Princess Astrid’s Diamond Aigrette Tiara

Happy Birthday to Princess Astrid of Norway, who turns 94 today! The middle child and second daughter of King Olav V of Norway and Princess Martha of Sweden, elder sister of King Harald, who served as ‘First Lady’ for her grandfather and father, the Princess has a historic jewellery collection, which includes this striking Diamond Aigrette Tiara!

When Princess Maud of Wales married Prince Charles of Denmark in 1896, she received a plethora of glittering jewels which included a Pearl Tiara from her parents, the Vifte Tiara from the Rothschilds, a Pearl and Diamond Necklace, a Diamond Tiara from’ Lady and Gentlemen Friends’, and two Diamond Rivières, as well as a ‘Ruby and Diamond Aigrette’ from Lady and Gentlemen Friends, which is worn on the same base as these en tremblant Diamond Wings, though they are of an unknown provenance, yet likely originate from Queen Maud.

While it was long believed that Queen Maud’s jewels remained in England after her death and during the Second World War, only being reclaimed during a visit for the Queen’s Coronation in 1953, but Trond Noren Isaksen writes that they were smuggled out of Norway during the Nazi Occupation and only sent to Britain during the communist scare in 1948.

When I wrote my biography of Princess Astrid, «Kvinne blant konger», she told me that the reason why Crown Princess Märtha barely wore any of her mother-in-law’s jewels was that Queen Maud took all her jewels with her to London in the autumn of 1938 to have them cleaned, and after the Queen died during her stay in England, her jewels remained at Windsor Castle until 1953, when Crown Prince Olav, Crown Princess Märtha and Princess Astrid brought them back to Norway after Elizabeth II’s coronation. However, when I wrote my book on Crown Princess Märtha during WWII, «Kronprinsessens krig», I realised that this could not be quite correct, as the diaries of the Marshal of the Court, Peter F. Broch, show that he smuggled Queen Maud’s jewels out of the Palace after the German attack in 1940 and had them sent to Crown Princess Märtha, who at that time was in Sweden.

The answer to how they ended up in Britain can be found in the correspondence between King Olav and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother in the British Royal Archives to which His Majesty King Charles III has kindly given me access. The answer lies in the war scare of 1948.

In February 1948, the communists seized power in Czechoslovakia, which caused widespread fear that Norway was next on the USSR’s list – indeed, this led to Norway abandoning its neutrality and becoming a founding member of NATO. In the summer, Crown Prince Olav took a large trunk containing his mother’s jewels with him when he and his family travelled to London for the Olympics. Before returning home, he deposited it at the Norwegian Embassy and wrote to the then Queen Elizabeth that he feared they might not be be able to get the jewels out of Norway if they had to flee a second time and asked if she might store them where she kept her own jewels, to which Queen Elizabeth agreed.

Not long afterwards, Crown Princess Martha passed away, and the jewels remained in the vaults for years until the Norwegian Royal jewellery collection was divided up following the wedding of then Crown Prince Harald in 1968. The Aigrettes were given to Princess Astrid along with several other heirloom jewels.

While she began wearing the Ruby Aigrette Tiara in the early 1970s, one of the earliest appearances of the Diamond Wings Aigrette Tiara on Princess Astrid was at a Gala Performance during the Spanish State Visit to Norway in 1982.

A notable appearance of the Diamond Wings Aigrette Tiara over the following years came during a Belgian State Visit to Norway in the 1990s.

As she has gotten older, the Diamond Wings Aigrette, and the Ruby Aigrette Tiara, have been more frequently worn over the past decade or so, as Princess Astrid has reserved Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Circlet and the Vasa Tiara for only the most important occasions.

The Diamond Wings Aigrette was notably worn by Princess Astrid for the Icelandic State Visit to Norway and the Gala Dinner for members of Parliament in 2017, as well as the Slovakia State Visit to Norway the following year.

Most recently, Princess Astrid wore the Diamond Wings Aigrette Tiara at the gala dinner for the Norwegian Parliament at the Royal Palace of Oslo in 2019, and since she has been wearing the Ruby Aigrette Tiara quite often recently, lets hope we will see the Diamond Wings Aigrette worn soon!

View this post on Instagram

Table of Contents

Queen Alexandra’s Turquoise Circlet

Vasa Tiara

The Norwegian Emerald Parure

Queen Josefina’s Diamond Tiara

Princess Astrid’s Ruby Aigrette Tiara

Princess Astrid’s Gold Bandeau Tiara

Princess Astrid’s Diamond Aigrette Tiara

Cookie Name	Provider	Purpose	Duration	Type
_ga, _gid	Google Analytics	Tracks visitor behaviour	1 day–2 years	Performance
cookie_notice	Lord’s Press	Stores cookie consent preference	6 months	Strictly Necessary