Princess Alice’s Diamond Palmette Tiara

Today marks the 45th Anniversary of the Death of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, who passed away on this day in 1981! The last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria, who married Queen Mary’s brother and became the Vicereine of both South Africa and Canada, Princess Alice lived through the reigns of six British monarchs, and possessed a spectacular Jewellery collection, from which we are revisiting her Diamond Palmette Tiara!

This Art Deco Diamond Palmette Tiara, which featured large, swinging yellow diamonds, was acquired in the early 1930s is thought to have been possibly created by dismantling Princess Alice’s Pearl and Diamond Tiara and a Diamond Choker she had received as Wedding Gifts.

She wore a diadem in Egyptian art-deco style which was, it appears, commissioned by the princess herself, probably at the end of the 1920s using old pieces of jewellery that she considered out of fashion.

Princess Alice notably began wearing the Diamond Palmette Tiara in the early 1930s, with an early notable appearance at the Wedding Gala of Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden and her niece, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, in 1932.

The Diamond Palmette Tiara was also worn by Princess Alice for the Wedding Gala of her cousin, Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld in 1937, the Wedding Banquet of the Shah of Iran and Princess Fawzia of Egypt in Tehran in 1939 and also the French State Visit to Britain in 1939.

While Princess Alice wore the Teck Ears of Wheat Tiara for the Coronation of her nephew, King George VI, in 1937, the Diamond Palmette Tiara was worn by a lady who accompanied the family, who may have been Princess Alice’s niece, Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Princess Alice wore the Diamond Palmette Tiara on numerous occasions and for several portraits when the Earl of Athlone served as Governor General of Canada during the Second World War, and on their return to Europe, most notably for Queen Juliana’s Inauguration Gala and Gala Performance in 1948.

The Diamond Palmette Tiara was worn by Princess Alice at the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, as well as for the Coronation Gala at Covent Garden.

Princess Alice continued to wear her Diamond Palmette Tiara at glittering events for decades, remaining an active member of the Royal Family. The Tiara was seen at various State Openings of Parliament, State Banquets, and the 50th Anniversary Service of the Order of the British Empire, as well as for Queen Juliana’s 30th Anniversary Gala in 1967.

The Diamond Palmette Tiara continued to be worn by Princess Alice into her old age, like the Japanese State Visit to Britain in 1971, King Gustaf VI Adolf’s 90th Birthday Banquet in 1972, and Queen’s Silver Jubilee Gala in 1977, as well as her own special 90th Birthday Gala in 1973, at which Tiaras were worn.

At the beginning of the 1970s, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, was a survivor from a different age. She was certainly one of the only granddaughters of Queen Victoria (along with Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain) to have given a television interview. She lived in Kensington Palace in an apartment very close to that of Princess Margaret, and where the present Duchess of Cambridge now lives. At nearly ninety years of age. Alice was still taking an annual flight, in economy class, to the Antilles or Africa for a holiday. Her secretary once confided that. after a late arrival, the princess was obliged to sit up all night at an African airport: she was over eighty-five years of age and didn’t complain once.

Her ninetieth birthday was celebrated in style with a reception given by her daughter and son-in-law at Claridge’s Hotel. Female guests were asked to wear a diadem, if possible. Several dozen, including Queen Elizabeth, followed etiquette and wore the required jewel. The princess died at Kensington Palace on 3 January 1981, just a few weeks before her ninety-eighth birthday.

After Princess Alice’s death in 1981, the Diamond Palmette Tiara was inherited by Princess Alice’s only surviving child, Lady May Abel Smith, who auctioned it off at Christie’s in London in December 1984, for £33,696. It’s present location is unknown.

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Princess Alice’s Diamond Palmette Tiara