Nowadays, today’s tiara is typically called “Princess Marie’s Diamond Floral Tiara,” a topical, current moniker for the 21st Century royal-watcher that honors the princess that has brought it to the public spotlight. Indeed, it’s the tiara that Queen Margrethe first loaned to Marie Cavallier in 2008. The soon-to-be princess topped her veil with it for her wedding to Prince Joachim.

let’s learn about Princess Dagmar of Denmark & Iceland

What most people don’t know and your Blog Hostess tends to forget more frequently than not, is that this blog was originally supposed to be about history, not royalty or jewellery. In order to stay as true to this as possible, when we refer to tiaras we try to cite the original owner. Ergo, our post title for today. The tiara [as far as we know] originally belonged to Princess Dagmar, youngest daughter of King Frederik IX and Louise of Sweden and Norway. [Remember Louise? She brought the Pearl Poiré Tiara to Denmark. Yeah, we know. Last week was freakin’ ages ago.] In the name of disambiguation, don’t confuse this Dagmar of Denmark with the Dagmar of Denmark, her aunt and namesake. [The “more popular” Dagmar of Denmark became Empress Maria Fydorovna.]

 

Short of dialing up the Rosenborg Castle historian–wonder what time it is there–that is all we can find. We don’t know if the tiara was a birthday gift for Princess Dagmar or why it was personal property instead of yet another highly monitored piece in the Danish Royal Collection. We’re not even sure which tiara she wore for her 1922 wedding to Jørgen Castenskjold. Either way, of their 5 children, the couple only had one daughter, her first two names Dagmar Louise like her mother. We are making the leap here that she’s the one all the way to the right in the above photo and that Jørgen is the fellow in the center. Instead of leaving the tiara to her daughter when she passed on 1961, Princess Dagmar [Now Mrs. Castenskjold] bequeathed her floral tiara to her nephew King Christian X. Perhaps Dagmar didn’t see her daughters or granddaughters having much need for a tiara. Dagmar “married down,” her children have no titles.

back to the Tiara Time!

Either way, Dagmar’s Floral Tiara found its way back and Christian’s heir Margrethe wore it a handful of times. Our personal favorite photo is the far right, not only because there’s champagne, but the gesture. It simply reads “All the tiaras are mine, bitches!” Or however one would nicely phrase a similar sentiment.

Prior to Princess Marie, the tiara was loaned out once to Daisy’s mother-in-law, Renée de Monpezat (right) in 1992 to wear for the Silver Anniversary celebration of the Queen and Prince Henrik. Ugh! Countess! Just say no to tiaras with tinted lenses! It’s not a good look! Rumor has it Dagmar’s Floral Tiara graced Princess Natalie zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleberg’s head at Crown Prince Haakon’s wedding in 2001. Since getting a tiara loan from Daisy is like drawing water from a stone, that seems like quite a loan unless Natalie’s a close family relation. Plus, there’s no clear photographic evidence.

what would a tiara be without in-law politics?

The Dagmar Floral tiara is the only tiara that Princess Marie is allowed to wear so there is no shortage of photos to fuel our montage addiction. On the day of Joachim and Marie’s nuptials an official press release made it abundantly clear that the Dagmar tiara was a loaner not a gift. Sure, this had to sting a little considering Crown Princess Marie was given her Wedding tiara and has access to the grandly historic Ruby Parure.

The Dagmar Floral tiara has pretty much become Princess Marie’s signature piece, albeit, not out of choice. Though there are far worse tiaras with which to be stuck. The Dagmar has enough heft in front to make give it that looming presence for a formal affair but not too much. It’s also suitable for state dinners. [Suddenly we feel like we’re doing a late night infomercial.]

Still the question looms: why didn’t Marie receive a tiara as a gift like her sister-in-law? In 1995, Prince Joachim married Alexandra Manley and the princess-to-be was given the Alexandrine Drop Tiara to wear for her wedding. When the marriage crumbled in 2004, Alexandra took the tiara with her as it was a gift. [ah ha! Semantics!] Not only did she make off with an historic Danish tiara, she also received the title Countess of Frederiksborg. While we can just imagine Daisy simmering a shade of magenta as part of the collection went marching, it must have tainted her view toward gifting any more tiaras, especially to any spouse of Prince Joachim’s. [That’s motherly love for ya. And speculation on our part.]