1906! The vivacious Heiress who married Prince Philip’s ambitious uncle and lived an uninhibited life before serving with distinction in the Second World War and becoming the last Vicereine of India, Lady Mountbatten had a fascinating life and quite a lovely jewellery collection, which included this spectacular Pearl and Diamond Tiara!
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The spectacular Belle Epoque Tiara composed of pearl buttons inside a scrolled diamond frame, topped with pear-shaped pearls, is of unknown provenance but likely originates around the time of the marriage of Colonel Wilfrid Ashley to Amalia Mary Maud Cassel, the only child of financier Sir Ernest Cassel, in 1901. Over a decade after her mother’s death, when Edwina Ashley married Lord Louis Mountbatten in 1922, she received her mother’s jewels, soon having the Edwardian designs reset into the Mountbatten Tiara and Art Deco Diamond Necklace, but some pieces, like this Tiara must have survived.
Countess Mountbatten notably wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara with her Art Deco Diamond Necklace for the Dominion Day dinner at the Canadian Women’s Club in London, in February 1950.
In 1953, the Pearl and Diamond Tiara was loaned to Countess Mountbatten’s younger daughter, Lady Pamela, for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, after she had likely taken the Tiara with her on a Commonwealth Tour the previous year, which was cut short upon the Queen’s Accession to the Throne, when Lady Pamela recounts how when embracing the Princess, she realised that she was now Queen, and fell into a curtsey to her new sovereign.
India asked what a lady-in-waiting would do if she did not have a tiara to wear to official events. “You borrow from your family.” And if your family don’t have a tiara? Well, they wouldn’t be in the business of supplying ladies-in-waiting. “That kind of family are not,” said Lady Pamela, firmly
After the Coronation, Countess Mountbatten wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara with her Emerald Necklace for a Coronation Gala Performance of ‘Gloriana’ at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.
Lady Pamela was again chosen as the Queen’s Lady-in-Waiting for the post-Coronation Commonwealth Tour of 1953-4, which spanned six months and covered 44,000 miles. Lady Pamela accompanied the Queen and Duke on official engagements, notably wearing the Pearl and Diamond Tiara on countless official engagements, including when she attended the Queen at the State Openings of Parliament in New Zealand, Australia, and Ceylon, but found the experience tiring, especially:
“donning evening dress and tiara at 10 in the morning.”
Lady Pamela was notably pictured wearing the Pearl and Diamond Tiara when the Queen opened Parliament in Wellington in New Zealand, where she can be seen in numerous shots.
In Sydney, Lady Pamela wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara for the Lord Mayor’s Ball at the Sydney Town Hall, recalling:
In fact so much so that at the Lord Mayor’s Ball I was asked to dance, and when I returned to the dais, instead of pushing and shoving my way back, I asked a dignified-looking gentleman if he minded if I passed in front of him. Glaring at me in fury he said, “I most certainly would, young lady. You haven’t a hope in hell of queue barging here.”
A few days later, Lady Pamela wore the Tiara again for the Opening of the Australian Parliament at Parliament House in Canberra, when she was immortalised in a painting as well.
In Tasmania, Lady Pamela can be spotted wearing the Pearl and Diamond Tiara for the State Ball at the City Hall in Hobart.
Then it was on to Melbourne, where Lady Pamela wore the Tiara to join the Queen as she opened the Second Session of the 39th Parliament of Victoria in the Legislative Council Chamber at Parliament House, which was followed by a Reception in the Library.
Lady Pamela, again wearing the Pearl and Diamond Tiara along with her Diamond Necklace, was also seen helping the Queen at the Ball hosted by the Lord Mayor of Melbourne and the Lady Mayoress at the Melbourne Exhibition Building.
In Brisbane, Lady Pamela not only joined the Queen for a Procession, but also wore the Tiara for a Civil Ball hosted by the Lord Mayor at the Brisbane City Hall, as well as a Ball held by the Governor of Queensland.
Lady Pamela also wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara to join the Queen as she opened the Parliament of South Australia at Parliament House in Adelaide.
Next, Lady Pamela donned the Tiara as the Queen opened the third session of the Second Parliament of Ceylon at the Independence Hall in Colombo, as well as for a Banquet hosted by the Governor General.
