Princess Ingrid Alexandra turns 18 on January 21, and thus comes of age. Unfortunately, much of the planned celebration has been postponed due to Covid-19, but the day will still be marked by her visiting the three state powers and receiving deputations.
In the original plan, her coming of age was also to be celebrated with a gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Oslo, which means that we would see her debut with a tiara. It is a tradition that the royals receive their very first tiara either on their 18th birthday, or when they marry into the royal family. Because the party has been postponed, we unfortunately have to wait longer than we had hoped to see the princess in a tiara. The Norwegian press has nevertheless been very keen to speculate which tiara the princess will wear when that day comes.
A tradition is often that princesses of Norway have tiaras that are quite small and light. Then you have more to choose from. This has led many to favour “Queen Maud’s fan”. This is a small tiara with diamonds that was a wedding gift to Queen Maud in 1896.
Several Norwegian historians believe that Queen Sonja may be able to lend her grandchild the Maltese diadem, which was made for Queen Maud’s mother, Queen Alexandra of Great Britain. The Maltese crosses can be removed, and Princess Märtha Louise wore it in the simpler version when she was a young princess.
What is very likely is that the Princess will take over all or part of the jewellery collection of Princess Ragnhild. Princess Ragnhild was King Harald’s older sister and had a large collection of jewellery at her disposal. When she died in 2012, the jewellery was returned to King Harald and has not been used for the last 10 years. The collection includes Queen Maud’s large diamond tiara. Many believe that King Harald will now give the right to use this to his granddaughter. Then Princess Ingrid Alexandra will get a large jewellery collection at her disposal.
An opportunity that many favour is that the princess will receive a newly purchased tiara, as Crown Princess Mette-Marit did when she got married, being presented with an all diamond diadem by her new parents-in-law. Princess Märtha Louise was gifted a new tiara by King Olav on her 18th birthday. It is possible that King Harald has bought a brand new tiara to celebrate the coming of age of the future queen. For several years, many have hoped that the Norwegian royal family would acquire a tiara that is made in Norway, by Norwegian craftsmen, with Norwegian symbolism
