Princess Madeleine of Sweden gave the perfect royal Christmas
look as the festive season got into full swing.
The princess joined her parents, King Carl Gustaf and Queen
Silvia, and her older sister, Crown Princess Victoria, at the Royal
Palace in Stockholm for a gala dinner for this year’s Nobel Prize
winners.
Madeleine, 43, wore a striking evening gown with a black,
sleeveless top and a shimmering full length skirt completely
covered in sequins.
To top it all, she chose one of the most unusual of all royal
tiaras – a
diadem made of cut steel.
The Swedish royals have two diadems made of this highly polished
metal and Madeleine wore the larger of the pair. The sparkle on
both comes from the way the steel is cut and polished, hence the
name of the tiara. It’s believed that this technique was developed
in the late 18th century as a cost cutting measure. It also
produces tiaras that are much lighter to wear.
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The tiara first belonged to Queen Hortense of Holland who was a
granddaughter of the Empress Josephine, first wife of Napoleon. It
ended up with Hortense’s niece, named Josephine after the tragic
Empress. This Josephine would become Queen of Sweden and brought
the tiara with her to her new country. However, it fell out of
royal favour and ended up hidden away in the Swedish royal palace
vaults.
It was Madeleine’s mother, Queen Silvia, who gave it a new lease
of life. On her marriage to King Carl XVI Gustaf, in 1976, she
began going through the royal resources and found several
outstanding pieces of jewellery that had been forgotten. Among them
was the tiara that Madeleine wore with gold sequins to this latest
Nobel gathering.
The Cut Steel tiara is a popular choice among Sweden’s royals
who have a habit of sharing round their tiaras. This diadem, with
its striking shape representing feathers, has become particularly
symbolic of the royal family.
Earlier this year, Queen Silvia chose it for a surprise TV
appearance in which she paid tribute to one of Sweden’s best loved
entertainers, Christer Lindarw, who has worn a replica of the
diadem when doing his celebrated drag tribute to the Swedish
consort.
Princess Madeleine’s decision to match it to a gold sequinned
dress provided the stand out look of a glittering evening and was
in contrast to the matching outfits worn by her mother and
sister.
fair use
Crown Princess Victoria wore a striking bright pink dress with
cape effect and an all diamond tiara with a link to another popular
royal.
Her diadem is known as the Connaught Tiara and it came to Sweden
with Princess Margaret of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen
Victoria who married into the Swedish royal family in 1905. She
became Crown Princess in 1907 when her husband, Gustaf Adolf,
became heir to the throne but died in 1920 while expecting her
sixth child, who did not survive.
The tiara is forever linked with her. It features pretty loops
of diamonds shaped as floral garlands with diamonds hanging inside
them. It’s another popular diadem for pass the parcel as Princess
Madeleine wore it to the Nobel prize ceremony last year.
Queen Silvia’s colour choice for the latest tiara night out
matched that of her eldest daughter. The Swedish queen chose an
unusual dusky pink evening gown with a wrap around effect on the
shoulders which she paired with historic amethysts that have been a
well used pick among her family for decades.
The tiara features huge amethysts surrounded by diamonds and
it’s another piece that has its present place in the royal
jewellery box because of Silvia.
When she became Queen of Sweden, Silvia decided to make these
gems into a tiara. They had previously been a necklace and part of
a set that came to Sweden with the same Queen Josephine who brought
the Steel Cut tiaras with her. The Empress Josephine is also
involved. She is said to have given the amethysts to her
daughter-in-law, Augusta of Leuchtenberg, who passed them to the
daughter she named in honour of Josephine.
The pink and purple combination certainly made for a colourful
appearance but it was Princess Madeleine, in gold, who pulled the
real festive look at this royal event.
