Yes, there were more tiaras than you can shake a stick at in Christiansborg Palace last night. Not to be outdone in their first official reunion with the heads of Europe’s monarchies as monarchs themselves, Felipe VI and his ex-newsdesk Queen-Consort Letizia cruised through the doors dressed to impress upon the world their new status.

Queen Letizia’s plan was more to sear it into our eyeballs with her dress selection–her couture bears an unfortunate resemblance to my sewing box. (See right.) The real BFD was the long-awaited premier of Letizia’s «Princesa» Tiara.

There seems to be a bit of debate in CyberTiaraland as to who gave the then-Princess of Asturias the tiara, Prince Felipe or the jewellery house Ansorena directly. Either way, it was specifically designed for the new Princess of Asturias. Whether then-Prince Felipe commissioned the diadem, heard from the head of Ansorena that they’d been designing a piece for his wife or, even better, just wandered in off the street and found the perfect 5th Anniversary gift, it was purchased in 2009 for €50,000. [That’s $65,275 with an ’09 exchange rate.]

Encrusted with 450 white diamonds, the white-gold scrollwork alternates between ten larger spires each topped with an Australian pearl and gently contours curving inward toward a huge Fleur-de-Lys centerpiece hovering there like the Bat Signal for Bourbons. Personally, your Blog Hostess thinks the Princesa Tiara looks like something you win at a Texas beauty pageant. Who would have thought gold and diamonds could look so cheap? We think Ansorena is headed downhill and–sorry–will not be designing our tiara.

The Fleur-de-Lys Bat Signal also pops out of the frame to be worn as the Bat Ejector Brooch. [Also not a fan.] Previous donning of the brooch was the only proof that the tiara itself existed.

Even while the tiara was still a rumor–read: up until yesterday–the Spanish press from ¡Hola! to ABC dubbed the tiara “the Princesa” probably because Letizia was [only] Princess of Asturias when she received it. It’s also been referred to as the “Ansorena” but since that’s been the preferred jeweller of the Spanish royal family since Ena first became queen, much ambiguity can ensue.

I’m unsure what tiara bloggers are calling Letizia’s tiara in English. Referring to it as the Fleur-de-Lys Tiara or even the Ansonera Fleur-de-Lys Tiara is blasphemous because that moniker already belongs to the grand wedding gift given by Alfonso XIII to his bride, Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg. Other wiseguys are going with the “Pearl Fleur-de-Lys”. I like that terminology less than the pop-out Bourbon Bat Signal.

Why did Letizia pick yesterday of all days to finally debut the “Princesa” tiara, a diadem that’s been in her possession for the past 7 years? And she did it all in a look-at-me dress that looks like it was made out of couch upholstery. Is it just because she’s an attention-whore? She got all the international press praising that eye-sore. [Oh we’re sorry, did that seem bitchy? Who else would try to upstage the woman of the hour, a Septuagenarian queen in her own right? Sorry but Letizia just seems like one of those women who’d show up to your wedding in white.]

meow!