Kate Middleton's Tiara Had Royal Fans Gawking

It hasn't been seen in public since the 1930s
By Newser Editors,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 22, 2023 11:01 AM CST
Kate Middleton's Tiara Had Royal Fans Gawking
Kate, Princess of Wales, ahead of the State Banquet for the state visit to the UK by President of South Korea Yoon Suk Yeol and his wife Kim Keon Hee, at Buckingham Palace, London, Tuesday, Nov. 21, 2023.   (Yui Mok/Pool Photo via AP)

The British royals welcomed South Korea's president and first lady to Buckingham Palace on Tuesday night, but some royal watchers had their eyes trained on Kate Middleton—or, more precisely, the top of her head. Page Six reports the Princess of Wales donned the Strathmore Rose Tiara, which was originally owned by the queen mother and hasn't been worn in public in nearly a century. The tiara, which sports five diamond flowers atop a vinelike design, was given to Queen Elizabeth II's mother by the latter's father, Lord Strathmore, ahead of her 1923 wedding to the Duke of York—later King George VI.

The then-queen wore it bandeau-style across her forehead several times in the initial years of her marriage (photo here), but Vogue reports that its long public absence—including after the queen mother's 2002 death, at which point Queen Elizabeth II inherited it—led to rumors "that perhaps it was too damaged or too fragile to be worn again."

Royal historian Jessica Storoschuk tells Page Six that wearing it was a wise choice on Kate's part—and the most recent of several smart sartorial choices. "Interestingly, three of the four tiaras that Catherine has worn have belonged to the queen mother: the Cartier Halo Tiara, the Lotus Flower Tiara, and now the Strathmore Rose Tiara. Given that Elizabeth was a key member of the royal family for eight decades, it is a smart decision on the part of the royal family to visually connect her with Catherine." (More Kate Middleton stories.)

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