16. Queen Elizabeth’s Aquamarine Tiara

   In 1938, King George VI purchased this aquamarine and diamond tiara from Cartier stock, for “£835”, and presented it to Queen Elizabeth as a gift, to mark their fifteenth wedding anniversary.[1]

   It consisted of diamonds and Brazilian aquamarines, mounted in platinum in both floral clusters and step-cut solitaires. Field describes it as “an aquamarine and diamond tiara. . .[with] pine-flower scroll motifs separated by single oblong-cut aquamarine, mounted on an aquamarine and diamond band”.[2]

   Queen Elizabeth was photographed wearing this piece occasionally, and in 1973, she presented it to Princess Anne as a wedding gift;[3] at the same time The Queen presented Princess Anne with aquamarine and diamond earrings to match the pine-flower motifs of this tiara.[4]

   Princess Anne was pictured wearing this tiara on occasion, in the 1970s and ‘80s; however it has since been altered and shortened with the removal of the central pine-flower cluster and a step-cut aquamarine.[5] The large pine-flower cluster has subsequently been converted into a brooch, and the step-cut aquamarine has been converted into a pendant that Princess Anne wears on a string of pearls.

   The tiara in its current form was featured and illustrated in Munn’s Tiaras.[6]

1. Munn, Tiaras, p. 152
2. Field, The Queen’s Jewels, p. 21
3. Munn, Tiaras, p. 152; Field, The Queen’s Jewels, p. 21
4. Field, The Queen’s Jewels, p. 21
5. Munn, Tiaras, p. 153
6. Ibid., pl. 186