I have taken the liberty of changing the heading so that those who prefer the term "Kent Festoon tiara" will be able to find this thread more easily in the future.
I would like to throw another possibility into the discussion about the provenance of this tiara, as I have never seen any definite evidence that the tiara previously belonged to Princess Louise, the Duchess of Argyle.
As far as I know Princess Marina was only photographed wearing the tiara circa 1953.
The advent of WWII meant that the British Royal ladies were not photographed or reported to be wearing very grand jewels until after the war, so the long delay between the death of Princess Louise and the first photo (I know of) of Princess Marina wearing the tiara is not something I would place a great deal of emphasis on. But I have never seen any evidence that Princess Louise ever owned a tiara fitting this description - but, of course, that means nothing.
Currently I am wondering (because of the date of the first photos I am aware of when Princess Marina was seen or photographed with this tiara circa 1953) if Princess Marina inherited the tiara from Queen Mary.
The evidence is nebulous, but I think it should be kept open as a possibility.
We know that King George and Queen Mary came into possession of a number of items belonging to Queen Alexandra.
I have long been intrigued by press reports of Queen Alexandra, as Princess of Wales, wearing a diamond and pearl tiara. Below is one of those press reports, long before when she became Queen and when such a description might refer to the Diamond Diadem of Queen Victoria. Yet, I have never seen an image of Queen Alexandra, either as Queen or Princess of Wales, with a diamond and pearl tiara.
The Times 4 July 1889 describing her jewels at a State Ball.
What strikes me about the Kent Festoon tiara is the similarities between its design and that of Queen Alexandra's turquoise tiara which is now in the Norwegian collection. Even though the design is not the same, I see similarities. Of course, this is not proof, as the design elements were commonplace for the mid-nineteenth century, but they did make me wonder, as I believe that Princess Marina probably inherited this tiara rather than having purchased it herself.
on December 22, 2016, 4:31 am, in reply to "
