Stortinget Gala: HM The Queen of Norway
Another Tiara Alert, and another new queen for the blog! Say hello to Queen Sonja of Norway, everyone!
On a superficial note, before considering the tiara, doesn't Sonja have great royal hair? I love that she has a modern and stylish short hair cut that still looks great with a big blinging tiara sitting on top of it!
The tiara itself is Queen Josephine's Diamond Tiara. The Queen Josephine in question is Josephine of Sweden and Norway, who was herself a granddaughter of Empress Josephine, wife of Napoléon Bonaparte. Josephine was the wife of King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway, and was Queen Consort from 1844 to 1859.
Josephine's granddaughter, Princess Louise of Sweden (later Queen Louise of Denmark), inherited the tiara. She and her daughters wore the tiara at various times -- Princess Thyra of Denmark, for example, was photographed wearing it at the wedding ball for her brother, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, in 1935. Louise's daughter, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, inherited the tiara, and then gave it to her niece, Princess Märtha of Sweden. Through Märtha, the tiara came back to Norway, as she had married Crown Prince Olav of Norway in 1929. Märtha was the mother of the current king of Norway, Harald.
It's a lovely historical tiara as well -- it's just large and intricate enough to seem truly royal without overwhelming the wearer. Very nice!
Tags: tiara
The Queen od the UK's hair is getting a little old. (That's the understatement of the year. She's had that hair FOR EVER). I think she should get it cut like Sonja's!
I may be mistaken, but I think the earrings shown in this photo came to Norway via Queen Alexandra. She willed (gifted?) these to her daughter Maud who married Prince Carl of Denmark who became Haakon VII.
That's fascinating, Matthew -- and those earrings are stunners, aren't they? I love hearing all of the stories about how these precious pieces have bounced about from one royal house to another. Very cool!
This diamond tiara obviously belonged to Désirée before.
It can be seen on historic pictures of her coronation day!
So this is the tiara she wore for her coronation! And behind it she also wore an impressive wheat tiara! So she put on some bling for this day.
So this seems to be a historically significant piece,the tiara the first Bernadotte Queen of Sweden wore for her coronation, and I wonder what the true story is of how it came to Norway.