Today marks the 125th Anniversary of the Birth of Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein, who was born on this day in 1899! The Hohenlohe-Langenburg Princess who married the Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, Princess Marie Melita possessed this spectacular Diamond Bow Tiara!
A striking Diamond Tiara of twisted Diamond Bows and Ribbons which dates from the 1890s or the early 1900s, this Tiara shares similarities to one created around the same time by Boucheron, and was likely acquired by Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha and Edinburgh for her daughter, Princess Alexandra, but was not among the gifts when she married the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in 1896.
Princess Alexandra was only photographed wearing the Diamond Bow Tiara one, for a series of portraits taken by E. Uhlenhuth in Coburg in the early 1900s, when the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg served as the Regent to Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
When Princess Marie Melita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the eldest daughter of Prince Ernst II and Princess Alexandra, married Hereditary Prince Wilhelm Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg in Coburg in 1916, the bride placed the Diamond Bow Tiara on top of her floral headdress.
In 1933, Hereditary Princess Marie Melita wore the Diamond Bow Tiara for the Wedding of Prince Knud and Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark, a cousin of her husband, at Fredensborg Palace.
The couple became the Duke and Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein in 1934, after the death of her mother’s first cousin, a grandson of Queen Victoria, and the Duchess wore the Bow Tiara at the Wedding of Princess Alexandrine Louise of Denmark, daughter of a Princess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Count Luitpold of Castell-Castell, at Christiansborg Palace in 1937.
Later that year, the Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein wore the Diamond Bow Tiara for the Wedding of Prince Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Feodora of Denmark at Fredensborg Palace in 1937.
At some point in the 1960s, possibly around the time of the Duchess’ death in 1967, the Diamond Bow Tiara was worn by her daughter, Princess Marie Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein, at a Ball where she was pictured with Duke Philipp von Württemberg.
More recently, the Diamond Bow Tiara was worn by Princess Ingeborg of Schleswig-Holstein, sister of the then Prince of Schleswig-Holstein, a the Wedding of Hereditary Prince Bernhard of Baden at Schloss Salem in 2001. There have been no images of any of the recent family brides, but one might imagine that they wore this family heirloom. Lets hope we see it worn again soon!
