Princess Marina’s Pearl Bandeau Tiara

Today marks the Anniversary of the Birth of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who was born on this day in 1906! The glamorous Greek Princess who married the dashing British Prince, was widowed during the Second World War, and continued to be a busy working British Royal until her untimely death in 1968, Princess Marina possessed an exceptional Jewellery Collection, that included this Pearl Bandeau Tiara!

Now comprising a necklace of fifteen diamond ‘snakes’ guarding their pearl ‘eggs’, with a pair of earrings made out of two more elements, the original Necklace/Bandeau was, according to the famed Geoffrey Munn, a wedding gift from the legendary Grand Duchess Vladimir to her daughter, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, when she married Prince Nicholas of Greece in 1902, though it could have also been given a few years later.

Princess Nicholas was most notably depicted wearing the Pearl Necklace as a Bandeau Tiara for a series of Official Portraits taken in the 1910s.

When Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark married Prince George, the Duke of Kent in 1934, she received the Pearl Bandeau Tiara as a wedding gift from her mother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, along with a spectacular Diamond Bow Brooch.

Princess Marina began wearing her Pearl Bandeau Tiara soon after her marriage, with it appearing for a Gala Performance in 1935, a Presentation Court at Buckingham Palace in 1937, the Royal Variety Performance in 1937, a Ball in Bath in 1938, and the Royal Variety Performance in 1938 among others.

Following the Second World War, Princess Marina wore the Pearl Bandeau Tiara on numerous occasions, including the Danish State Visit to Britain in 1951, a Banquet in Athens in 1952, a Coronation Ball at the Royal Albert Hall in 1953, the Wedding Ball of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria and her niece, Countess Helen zu Toerring-Jettenbach, in 1956, the Iraqi State Visit to Britain in 1956, and the Independence of Ghana in 1957.

By the 1960s, Princess Marina began loaning her Pearl Bandeau Tiara to her daughter, Princess Alexandra of Kent, who wore it for a few portraits, the French State Visit to Britain in 1960, the Nigerian Independence Celebrations in 1960, for a Banquet at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo during her Official Visit to Japan in 1961, King Paul’s 60th Birthday Banquet at the Royal Palace of Athens in 1961, a Banquet during the Greek State Visit to Britain in 1963, and a few Gala Performances.

Princess Marina continued to wear her Pearl Bandeau Tiara through the 1960s, with appearances at Queen Juliana’s Silver Anniversary in 1962, the Independence of the Kingdom of Lesotho in 1966, and the State Opening of Parliament in 1967, which was one of her final appearances in full gala before her passing.

While Princess Marina left the Cambridge Sapphire Parure to her elder son, the Duke fo Kent, and the Kent Festoon Tiara and Kent City of London Fringe Tiara to her younger son, Prince Michael, the Pearl Bandeau Tiara was one of the few jewels inherited by Princess Alexandra, who wore the Bandeau a few weeks later on an Official Visit to Sweden.

The following year, Princess Alexandra paired the Pearl Bandeau Tiara with her Jubilee Necklace for a Ball given by Sir Christopher Soames, the British Ambassador to France, and Lady Soames, the daughter of Sir Winston Churchill, at the Hôtel de Charost, Residence of the British Ambassador in Paris.

Eventually, at some point in the 1970s, the Pearl Bandeau Tiara was sold off by Princess Alexandra, and more recently appeared at Auction as a Necklace, with two elements that had been and into earrings.