Okay, granted she hasn’t had much competition.
She’s the only future queen who regularly attends state functions like this—both Princess Elisabeth, future queen of the Belgians, and Princess Ingrid Alexandra, future queen of Norway, are studying abroad; and Princess Leonor is on the final year of a three-year stint in the Spanish military—but given that Princess Catharina-Amalia has worn six different tiaras in the few years she’s undertaken royal engagements, it’s not hard to give her the title.
I’ve been ready to crown Princess Catharina-Amalia from her first tiara appearance in 2022—at the 18th birthday banquet for Princess Ingrid Alexandra—but her appearance at the 11 December State Banquet for the Finnish president solidified it.
While the Dutch Diamond Bandeau tiara isn’t one of the more startling jewels at their disposal, it was the sight of Queen Emma’s diamond stomacher pendant worn around Princess Catharina-Amalia’s neck that caught my eye.
The 30-carat yellow diamond dates back to 1879, when it was presented to Queen Emma as a wedding present for her marriage to King Willem III of the Netherlands. It’s a scene-stealer, even managing to draw focus away from the historic bracelets and earrings Princess Catharina-Amalia also chose to wear. Pairing it with the muted Dutch Diamond Bandeau was an inspired choice by a future queen who knows what she’s doing.
In a biography published to coincide with her 18th birthday in 2021, Princess Catharina-Amalia revealed an eye for jewels. “Show me a tiara, and I’ll know where it came from,” she told biographer Claudia de Breij.
“I can recognize all the tiaras of Europe. I used to put them on from my mother. Then there would be one on her make-up table and I would have it directly on my head.”
The future queen is apparently speedrunning her way through the jewel vault. In four years, Princess Catharina-Amalia has worn six tiaras. Let’s take a closer look at all of her tiara appearances thus far.
DUTCH STAR TIARA
The Dutch Star tiara was the first ever worn by Princess Catharina-Amalia, at the aforementioned banquet for Princess Ingrid Alexandra’s 18th birthday in 2022. She would later wear it at the State Banquet in honour of the President of Portugal in December 2024.
It’s a tiara very closely associated with her mother, Queen Máxima, who wore the flashy piece at her 2002 wedding. While the tiara elements already existed, with the base from the Pearl Button tiara and the stars as diamond brooches given to Queen Emma as a wedding gift in 1879, Queen Máxima was the first to combine them and create a brand-new tiara.
RUBY PEACOCK TIARA
Princess Catharina-Amalia has worn the Ruby Peacock tiara twice: at the wedding gala for Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa of Jordan in June 2023; and at the State Banquet for King Felipe and Queen Letizia in April 2024.
The Ruby Peacock tiara dates back to 1897, inspired by—you guessed it—peacock motifs, and created for Queen Wilhelmina by a Dutch jeweller. The queen had wanted a ruby tiara created for her use, and the ruby elements once belonged to Queen Sophie, her father’s first wife. She would later pass the tiara down to her granddaughter, Princess Irene, who wore it regularly in the mid-century. In recent years, it’s been worn by Queen Máxima, Princess Beatrix, and now, Princess Catharina-Amalia, but whether it still belongs to Princess Irene or if it was sold back to the Dutch Royal Family is unknown.
DUTCH SAPPHIRE NECKLACE TIARA
Princess Catharina-Amalia wore the Dutch Sapphire Necklace tiara to Prince Christian’s 18th birthday gala in October 2023.
The Sapphire Necklace tiara began as, you guessed it, a necklace. It was presented to Queen Emma as a wedding gift in 1879 and was worn as a necklace until 2009, when it made its debut on a tiara frame with several sapphire and diamond lozenges added to the peaks.
MELLERIO RUBY TIARA
This is the tiara that Princess Catharina-Amalia wore as a little girl in candid pictures released with her biography, Amalia, and it was a full-circle moment for the future queen when she wore it for the first time (officially) at the State Banquet for the Sultan of Oman in April 2025.
Queen Emma received the Ruby Mellerio tiara for Christmas in 1888, a gift from a French jeweller of the same name, as part of an enormous parure set of complementary pieces. The tiara became a favourite, and one that she passed down to her daughter, Queen Wilhelmina, upon her death. The parure has gone on to be a popular choice for Dutch queens, with Princess Catharina-Amalia getting a taste for it during dress-up in 2012 and officially wearing it in 2025.
QUEEN EMMA’S DIAMOND TIARA
When Grand Duke Guillaume was sworn in earlier this year, the royals from the Netherlands and Belgium were on hand to celebrate the occasion. Princess Catharina-Amalia wore this grand tiara at the gala dinner in the new grand duke’s honour.
This sparkling diamond tiara, with three rosettes taking the spotlight, was a posthumous gift from King Willem III to Queen Emma, who received it months after her husband’s death in 1890. It became a simple, yet go-to tiara for the women of the Dutch Royal Family, and has been regularly worn since it was introduced.
