The magnificent Rutland Tiara is the centuries-old heirloom of the illustrious Manners Family, the Dukes of Rutland, which will likely be worn by Lady Violet Manners for her Wedding to Viscount Garnock, the Heir of the Earl of Lindsay, at Belvoir Castle tomorrow!
The intricate Diamond Floral Tiara is composed of carnations and fuschias amid diamond leaves in gold, and has been in the Manners Family since the 18th century.
The 7th Duchess of Rutland, was pictured wearing the family tiara in a portrait and in a painting during the 1880s and 1890s, along with another family heirloom, the Diamond Rivière with a Diamond cross pendant.
Incredibly grand, a very high Tiara, with flowers emblematic of marriage, with a big diamond necklace, pendant cross and pearls.
The next Duchess, Violet Manners, was a famous sculptor and a one of the leading members of The Souls, but wasn’t pictured wearing the piece, but, her daughter, the socialite Lady Diana Cooper, was photographed wearing the Family Tiara by Cecil Beaton for Vogue in 1937.
Kathleen, the 9th Duchess of Rutland wore the Family Tiara for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey in 1937, where she was one of the Canopy Bearers for the Queen, along with three other Duchesses, during the Coronation Ceremony.
The 9th Duchess was also pictured wearing the Rutland Tiara for a Gala Performance at Covent Garden during the French State Visit to Britain in 1939.
In her autobiography The Girl with the Widows Peak, the 9th Duchess’ elder daughter; Lady Ursula D’Abo described how she saved the Tiara during the Blitz:
After my narrow escape in the blitz with Duff and Diana at the Dorchester, I rang my mother and said I’d better collect all the family valuables I could from banks and jewellery shops. My Mother had really no idea of what was happening in the capital and said: ‘Don’t be silly, London is the safest place to be!’ It was typical of the lack of communication there was in England at that time. I was desperate to get home and Lord Beaverbrook, whom I knew well, helped arrange some transport. I headed off to Carrington’s in Regent Street to see my lovely old Mr Hughes, who looked after our family jewels, to rescue things and take them back to Belvoir. When I arrived home with the family tiara on my knee my Mother was surprised.”
The then Dowager Duchess was also photographed wearing the Rutland Tiara at a Gala in 1959, possibly another Gala Performance at Covent Garden.
The Rutland Tiara was next worn by Frances, the 10th Duchess of Rutland, daughter of the infamous Margret, Duchess of Argyll, who notably wore it at the coming out Ball of her husbands niece, Lindy Guinness (now Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava), at Belvoir Castle in 1958.
The Rutland Tiara was also worn by the 10th Duchess at the State Opening of Parliament in 1960.
The 10th Duchess also wore the Rutland Tiara for a Dinner at Britwell House, home of Lady Pamela and David Hicks, ahead of a Ball at Luton Hoo, alongside Prince Tomislav and Princess Margarita of Yugoslavia (wearing her Turquoise Tiara), the Earl and Countess of Dalkeith (in the Buccleuch Turquoise Tiara), and Lady Pamela (wearing the Mountbatten Tiara) and David Hicks.
The current Duchess seems to have worn another Diamond Floral Tiara for her wedding to the 11th Duke in 1992, as she recalled when she talked to Carol Woolton.
I don’t know if you can tell if I wore the same Tiara for my wedding. Can you see it roughly…it may have the same shape.
That was ‘a’ Rutland Tiara, there are a few, they are all in a bank, in the vaults in London, and since that day, I haven’t seen the Tiara since.
My mother-in-law recommended that particular Tiara but that could be the Tiara that was worn as a stomacher because they had the ability to be put around their waist or chests.
I was so in awe of everything I was marrying into but I cannot remember all about it except being nervous how I was going to get it fixed into my hair on my wedding day. I had an amazing hairdresser, who was an expert at doing tiaras for grad weddings, who gave me a hairpiece to wear for my wedding.
The last time the Rutland Tiara was publicly seen was for the wedding of Lady Theresa Manners, daughter of the 10th Duke and Duchess, to Dr. John Chipman in 1997.
The Duchess may be wearing the Rutland Tiara sometime soon, possibly for the American Friends of Belvoir Castle Ball in Palm Beach.
It is rather sad they are in the vault. I think it should go and look at them and stroke them from time to time. They probably need looking after
I suppose that aren’t grand balls now that you sort of need to wear. I mean occasionally we have oh well, we have events here where we’re raising money for charities and balls and in that sense.
We have the Belvoir hunt ball here in the castle occasionally, but they don’t wear tiaras now hunt balls, do they? Rather nice if they did really?
Actually, there is one thing I will definitely love to take the tiara with me too, and that is I’ve set up a charitable foundation for Belvoir, which is launching its first American Friends of Belvoir Castle in Palm Beach in 2024, and we’re going to do an enormous ball in the Breakers’ Hotel.
It’s like a palace and it’s right on the front there and they have these fabulous Venetian rooms that sort of you can host about 350 people to 400. And so I’d love to take Tiara and do that job properly.
Now, it is likely that Lady Violet Manners will wear the bigger Rutland Tiara for her Wedding to Viscount Garnock, the Heir of the Earl of Lindsay tomorrow, as the Duchess recalled:
Even now, the excitement that those Tiaras are sitting in that vault, waiting one day to come out again when my daughters get married or some grand occasion that may happen in the future, it is quite an exciting feeling.
Rutland Tiara
Devonshire Diamond Palmette Tiara
Devonshire Diamond Tiara
Devonshire Diamond Rivière
Devonshire Parure
Ruby Clasp
Craven Brooch
Insect Brooches
