The Crown Prince of Norway's Wedding: HRH Princess Laurentien

Laurentien was just a newlywed princess at Haakon and Mette-Marit's wedding: she and Prince Constantijn, Queen Beatrix's youngest son, married in May of the same year. But she's looking quite regal here, wearing the Dutch Ears of Wheat Tiara.
The Ears of Wheat is a tiara with some pretty serious history behind it. It was originally owned in the eighteenth century by Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia, who became Queen of Württemberg when she married William I of Württemberg. Catherine was apparently quite the royal dish -- William divorced his wife so that he could marry her, and when she was young, Napoleon Bonaparte also apparently tried to woo her.
Catherine left the Ears to her daughter, Sophie, who married the Prince of Orange and later became Queen of The Netherlands. The tiara has been in the family ever since, and is worn most frequently today by Princess Margriet (all four of her daughters-in-law wore it to their weddings, too).
The tiara is actually made up of eight individual ears of wheat that can be worn in various combinations. It looks to me here like Laurentien's wearing the full eight. It's also an especially nice tiara to wear to a wedding, because ears of wheat represent fertility. No wonder Haakon and Mette-Marit were able to produce two adorable Norwegian royal children! ![]()


What an unusual piece, but I think I really like it. It's almost like a wreath.
I don't really like it on Laurentien, but this close up photo shows that the tiara itself is actually quite pretty.
http://www.royaldutchjewels.nl/CUPa.jpg
I don't really love this tiara, I would like it more if it were taller in the middle than at the edge, I cannot help finding it a bit imbalanced. Not keen on her outfit either, a bit too fussy... but that is her normal way isn't it!
I agree maggie it looks quite wreath like. The close up does show it to be quite lovely but it just doesn't look right here.