Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain had a strong jewellery collection, many of which were included in the joyas de pasar– a collection of jewels now reserved for the Queen of Spain’s sole use. Her aquamarine parure tiara was not included in the collection and has passed down her family line; luckily for royal watchers, it is still worn publicly.
Queen Victoria Eugenia (known as Ena) received a diamond tiara set with swinging pearls in the early twentieth century from her husband, King Alfonso. Similar to the Vladimir Tiara in the British collection, the suspended jewels are able to be changed.
By the 1920s, Queen Ena had the the tiara set with aquamarines and gave it to her daughter, Infanta Beatriz, in 1935 as a wedding gift.
Beatriz called on Bulgari to reset the large aquamarine stones in a diamond circle tiara and it became one of her most worn tiaras. She wore it for several major events, including the wedding of the future King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain in 1962.
The Infanta’s daughter, Dona Olimpia Torlonia, inherited the tiara in 2002. Olimpia wore the aquamarine tiara to Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark’s 2004 wedding to Mary Donaldson.
Olimpia’s daughter, Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg, has worn the tiara multiple times.
The tiara was included in Bulgari exhibition in Moscow in 2018.
