The Spanish Royal Family at the grounds of La Zarzuela Palace, July, 1969.
THE FLORAL TIARA
This tiara is made of diamonds set in gold and silver in floral and vegetable motifs, and is the personal propriety of Her Majesty. It was a wedding gift from the Spanish people to Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark on the occasion of her wedding to Prince Juan Carlos of Spain. Despite being one of their favorite diadems not much was known of its origins besides the fact that it was acquired in Madrid’s Aldao Jewellery Firm in 1962.
After the Princess of Asturias wore it to Queen Beatrix’s dinner on April 29, 2013 the Royal Household explained that this tiara had already belonged to the Royal Family long before 1962. King Alfonso XII commissioned this tiara to the British jewellers J.P. Collins in 1879 as a gift for his betrothed Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria-Teschen. Since then the piece left the family and in the 20th century ended in Aldao, where Franco would buy it as a wedding gift. The central flower is adapted to be used as a brooch.
It is believed that Princess Sophia used this gift for the first time at her pre-wedding ball as a necklace although the quality of the pictures is not good:
Doña Sofía would not wear the gift in a tiara frame until 1979 during a Sate Visit to Sweden. It has become one of her favorite diadems since then.
The Queen has frequently shared the tiara with her daughters and daughter-in-law, the Infanta Cristina chose it for her wedding. Her sister Doña Elena, however, only used it before her wedding in 1995, when she received a tiara from the groom’s family:
The floral tiara is one of the favorites of the Princess of Asturias:
Juan Carlos I of Spain-75 Years, 75 Photos.
53- Summer holidays in Palma de Mallorca. 1976.
The NeverEnding Portrait: Antonio López prompted to finish the portrait of the Royal Family he started 17 years ago.
National Heritage (The State agency that administers the sites owned by the Spanish State and used by the King of Spain and the Spanish Royal Family as residences and for State Ceremonies) commissioned a portrait of the Royal Family 17 years ago. Since then, the three children of the Royal Couple have married, the eldest has divorced and Their Majesties have had 8 grandchildren. The painting was fully paid (€300,000) ten years ago and it was supposed to be unveiled for the 75th birthday of the King in January 2013.
Antonio López, a renowned hyperrealist artist whose painting “Madrid desde Torres Blancas” was auctioned for $2,760,803 in 2008, has made numerous changes to the 3.40-meter-wide by three-meter-high painting that depicts the King, the Queen, the Prince of Asturias, the Infanta Elena and the Infanta Cristina. Over the years the Queen’s suit has changed colors and the distance between the subjects has been modified.
Three years ago the canvas was moved from the Royal Palace to his personal studio in Madrid, but the president of National Heritage has had enough and before announcing that the portrait will be finished before the end of the year, had the painting moved back to a room in the Royal Palace with, in his words, a light that Goya would have envied.
Antonio López himself says that he has solved the problem that didn’t let him finish the portrait before.
Photo: 2011 photo of Antonio López’s studio with the royal portrait. The Queen’s suit is now different.
Wedding of infanta Margarita of Spain with Carlos Zurita y Delgado, 1972.
Margarita is blind since her birth.
This tiara, probably best known for being the wedding tiara of both Queen Sofía and the Princess of Asturias, is one of the most used pieces of their collection. It is known as the Prussian (due to its origins) or the Hellenic tiara (for the classical Greek design)
The diadem was a wedding present for Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia from her father, Kaiser Wilhelm II. It was made by the Imperial jeweller Koch, in platinum and diamonds.
In 1912 Princess Viktoria Luise met Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover in Berlin, and a year later married him wearing her father’s present.
Ernest Augustus III, who would become the last reigning Monarch of the House of Hanover as the Duke of Bunrswick, and Viktoria Luise of Prussia, the Duchess of Brunswick, had five children. Their only daughter, Princess Frederika of Hanover, received the Prussian tiara from her mother, and took it with her to Athens when she married in 1938 the Hereditary Prince of Greece.
The Crown Prince and Princess had a daughter just ten months after their wedding, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark, the current owner of the tiara, maternal granddaughter of the original owner, Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia. Queen Frederica lent the tiara to her first daughter for some of her first tiara events, like her coming out ball and her official picture:
In September of 1961 the King of Greece announced her engagement to the Spanish Prince Juan Carlos. In 1962, Princess Sophia married Prince Juan Carlos of Spain in Athens, wearing the Prussian tiara. And through the now Princess Sofía of Spain, the diadem became part of the Spanish collection.
The Queen has worn this tiara frequently, although she lends it to her daughters and after the marriage of the Prince of Asturias his wife has been practically the only member who was worn it.
The Prussian can be considered an starter tiara, it was a present for a young Princess of Prussia, it was used by a young Princess of Hanover and it was the first tiara a young Princess Sophia of Denmark used in public. The first time the Infanta Cristina attended a State dinner in the Royal Palace, she used this tiara. It is, of course, the first tiara the Princess of Asturias wore.
Since her first tiara event (her wedding) the Princess of Asturias has worn this tiara more times than any of the other two she has used.
More: http://atthespanishcourt.wordpress.com/2011/11/02/the-prussian-or-hellenic-tiara/
Four generations of wedding menus:
King Alfonso XIII and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Madrid, 1906):
Don Juan and Doña María (Rome, 1935):
Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sophia (Athens, 1962):
Prince Felipe and Doña Letizia (Madrid, 2004):
Doña Elena and Don Jaime Marichalar (Seville, 1995)
Infanta Cristina and Don Iñaki Urdangarín (Barcelona, 1997)
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Different legal systems and languages make comparisons difficult and direct translations almost impossible. A year ago I chose to describe Iñaki’s legal situation with this word, indictment,…
