Queen Camilla Just Wore the Royal Family’s Most Stunning and Expensive Tiara That You’ve Seen on Someone Else Before
Queen Camilla has wowed royal family fans with a tiara they’ve seen on a princess before.
King Charles’ wife attended a reception for members of the Diplomatic Corps on Nov. 18 and rocked an exquisite tiara. As she joined the king and Prince William at Windsor Castle, the queen looked radiant in a white gown. She accessorized with a Van Cleef & Arpels serpent necklace, sparkling diamond earrings, Cartier Art Deco bracelets, and the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara.
Here’s more on the tiara’s worth, where you’ve seen the piece before, and why it was the source of some drama.
Queen Camilla shows off beautiful and pricy tiara
Fans are buzzing about the show-stopping tiara Queen Camilla wore to the event. So, the diamond and jewelry experts at the U.K. retailer Steven Stone have shared details about its history and its astronomical value as the most expensive tiara in the entire royal collection.
Maxwell Stone told Showbiz Cheat Sheet, “The Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara is made of rose-cut pavé diamonds set in platinum and is adorned with six emeralds. The center features a 93.7-carat cabochon-cut emerald, which is what makes it so valuable. We previously estimated the distinctive diamond and emerald headpiece — made by the French jewelry house Boucheron in 1919 — to be worth $13 million, making it the most expensive of all the tiaras we’ve studied.
“Wearing emeralds is said to promote friendship, peace, harmony, and domestic bliss by enabling the wearer to both give and receive unconditional love. In ancient Greece and Rome, emerald was said to be the gemstone of the goddess of love, Venus.”
Maxwell continued, “Its original owner was Dame Margaret Greville, a famous society hostess who, upon her death, left her jewels to the Queen Mother. When the Queen Mother passed away in 2002, much of that collection, including the Kokoshnik tiara, went to Queen Elizabeth II.”
Where you’ve seen the gorgeous Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara before
If the tiara looks familiar to you, that’s because you have seen it on another royal at a high-profile event. Princess Eugenie actually wore the same gorgeous headpiece the day she married Jack Brooksbank on Oct. 12, 2018.
As Maxwell noted, “In 2018, the late monarch lent it to Princess Eugenie for her wedding day — making it the most extravagant ‘something borrowed’ in royal history.”
The tiara was also the source of some drama. It had been reported that Prince Harry’s wife, Meghan Markle, wanted to wear it on her wedding day, which was a few months before Eugenie’s big day. However, Queen Elizabeth did not allow it, so instead, Meghan wore Queen Mary’s Diamond Bandeau tiara.
That diadem was made in 1932 for Queen Mary. The last time anyone saw it before the Sussexes’ wedding was in 1965, when Princess Margaret wore it to an event. Although it’s beautiful as well, the Bandeau tiara isn’t worth nearly as much as the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara. Experts have put its value at around $2.5 million.
