The Crown Princess of Sweden's Wedding: HRH The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
You might have thought that the biggest sparkler at the royal wedding today was Queen Silvia's Braganza Tiara, but you'd be wrong -- that award goes to the Luxembourg Empire Tiara, worn by Grand Duchess Maria Teresa!
MT's only had this tiara in her repetoire since the 2005 death of Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, and she's only worn it a few times since -- probably because it's so over the top. It's probably an early 19th century piece, which would account for some of its extravagance. We know for sure that it's the tiara that Grand Duchess Charlotte (grandmother of MT's husband, Grand Duke Henri) wore on the day she married Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma in 1919.
The provenance of this sparkler is a little uncertain -- some think it came to Luxembourg with the first wife of GD Charlotte's grandfather Adolph, GD Elizaveta Mikhailovna of Russia, who died giving birth to her only child and surely left Russian jewelry behind. Others think it might have been given to Charlotte by her aunt, Grand Duchess Hilda of Baden. Either way, it's definitely a statement, historical piece of jewelry.
And -- I don't know how much you'll all agree with me here, feel free to pipe up if you don't -- it belongs in a museum. It's just too ostentatious for modern wearing! Case in point -- the way it looks with MT's gown from today. Click below to view a full-length photo:
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Prince Albert
In most cases I would agree with you Ella, but I think that Marie Theresa should wear it every day. It gives her that extra few inches she's lacking. I thought she looked about 15 years younger and 20 pounds lighter yesterday.
Her dress is cut to draw attention to her good bits, and covers her not so good bits, and the colour is lovely. The best I have ever seen her look by a mile and then some - I smiled every time I saw her cos she looked amazing!
She looked fab, so maybe she did hire that stylist I've been bitching about for weeks.
however, i think the tiara would look better, well less insanely epic, without the bottom scroll. I don't know, those are fab diamonds and I understand why you'd hate to lose them
An amazing piece, but perhaps too attention grabbing when the bride is meant to be the star.
This piece is way to big and glamorous for a foreign wedding; takes too much attention from the bride. This would be better at a coronation.
I think that she should not wear this at a foreign wedding, as Jake pointed out. It's SO big. Maybe she should wear it when her sons get married, (one of them to Madeleine, BTW)like Silvia did with her big honker.
This tiara never looks good on Maria Teresa. She has a whole arsenal of tiaras that look so much better on her. On her, this tiara just looks like a big, sparkly HAT.
I love the tiara, but I think it was a bit tacky to wear something this ostentatious to someone else's wedding. This would be a better tiara to wear when *she's* supposed to be the lady everyone notices.
I adore this piece and love the Grand Duchess for continuing to wear it but it just does not look good on her. She lacks the hair and posture to pull it off. But I love seeing it so I don't even care. I'm just glad she wears it. Though definitely a tiara best saved for big Lux events or a British coronation.
I think Maria Teresa is beautiful, but I like her better in a smaller tiara. She is petite and this big whopper overwhelms her.
This is not a tiara; This is a bejewelled hat!
I think it was a bit too much to wear on a wedding...
This is not a tiara, Its a crown fit for a coronation!
Blimey oh Reilly. This is enormous. I actually love it, and think it looks fab on her, but it is a bit 'look at me' for someone else's wedding. And she's another one who must have needed the Hedex by the end of the day.
She looks like the butcher's wife from around the corner. Just awful.
Well the tiara is very large, but I think she looks much better than she has lately. However, I would much rather see her two oldest hunky sons than her tiara any day! I wish Guillaume and Felix would wear some kind of interesting hats so they could make the blog!
The tiara does look good on her. A tiny tiara would be lost because, let's face it, she's not a size 3. She's a big heftier (I'm really trying to be diplomatic here!) and a bigger tiara balances out her body.
It IS, however, a bit "look at me" but when else can you wear something that ostentatious other than a Royal Wedding?
Upon further pondering this tiara disaster, I think it would look much better set INTO her hair with maybe a few wisps sticking up around the base... instead of PERCHED on her head like a Burger King crown.
I think she looks lovely with it. The only thing I would have done differently is put some BIG hair behind it. It would not have looked so big. I love jewelry though and there are not many occassions where a tiara is appropriate, so I say WEAR IT. It is a shame that everyone was wearing all those itty bitty bejewled barrets that get lost in your hair. She quietly said HAHAHAHAHa my tiara is bigger than yours
This is a classically Napoleonic tiara. Empress Josephine would have looked lovely in it. These types of tiaras were ment to be worn over the hair and low over the forehead. Just as Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte wore it. It makes Marie Theresa look dumpy and top heavey.