Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
Happy Birthday to Queen Jetsun Pema of Bhutan, who turns 35 today! The world’s Queen Consort of the Himalayan Kingdom which is the happiest country in Asia, we’ve seen Queen Jetsun Pema in a variety of unique jewels, including this Gold and Emerald Bandeau.
Despite wearing two tiaras during her wedding celebrations in 2011, Queen Jetsun Pema chose to wear the smaller Turquoise Bandeau Tiara for Emperor Naruhito’s Enthronement Banquet in 2019, and has generally preferred more delicate jewellery.
Composed of emerald and diamond medallions set within a gold and diamond bandeau, along with a pair of coordinating emerald and diamond earrings, the exact origins of these jewels is unknown but they do appear to be in the traditional Bhutanese style.
Queen Jetsun Pema most notably wore the Reception at Buckingham Palace for Foreign Royalty and Heads of State on the eve of the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla.
While Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg wore the Emerald Peacock Tiara as a Necklace, Queen Jetsun Pema was the only royal lady to wear a head ornament at the Coronation Reception, perhaps to make up for the disappointment felt not only by Royal Watchers but also many of the Royal Guests in attendance at the Coronation over the lack of Tiaras.
Sadly, we did not get a chance to ask Queen Jetsun Pema for her exact reasoning when we saw her later that evening, by then she had changed, and missed her by a few hours when we visited the Malaysian High Commission later that week.
Just a few weeks later, Queen Jetsun Pema wore a delicate row of diamonds in her hair for the Wedding Banquet of Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan in 2023.