Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh made a dazzling entrance at the 2001 wedding of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway and Mette-Marit in Oslo.
She was decked out in an electric cobalt blue satin gown, white evening gloves, and glistening diamonds on August 25, 2001.
King Charles, who was then the Prince of Wales, also attended the Norwegian royal wedding.
The current Duke of Edinburgh, Charles’s younger sibling, and his relatively new bride Sophie accompanied him.
For the celebrations in Norway, Sophie wore her diamond wedding tiara together with a three-row pearl necklace.
The necklace featured an interlocking diamond heart clasp. Prince Edward gifted her this jewel on their first wedding anniversary in June 2000.
Sophie’s tiara was the standout star of her royal wedding attire, especially because she’d only worn it for her own nuptials two years prior.
The tiara originated from the late Queen Elizabeth II’s personal jewellery collection.
As well as Crown Princess Mette-Marit’s wedding, Sophie has worn the diadem at several other royal ceremonies, including the nuptials of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling in 2010 and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Mary Donaldson in 2004.
This is an interesting fact because royal brides usually have to return their loaned wedding tiaras to the monarch in the UK, such as Princess Kate and Meghan Markle.
However, clearly, the Duchess of Edinburgh was given the diadem to keep.
Although it has never been proven, it is believed that the tiara was created by David Thomas of Asprey & Garrard, the Crown Jeweller at the time, using four parts from Queen Victoria’s Regal Circlet.
The removable fleur-de-lis, Maltese cross, and anthemion components of Queen Victoria’s Regal circlet could reportedly be swapped out and reconfigured.
Maxwell Stone, a diamond expert at Steven Stone told Express.co.uk: “Sophie’s beautiful diamond tiara was chosen from Queen Elizabeth II’s private jewellery collection.
“However, the Anthemion tiara also pays tribute to another former monarch, as it was reportedly constructed using four pieces from Queen Victoria’s Regal Circlet.
“It’s also possible that the tiara serves as a tribute to Prince Philip, due to its use of anthemion – a technique used in ancient Greek times. Before he married Queen Elizabeth II, the late royal was Prince of Greece and Denmark.
“It’s incredibly difficult to put a price on such a magnificent piece. I’d estimate it to be worth approximately £1.25million.”
