Greek Pre-Wedding Ball: HM The Queen of The Netherlands

No Cake at this pre-wedding ball (well, maybe there was cake, but there was no Cake -- you all get what I'm saying), but at least we've got her parents!  This is the lovely Queen Juliana and her hubs, Prince Bernhard.  The Dutch have a tradition of abdicating the throne when they get older; Juliana took over in 1948 when her mother, Wilhelmina, abdicated, and Beatrix became queen when Juliana abdicated in 1980.  Quite nice that they get a bit of quiet time in their retirement, really.

Juliana's wearing one of the treasures of the Dutch royal jewel collection: the Stuart Diamond Tiara, which includes (as you might expect) the famous Stuart diamond, a pear-shaped stone that was originally bought for Mary II of the UK by her husband, William III (who was born the Prince of Orange in the Netherlands).  Mary was a member of the House of Stuart, hence the diamond's name; but when she died, the diamond was brought back to the Netherlands.

The current tiara setting was made around the turn of the twentieth century for the coronation of Queen Wilhelmina.  She didn't wear it frequently, but Juliana loved the whole set of jewels and wore it very often.  According to the excellent Royal Dutch Jewels site, none of the other royal Dutch women have worn it since Juliana, which is a major shame.  Listen up, Máxima -- grab this one out of the vaults and work your magic!  (The royal Dutch jewels site also has a clearer version of the above picture, plus many more of Juliana et al wearing the tiara.)

Tags:

This entry was posted by Ella on Wednesday, September 16th, 1964 at 1:53 PM and is filed under HM Queen Juliana. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

6 Responses to “Greek Pre-Wedding Ball: HM The Queen of The Netherlands”

  1. maggie says on July 28th, 2010 at 6:18 PM :

    I can't believe that Cake hasn't worn that tiara! She would look amazing! You might even be able to spot it in her hair!

    Juliana looks lovely - the Dutch royals always look like they're having a blast.

  2. JamesB says on July 29th, 2010 at 5:14 AM :

    THis would be perfect for Cake - I cannot see ANYTHING being too ostentatious for her - over the top is her thang!

  3. Ky Person says on July 29th, 2010 at 6:02 AM :

    I gather that our beloved Cake suffers from headaches and I'd be willing to bet that the Stuart diadem weighs a ton. No wonder that she wears Queen Emma's diadem so often - it's pretty light.

    But just once I wish Bea would break out the whole set of Stuart jewels. They'd be spectacular on her - they sure are on Juliana.

    I KNOW that Maxima will rock this piece! She was born to wear tiaras.

  4. Sir Tom says on July 29th, 2010 at 5:25 PM :

    Why on earth hasn't Cake let this beast out of it's velvet lined cage? Her barnet is crying out for this tiara!

  5. Eliza says on July 31st, 2010 at 12:06 PM :

    Holy crow that's one hell of a tiara! I love it! Bea needs to wear this!

    Also that Dutch Royal jewels website is brilliant. It's where I found most of my Swedish tiara guesses for the Dutch contingent.

  6. Mandy says on August 2nd, 2010 at 9:13 PM :

    I wasted far too long looking through the Dutch royal jewels website. It's a stupendous thing.

    I agree with everyone else. I would love to see Cake in this.

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.