Queen Mary of Denmark, tiara maverick! Royal puts her own spin on a family heirloom for a state banquet

Queen Mary of Denmark is famed for her ability to put a modern, fashion-forward twist on royal traditions. So when the Vietnamese state visit was announced, royal watchers knew they could count on the stylish royal to showcase her fresh take on the Danish heirlooms – and Queen Mary most certainly did not disappoint, having totally revitalised a family tiara that dates back to the 1800s.

Joining her husband, King Frederik X, and their son, Crown Prince Christian, Queen Mary welcomed Vietnamese President Tô Lâm and First Lady Ngô Phương Ly to Christiansborg Palace on the evening of 19 October. The Queen donned her Jesper Hovring embellished top (previously seen as far back as 2014 and also making appearances for Crown Prince Christian’s 18th birthday in 2023 and a state visit from Iceland in 2024), which she paired with a velvet pencil skirt. She completed the ensemble with a navy Prada Raso clutch.

But it was the tiara that truly captured the attention of royal watchers. Queen Mary stepped out for the banquet in Queen Alexandrine’s Russian Sapphire tiara in a new design. Though the tiara has an impressive royal history, it was only reacquired by the Royal Collection in 2024 – notably after King Frederik ascended to the throne. Queen Mary worked in collaboration with jewellery designers Diana Holstein and Hanan Emquies to give the tiara a reversible aspect, allowing it to be worn as a tiara, necklace or brooch, thus putting a new spin on centuries of royal history.

The tiara dates back to 1898, when Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin tied the knot with Prince Christian of Denmark. The couple were gifted a sapphire tiara from St. Petersburg jewellers C.E. Bolin by Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia to mark the occasion. Alexandrine was never photographed wearing the tiara during her reign as queen, though she loaned it to Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark for her wedding to Alexandrine’s son, Prince Knud, in 1933. Princess Caroline-Mathilde would go on to wear the sapphires for a number of royal weddings and birthday galas that decade, modifying the piece ahead of wearing it for the wedding of her son, Count Ingolf.

Indeed, the Count recalled his mother wearing the tiara, as reported by royal jewellery expert The Court Jeweller. ‘As a boy, the jewellery of the ladies wasn’t exactly at the top of my mind. But my mother, Hereditary Princess Caroline-Mathilde, received the piece of jewellery as a wedding gift from my grandmother and grandfather … which was originally a gift from my grandmother and grandfather’s relatives – Tsar Nikolai II and Tsaritsa Alexandra of Russia,’ he said of the tiara: ‘It was a Russian piece of jewellery with sapphires and diamonds, which my mother used both as a necklace and as a bandeau, as can be seen in photographs from back then. At a later date, my mother had the jewellery changed to its present form, and I remember very well her wearing this Russian sapphire tiara.’

Upon Caroline-Mathilde’s death in 1995, the tiara was inherited by her younger son, Count Christian, whose wife, Countess Anne Dorte, wore it at the wedding of Prince Joachim, the brother of King Frederik, in 1995. She would go on to receive the tiara as a gift from her husband, and was seen sporting it at the wedding of then-Crown Prince Frederik and Mary Donaldson in 2004, as well as at Queen Margrethe’s 60th and 70th birthdays, and the former Queen’s ruby jubilee in 2012. Following these events, the tiara was put on display at Amalienborg Palace on loan – until it was reacquired by the Royal Collection and reimagined by Queen Mary herself.

This is not the first time that Queen Mary has brought a breath of fresh air to the royal jewellery vaults. For the wedding of King Frederik’s godson, Count Gregers Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille, this August, she wore a diamond necklace tiara and matching earrings, which she bought herself after they were old at Bruun Rasmusseun in May 2012.

When Mary first purchased the antique tiara, it was a necklace, and, as Crown Princess, she made her debut in the piece for Queen Margrethe’s 75th birthday in Aarhus in 2015. It wasn’t until a year later that Mary wore the piece as a tiara for the first time, attending a gala dinner at Christiansborg Palace. It swiftly became a favourite, with Mary wearing it for a state visit from Mexico in 2016 and for a spread in Australian Vogue, shot by Mario Testino, to mark her copper wedding anniversary. The Queen also wore the tiara to the 80th birthday banquet of King Harald and Queen Sonja in 2017, as well as a banquet in honour of the Icelandic visit to Denmark that year.

Romance, history, and an eye for adding to the royal archives, few queens understand what it means to preside over the palace vaults quite like Queen Mary.