For the third time only since We started this chucklehead rag, royal hardware and Marie Antoinette intertwine. Today We truly are tiaras and trianon. *strange beam of pride*
Again, the (fictional) Tiara Nomenclature Council disappoints, damn them! So it’s up to your Blog Hostess to make the call. Easy choices would be the “Duchesse d’Angoulême Emerald Tiara”, “Marie Thérèse’s Emerald Tiara” or simply the “Angoulême Emerald Tiara.” I’m definitely between the two first ones. Guess we’ll flip a coin. The Duchesse d’Angoulême Emerald and Diamond Tiara. What a mouthful.
Not only is Marie Thérèse’s Emerald Tiara beyond striking, it’s exceptionally rare as it survived the French Revolution, Restoration and both installations of the Empire for almost nothing did. (Remember Wednesday’s post? Marie Thérèse’s favorite tiara? Adios!) Its survival puts it in the category of Marie Antoinette’s Court Dress now on display at the Toronto museum. (Most of M@’s closet was torn to shreds by the mobs.)

Rear View: From behind one can see the silver used to mount the diamonds and the gold used to set the emeralds.
The tiara actually curves up in the center to fit the contour of the wearer’s head. A tiara with ergonomics. Lavish. Although it was commissioned by the duc d’Angoulême, all of the stones and precious metals belonged to the State. (Basically 100% of the tiara.) Marie Thérèse surrendered this shimmering halo along and the honorific Madame la Dauphine when she left for to live in exile. The duchesse d’Angoulême returned her eponymous emerald tiara to the state in 1830 before departing for England.
The emerald-and-diamond diadem has had an interesting journey since the former Madame Royale handed it in. Until 1848, it collected dust in some vault of the State Treasury, packed away and mostly forgotten, not unlike the Arc of the Covenant in “Raiders.” Thankfully Napoleon returned (where are you gonna hear that again?) and the tiara came out to play once more.

portrait of Empress Eugénie by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Until her marriage she vacillated between the titles “Condesa de Teba” or ” Condesa de Montijo,” ceded from her older sister.
During the Second French Empire, Empress Eugénie, Napoleon III’s empress consort, frequently wore Marie Thérèse’s Emerald Tiara to formal events. Famed as one of the most beautiful women in Europe, Eugénie de Montijo was the second daughter of an Andalusian Grandee of Spain with more titles than you can shake a stick at. With fair skin and red hair, Empress Eugénie felt the green-and-brilliant white of Marie Thérèse’s diadem set off her complexion. It became one of her favorite pieces of jewelry. (Who could say ‘boo’ to a tiara? Seriously.)
Like its first owner, its second also set off to live in exile in Britain, returning the tiara like an overdue library book. Back to the warehouse it went until the Prussian Invasion in 1870. The crown jewels were moved to the northwestern naval base and port in Brest. In 1872, the Emerald and Diamond Tiara was moved to Paris: the vaults in the Ministry of Finance.
The tiara had a few PR stints: the 1878 Paris Worlds Fair and again at the Louvre in 1884. Then the fateful day came; a decision that eventually lands something glittery, jewel-laden and circular in a private collection. Auction. (Groan.) The Republican National Assembly saw the crown jewels of France as abhorrent royal reminders of the Bourbons and the Bonapartes. The Assembly feared an aspiring monarchist to incite a future upheaval could use these symbols of monarchism. The artistic and historic significance had no bearing on the unanimous vote to sell, sell, sell. The auction took place in May of 1887 and Marie Thérèse’s Emerald Tiara went home with an unknown jeweler. He was most likely British as the tiara resurfaced in Ol’ Blighty, eventually ending up in the Wartsky Jewellery Firm. Supposedly it had sat in a vault for 30 years at the very least, nobody aware of its historic pedigree.

the tiara that found its way home: the duchesse d’Anglouême Emerald Tiara in the Louvre permanent collection
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do you think this would match with my red dress?? i’m going to the movies…….lol!! love your blog~
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Thank you kindly for the compliment. Marie Térèse also had a ruby tiara made by the same jewellers; that would go with your dress!
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not unlike the Arc of the Covenant in “Raiders — what’s that noise? Sounds like gnashing of teeth. The loveliest tiara yet.
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thank you for understanding my humor! Do people have problems telling if you’re being sarcastic or not?
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Is it wrong of me to like the inner workings of the tiara as much as the outer? Although, no matter how you look at it, it surely is a divine and dainty thing.
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Most tiaras are flexible but I’ve never heard of a reversible tiara…once I perfect the science you’ll get that reversible tiara. I will call it “the Aubrey Tiara.”
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