Posted by wymanda on September 25, 2014, 8:25 pm, in reply to "The grand tiara"
How wonderful that such an iconic gown survived the years in wearable condition. It must have had to be tailored for Her Grace as pictures indicate that "Louise Duchess" was quite a statuesque lady.
--Previous Message-- : : Brock's pic was from the fancy dress party : celebrating the 80th birthdays of the duke : and duchess. : : The duchess wore the Worth gown worn by her : predecessor, the hostess of the famous : Devonshire House ball in 1897. : : : : I think that is the only time I've seen Her : Grace wearing the larger tiara. In her : inimitable style she wrote about wearing it : in the Telegraph in 2002: : : What are tiaras for? They are the finishing : flourish to your best evening dress, the : female accompaniment to the man’s white tie : and decorations, and the pinnacle of the : jeweller’s art. : : Before the last war, tiaras were worn by : married women at all the grand balls in : London. Even at a big dance in the 1960s it : was not uncommon for men to wear tail-coats : and the women their jewels. I remember going : to such an entertainment on my own wearing, : with unwonted confidence, the “big” tiara : (the Devonshires have two). It must have : looked rather off, because my home-made : dress of cotton broderie anglaise was : definitely not up to it. : : At the end of the evening I went out to look : for a taxi. It never occurred to me that it : might not be a good idea to stand alone in : the street long after midnight with a load : of diamonds round my neck and nineteen : hundred more glittering above my head. : : But then, even though Helen, Duchess of : Northumberland, once had her tiara snatched : off her head as she was leaving their house : in Easton Square, we did not think of being : mugged (the word did not exist). My : mother-in-law, Mary Devonshire, who was : Mistress of the Robes to the Queen from 1953 : till 1967, used to fetch the jewels from the : bank stowed in a Marks & Spencer carrier : bag. My grandmother-in-law, Evelyn, Duchess : of Devonshire, was Mistress of the Robes to : Queen Mary for 43 years from 1910. Together : she and Queen Mary weathered long hours of : tiara-ed evenings. After one particularly : lengthy engagement, Granny was heard to say: : “The Queen has been complaining about the : weight of her tiara… the Queen doesn’t know : what a heavy tiara is.” : :