Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Luxarazzi 101: Diamond Art Deco Tiara

We haven't had a thorougher look into the (actually quite large) Grand Ducal Tiara Collection in quite a while - high time to change that! We are going to do so with a piece personally owned by one of the princesses of the Luxembourg family, the Diamond Art Deco Tiara of Princess Sibilla.

The wife of Prince Guillaume does not only come from a very royal background - she is a descendant of one of the most famous monarch's in history, Queen Victoria - through her mother, but is also the daughter of a very wealthy father. Her paternal grandfather was Paul-Louis Weiller, an aviator, engineer, industrialist and famous patron of the arts who made a fortune in the civil aviation, oil and international banking industries. (More on her family background in our Luxarazzi 101 about Princess Sibilla.)
Princess Sibilla with the tiara in both its settings, Countess Diane, Princess Silvia d'Arenberg
This tiara made of diamonds and set in an art deco style apparently was a gift to Princess Sibilla by her parents. Some say that she was presented with the tiara upon her wedding though considering that she only started to wear this sparkler a few years into her marriage, I say it is more likely she was given the tiara at some later point in time. For the first few years of her marriage, she always wore the Belgian Scroll Tiara belonging to her mother-in-law, the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, when a tiara was required.

Starting in the very late 1990's, Princess Sibilla, who was married in 1994, began to wear this diamond tiara that can actually be worn in two different settings: A large one and (with the top half removed) a smaller one. Quite handy if you only got very few tiaras at your disposal! Since owning her own, Princess Sibilla has not sported any Luxembourgish tiaras. However, she has been very generous in lending out her tiara: It was worn by Countess Diane, wife of Prince Jean, for the pre-wedding dinner of the Hereditary Grand Ducal Couple (while Princess Sibilla herself donned her mother's aquamarine tiara originally belonging to Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain). In addition, the tiara was also worn by Princess Silvia d'Arenberg for the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden.

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