Royal watchers are eagerly awaiting the Omani state banquet at Windsor Castle on Tuesday, October 20, but on Monday night, the Danish royals celebrated their own state visit from the president of Vietnam. Although Queen Mary didn't go for an overt diplomatic nod with her rich blue outfit, Vietnam is a notable producer of sapphires, and the Danish queen took the opportunity to debut a sparkling tiara that dates back to the late 1800s.
Mary skipped the red and yellow of the Vietnamese flag in favor of a shimmery off-the-shoulder top by Jesper Høvring that she's had in her closet since 2014, pairing it with a navy velvet maxi skirt. But the star of the evening was the delicate sapphire and diamond tiara that only recently returned to the Danish royal family after it was sold at auction.
Known as Queen Alexandrine's Sapphire Tiara, the piece belonged to King Frederik's great-grandmother and features "eight oval-cut Ceylon sapphires weighing around 33 carats in total, set alongside diamonds," per Justin Daughters, managing director at vintage and antique jeweler Berganza.
"What makes this jewel particularly special is its history," Daughters tells Marie Claire. "It was given to the future Queen Alexandrine as a wedding gift in 1898 by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, before passing through generations of the Danish royal family."
The tiara was passed down to Queen Alexandrine's daughter-in-law, Princess Caroline-Mathilde, in the 1930s. It was then given to Caroline-Mathilde's son, Count Christian of Rosenborg, and his family, and was eventually sold at auction for approximately $290,000 by his descendants in 2018. Per Daughters, the tiara "returned to the Danish Royal Collection in 2024."
Originally, the convertible sapphire and diamond tiara was a much taller design, but Daughters says that the current Danish royal family gave it a more modern look. "Its latest redesign, created in collaboration with jewelry designers Diana Holstein and Hanan Emquies, continues a tradition of adapting important jewels as fashions and the needs of their wearers change."
The tiara can be worn as a necklace or taken apart to become a brooch, and Mary pinned an element from the piece on a thick velvet bracelet for the gala. “I particularly like the way Queen Mary has worn the redesigned piece as a low bandeau while using a separate element from the tiara on a blue velvet bracelet," Daughters shares. "It shows a real understanding of how to style historic jewelry without simply recreating the formal looks associated with it in the past."
The jewelry expert says the new velvet band is a modern way to update such a historic tiara, adding that the bracelet "is unexpected, but it also allows the jewel’s original components to be appreciated in a different way."