A few weeks later, Lady Pamela was pictured wearing the Pearl and Diamond Tiara at the Governor’s Ball in Valetta during a stop in Malta.
The Maltese nobility were in their element at the state ball, where they danced their famous maltija in powdered wigs and eighteenth-century costumes. It was so windy that the queen and I were nearly blown off the flight deck of the aircraft carrier Eagle, and the archbishop got so cold during the final brilliant firework display that my mother had to wrap her striped silk stole around him.”
The following year, Countess Mountbatten wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara with her Diamond Floral Necklace for a Banquet at Royal Naval College in Greenwich in honour of King Gustaf VI Adolf and Queen Louise of Sweden, the sister of Lord Mountbatten, in 1955.
Lady Pamela last wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara when she married interior designer David Hicks in the midst of a snowstorm at Romsey Abbey in 1960.
Countess Mountbatten passed away just a few weeks later, as the couple returned from their honeymoon, and since Lady Pamela inherited the Mountbatten Tiara and Art Deco Diamond Necklace, which she primarily wore in the 1960s and 1970s, the Pearl and Diamond Tiara remained unworn.
However, Edwina Hicks, the eldest of the three Hicks children, wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara at her Wedding to Jeremy Brudenell in 1984, which was the last public appearance of the Tiara, which was not worn when her younger daughter, India Hicks, got married in 2021.
Since the Pearl and Diamond Tiara has not been seen in the years since, it may have been discreetly sold, unlike the public sales of the Mountbatten Tiara, Art Deco Diamond Necklace, and Emerald Necklace. However, the Tiara could also have been among the jewels which Lady Pamela had forgotten about in a bank vault, as recounted by her daughter, India Hicks:
We were crisscrossing London in search of my mother’s jewels. She has not been robbed, it was just that she could not remember exactly in which bank they had been left. We went to the first bank. When they offered us cappuccinos and custard creams, I thought something was up. They came back apologetic, “So sorry Lady Pamela, but we don’t seem be holding anything more than this box.” We opened the box. It was a strange ornate headdress. “When on earth do you wear THAT?” I asked. Apparently, it was for when you did not want to wear your tiara. Tiara’s are heavy, require hairdressers and lots of insurance. Once traveling from England to Sweden for a grand ball, my mother wore her tiara under a huge hat – in order to make certain she did not lose it.
Tiaras also require you to be married in order to wear them. I will never get to wear my mother’s Tiara because I remain a sinful unmarried woman, but the Tiara got sold a few years ago, anyway, so that is the end of that.
By the third bank, we were hopeful. “I clearly remember having a safety deposit box here,” my mother said, despite the bank having changed. Quite a bit. There was no longer a doorman in a top hat greeting valued-longstanding customers.
Instead, there was a young chap from Poland who kept asking my mother for her online banking details to get into the system. The system could tell him if there was anything downstairs in their Batcave that might belong to my mother. The system was upset when we could not give any security codes or passes or online details. The more the system became upset, the more my mother remembered the case being in this bank, the more I asked to see the manager.
The young chap from Poland sensed trouble brewing. He went to get the manager. She was also from Poland and also very young. We spent quite a bit of time with the manager trying to convince her to get someone into the Batcave, to look for a handmade leather jewellery case with the initials EM for Edwina Mountbatten engraved on the front, with a small French lock by the handle. “The key to which I have here,” said my mother proudly, producing a small brass key. No online details, but a small brass key.
“Wait here,“ she said. There were no cappuccinos in this bank, but sometime later, triumphantly returning from the Batcave, came the manager with my grandmother’s jewellery case in hand.
Of course, Edwina Mountbatten having travelled the world extensively, had amassed quite a collection of jewellery. I had underestimated the size of the case, the fact that it was raining, my mother’s wheel chair, the revolving door, and London foot traffic. Getting her to the far corner of Iceland was easier than this exit.
Once home, there was excitement as the time came to open the case. The small key was produced again and fitted into the lock and turned…and turned and turned. No amount of effort could get the key to open the case. Eric was called. Eric arrived from the garden with a dramatically sized drill in his hand. “Stand back Lady Pamela,” he said gruffly, as the drill forced its way into the poor case.
The lid opened and velvet cushions were removed to reveal staggering sparking gems.
“Your grandmother certainly knew how to outshine everyone,” said my mother.
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