We've got another heart-shaped wedding hat here from Camilla 2.0, but this one makes me want to bust out into a chorus of "Rule Britannia" for some odd reason.  It's reading so very Admiral Lord Nelson to me.

But: how much better does she look with a more natural hairstyle and makeup?  Really nice.  Two thumbs up, Lady Castro!

PHOTO CREDITS: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Okay, I know I joke a lot about Camilla Castro's hat choices, and this dress is a little too Beetlejuice for my tastes -- but holy moly, the TIARA!  This is what we'll call the Dragonfly Tiara, a hundred-year-old sparkler made of diamonds and rubies that features dragonflies mounted en tremblant so that they move when the wearer moves.

It's not a Bourbon-Two Sicilies heirloom; it seems likely that it was bought at auction instead.  Why, why, why don't people buy me fabulous diamond dragonfly tiaras at auction, hm???

PHOTO CREDITS: Belga

So clearly Camilla 2.0 isn't just trying to be Barbie anymore -- she's trying to be the Kate Middleton Barbie!

I mean, I approve of Kate as a hattery role model, but really.  Reach for the stars, Camilla!

PHOTO CREDITS: PPE, BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

It's been a while since we've seen Charles and Camilla, Part Deux: the Italian Edition, hasn't it?  Charles was a godfather at today's christening, so the whole Castro fam came along to celebrate.

Camilla really is a royal Barbie doll come to life, isn't she?  Love the hat, even if the entire outfit's a little overwhelming.

PHOTO CREDITS: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

HRH The Crown Prince of Denmark and Miss Mary Donaldson
May 14, 2004

Our last major tiara wedding before Crown Princess Vic's big day was the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Tasmanian-born Mary Elizabeth Donaldson.  The two met during the Sydney Olympics in 2000, fell in love, and got hitched four years later.

Frederik and his Aussie bride have two children: Prince Christian (who will one day be king) and Princess Isabella, the first Danish princess born in a generation.  Mary has transformed from an everyday girl to a glamorous crown princess, and this wedding was definitely high on the glamour factor as well: we've got more than thirty tiaras on parade here, many of which are brand-new to the blog.  A good trial run for Victoria's wedding, no doubt!  Enjoy!

Wedding Hatters

Royal watchers everywhere sucked in a big gasp of surprise when Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies showed up at the Danish royal wedding wearing the Ancona Tiara, this massive diamond-and-pearl sparkler.  Why the surprise?  This is an heirloom tiara -- but not an heirloom from this branch of Bourbon-Two Sicilies royals.

The Ancona was made in 1817 for Princess Maria Anna of Saxony on the occasion of her wedding to the Grand Duke of Tuscany.  Maria Anna did not live long, and after her death, the tiara was inherited by Archduchess Maria Isabella of Austria, the Grand Duke's daughter by his second wife, Maria Antoinetta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.  In good, old-fashioned European royal tradition, Maria Isabella married her uncle.  (Ew.)  The uncle was a prince of Bourbon-Two Sicilies -- which, for typing purposes, I'm going to call B2S from here on out -- and that's where the tiara came into the B2S family.

By the 1860s, Italy was unifying and the B2S king, Ferdinand Pius, was booted out.  His daughter, Lucia, inherited the sparkler; she married the Duke of Ancona (hence the tiara's name).  Somewhere along the line, Lucia's sister-in-law, the Duchess of Pistoia was also photographed in the tiara.  But Lucia's descendents sold off the tiara in the 1990s, and royal watchers thought it had met the fate of most royal tiaras sold at auction -- to never be seen at a royal event again. 

But the joke was on the royal watching world, because the Ancona was purchased by the Crociani family -- who happen to be the parents of Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, who is wearing the tiara above!  So, the Crociani purchase sort of reunited the tiara with its historical owners, though we have to look pretty far back to connect the Ancona line with the Castro line of B2Ses.  (Camilla is married to the Castro claimant.)  Camilla's husband, Prince Charles, is descended from Ferdinand Pius's brother, Prince Ranieri -- uncle of the Duchess of Ancona.

Whew.  Historical tiaras really wear me out!

Here's a brand-new royal for the blog -- and a brand-new country of royals, too!  The tiara-topped lady here is the former Miss Camilla Crociani, who, in 1998, married Prince Charles, Duke of Castro (who used the title "Duke of Calabria" until his father's death in 2008). 

Charles is one of the two men who claim the headship of the house of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a family of Italian nobles who once ruled over the kingdoms of Naples and Sicily.  (The other claimant is Infante Carlos, who confusingly also uses the title of Duke of Calabria.)  The issue of who the rightful head of the royal house is an extensive, tangled web -- and I'll be the first to admit that a) I don't know enough about it to explain it and b) I have no idea which heir is the real heir.  But, since they don't actually rule any territories these days, it's luckily not a super-pressing matter.  (These disputes can go on for years.)

But, anyway, back to Camilla and her tiara.  I think this event was one of the first times Camilla ever wore a tiara, and she chose a popular type for her initial outing: a diamond floral design.  I don't know if this tiara is an heirloom (probably not) or a new purchase (more probable), but either way, I like it!  Let's call it the Bourbon-Two Sicilies Floral Tiara, shall we?