Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway, 22, pays tribute to her late grandfather in her debut tiara outing as heir to the throne

Amid the tragedy of losing her grandfather and great-aunt in quick succession, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway has truly been stepping into her own as the nation’s new heir. Her father, King Haakon VIII, ascended to the throne following the death of King Harald V in August; while her mother, Queen Mette-Marit, continues to recover from her lung transplant, it has been up to Ingrid Alexandra, 22, to support the new monarch at official royal events. Case in point? The Norwegian Parliamentary Gala on 22 October, which saw the Crown Princess make her dazzling tiara debut as queen-in-waiting.

Shoulder-to-shoulder with her father and her grandmother, the ever-diligent Queen Sonja, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra joined the royal procession through the Speilsalen, Small Dining Room, Small Ballroom, and Great Ballroom of the Royal Palace in Oslo, before arriving at the Banqueting Hall for the Gala Dinner.

Dressed in deep purple, Ingrid Alexandra looked every inch the future queen, but it was her sparkling Amethyst tiara that truly signalled her regal evolution. The late King Harald will have been on everyone’s mind throughout the pomp and ceremony, but few will miss the late monarch more than his granddaughter, whose choice of tiara suggests a sweet tribute to the much-loved late royal.

For the tiara is part of an amethyst parure that King Harald gifted to his beloved wife, Queen Sonja, around her 60th birthday. It is comprised of a pair of earrings, bracelets, and a brooch, as well as a stunning amethyst and diamond necklace that can be worn as a tiara, as shown by Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra on Thursday evening. The collection is thought to have been purchased at Garrard, says royal jewels expert The Royal Watcher.

Queen Sonja made her debut in the tiara in 1997, when she joined King Harald for a state visit to Belgium. In the following weeks, she would wear it again for their joint 60th birthday celebrations in Trondheim. The set was clearly important to Queen Sonja, who wore it for the wedding of Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg and Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth in 1998, and chose to wear it as a necklace for her son’s pre-wedding ball before he tied the knot with Mette-Marit in 2001. She would make her final outing in the set during the Polish state visit of 2003.

The parure was then gifted to Mette-Marit, then Crown Princess, to mark the birth of her first child with Haakon: Princess Ingrid Alexandra, in 2004. That year, Mette-Marit wore it for the wedding celebrations of then-Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson, as well as in a number of official portraits, including one side-by-side with her mother-in-law.

As Crown Princess, Mette-Marit would wear the amethyst and diamond tiara to a number of grand state occasions over the decades, including a number of parliamentary galas, the Norwegian state visit to Britain in 2006, Queen Margrethe of Denmark’s 70th birthday gala in 2010, and the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden in 2013. But Mette-Marit is not the only royal to have worn the tiara during this time: in 2010, she lent the piece to Princess Märtha Louise of Norway for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden. Her final outing in the tiara (so far) came in 2023, for the Italian state visit to Norway.

In a moment of fine jewellery foreshadowing, Princess Ingrid Alexandra wore the brooch of the parure to her 18th birthday banquet in 2022, pairing it with Princess Ingeborg’s Boucheron pearl circle tiara in what marked her official tiara debut, at a celebration where the guest list included fellow future monarchs, Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands and Crown Princess Elisabeth of Belgium.

Now, in her first such outing as a future queen, Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra has worn the tiara that was a gift from her grandfather to her grandmother, then from her grandmother to her mother to mark the day she was born. A fitting full-circle moment for the young woman who is set to become the nation’s first queen regnant in over 600 years.

It was an emotional evening at the Palace, with King Haakon making a moving tribute to the late King Harald. ‘So it’s me standing here, not my father. I miss him tonight, and I’m sure I’m not alone. This was his arena,’ the new King told the crowd: ‘He was, as we know, funny – with apt comments and good timing. And not infrequently, dad jokes.’

King Haakon also paid his respects to his aunt, Princess Astrid, who died at the age of 94 just days after her brother Harald's funeral. ‘We also miss Princess Astrid, my dear aunt, who attended this dinner countless times. She was there, supportive and curious until the very end – with or without her dog Wilma on her lap. Mostly with. And as you, who sat next to her at this dinner, know, she was quite delightfully straightforward and said what she thought.’

The new monarch was then surprisingly open about the anxieties that come with inheriting the throne. King Haakon said: ‘As you probably understand, it’s not easy to become king overnight. Then having 35 years of experience as a middle manager in a medium-sized public enterprise comes in handy.’

He then referenced his wife, Queen Mette-Marit, noting: ‘And it’s important to have good people around you – and I’m lucky in that, because I have the Queen on my team. It gives me security and support.

‘She would have loved to be here with us tonight, but needs to be in recovery after her successful lung surgery this summer. The first year after such a comprehensive procedure is quite fragile – something she has felt in recent weeks, but we are all very grateful that things are moving forward. Because they are, fortunately. She has asked me to send her regards, and to thank her for all the warm care.’

Finally, Haakon made a sweet reference to his daughter and his mother, who were supporting him at this first Parliamentary Gala. ‘But I also have other good teammates with me. My father would probably have said that we compete in three classes,’ he said.

'We have tonight’s super veteran, Queen Sonja. Then we have the junior and debutante, the Crown Princess. And then you have me. In my prime.

‘I’ve had a fantastic coach in any case. Now it’s just a matter of managing my energy well. This is a long-distance race, and I’m aiming for consistent speed and good endurance.’