Meghan Markle's fairy-tale wedding day look, of course, came with an incredible tiara.
Meghan Markle's fairy-tale wedding day look, of course, came with an incredible tiara.
The 36-year-old actress married Prince Harry on Saturday at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle, wearing Queen Mary's diamond bandeau tiara, loaned to her by the queen. The diamond bandeau is English and was made in 1932. The tiara's center brooch, meanwhile, dates back to 1893.
The bandeau is made of diamonds and platinum and is formed with eleven flexible sections. It is pierced with interlaced ovals and pave set with both large and small diamonds. The center brooch on the tiara is detachable and itself features ten diamonds.
The tiara was originally made for Queen Mary to accommodate the brooch in the center. The then Princess Mary was given the brooch as a gift by the County of Lincoln when she married Prince George, Duke of York in 1893. Queen Mary bequeathed the brooch and bandeau to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
Meghan's tiara follows a tradition of royal brides wearing tiaras down the aisle. When Kate Middleton wed Prince William in 2011, she wore the Cartier Halo Scroll tiara, which dates back to 1936, when George VI commissioned the tiara from Cartier for his wife.
Prince William and Harry's mother, the late Princess Diana, famously chose to wear an heirloom from her own family -- the Spencer Tiara -- when she married Prince Charles in 1981.
And it turns out Harry's grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, had some major drama with her tiara the morning she wed Prince Philip in 1947. The queen wore the Fringe Tiara on her special day, which was made for Queen Mary (her grandmother) in 1919.
"The Fringe Tiara was given to Queen Elizabeth on her wedding day, and the hairdresser broke it," royal jeweler House of Garrard told MarieClaire.com about the major wedding day mishap. "On that day, they had it police escorted to the House of Garrard workshops. We fixed the tiara that morning, had it sent back to Queen Elizabeth, and then she got married in it. You don't expect the royals to have those sorts of mix-ups, but they do!"
Meghan, of course, will now have access to a few royal tiaras, which are traditionally worn only on special occasions. Kate donned one of Princess Diana's favorite tiaras -- the Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot tiara -- as recently as December, when she attended a reception for diplomats hosted by the queen.
In addition to the stunning tiara, Meghan is wearing earrings and a bracelet by Cartier.
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