Beauchamp Tiara | The Royal Watcher

Today marks the 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Mona, the last Countess Beauchamp, who was born on this day in 1895! The Countess wore this magnificent heirloom Pearl and Diamond Tiara before it was sold to the former Sultanah of Pahang!

Beauchamp Tiara | Empress Eugénie’s Diamond Bow Brooch

Featuring three pear-shaped, hanging pearls in an ornate Belle Epoque Frame, this large Tiara is likely a 19th century Heirloom of the Lygon Family, and was among the Beauchamp Family Heirlooms gifted to Lady Lettice Grosvenor when she married the controversial 7th Earl Beauchamp in 1902. Their family inspired the Marchmain Family in Brideshead Revisited.

Their daughter-in-law, the fabulous Mona, Countess Beauchamp wore the Pearl and Diamond Tiara with Empress Eugénie’s Diamond Bow Brooch at a Gala Performance at Covent Garden during the French State Visit in 1939.

While not pictured, Countess Beauchamp was also described wearing the Beauchamp Tiara at the Battle of Balaclava Centenary Ball in 1954, and the Anglo-Danish Society Dinner in London in 1955.

Earl and Countess Beauchamp, the latter wearing a magnificent pearl and diamond tiara

The Earldom became extinct upon the Earl’s death, but the Countess continued to reside at the Family Seat of Madresfield, giving a rare interview to Selina Hastings.

Her husband died in 1980 and Mona continued at Madresfield alone. Very occasionally the large and lovely garden was opened to the public to raise money for the village church. The house never. ‘All the time all sorts of people write and ask to see the house, and my answer is always the same.’ ‘What is your answer?’ ‘No.’ Once a year at Christmas the local vicar takes a service in the family chapel, where Lady Beauchamp went most days, just for a few minutes, to say her prayers. When in London during the week, where she was driven in a powder-blue Rolls Royce, she would sometimes look into the church at the bottom of Sloane Street to communicate with her creator.

In the old days the Lygon town house was a many-storeyed mansion in Belgrave Square. This is now the Ghanaian High Commission, although its spacious stable block in Halkin Place has been retained and converted into a six-bedroom ‘pied-à-terre’. ‘The original house was much too big, so I asked the Grosvenor Estate if I could convert it into flats. They said I could not, because they did not wish undesirables living there.’ A deep inhalation on the little cigar. ‘So I sold it to the Ghanaian Government.’ Another sweet smile.

While Madresfield went to a niece, the Tiara was soon sold off at Auction not long after the death of the Countess Beauchamp in 1989. Empress Eugénie’s Diamond Bow Brooch was also sold off around this time and is now among the French Crown Jewels on display in the Galerie d’Apollon of the Musée du Louvre.

The Tiara was acquired by Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang for his new wife, Sultanah Kalsom, who was prevented from wearing the Pahang State Tiara.

Sultanah Kalsom wore the Beauchamp Pearl and Diamond Tiara for countless events over the next 28 years, for Birthday Parties, Galas, and Weddings, usually perched low on her forehead.

However, the Tiara has not been worn since the Sultan’s death in 2019, and the now Cik Puan Besar Kalsom usually wears her smaller Diamond Tiara.

Beauchamp Tiara | Empress Eugénie’s Diamond Bow Brooch

Beauchamp Tiara