Well, we know one tiara that Queen Camilla won’t be wearing for a while. The Queen’s jewellery picks have been rather exciting in recent times, from quirky brooches to her own mother’s exquisite turquoise gems, but a favourite and famous tiara is out of bounds until the end of the year and for a very good reason. The sparkling Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara is now a star attraction in a brand new royal exhibition.
The tiara, which was worn by Queen Camilla at Buckingham Palace just a few months ago, is sparkling at the heart of the new show at the King’s Gallery in London. The Edwardians: Age of Elegance shines a spotlight on the opulence and glamour of the early 20th century through the lives of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra and this stunning tiara is one of the big draws.
(i-Images/ Pool)
There are no prizes for guessing who it first belonged to but Alexandra actually acquired this beautiful gem before she became queen. In 1888, the then Prince and Princess of Wales celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Lady Salisbury organised a group of 365 peeresses who donated funds to purchase a tiara to gift to Alexandra to mark the occasion (the tiara was accompanied by a pair of floret diamond earrings).
The Princess specifically requested the kokoshnik style. Her sister, the Empress of Russia, was more than familiar with the style that is based on the style of a Russian peasant headdress. It was created by Garrard under the close supervision of the Marchioness of Ailesbury, the Marchioness of Salisbury, the Countess of Cork and the Countess Spencer.
In The Queen’s Jewels, Leslie Field describes the tiara as “formed of sixty-one platinum bars graduating from the centre in the eighteenth-century manner and totally encrusted with 488 diamonds, of which the biggest two are 3.25 carats each.”
After her death in 1925, Alexandra passed the tiara on to her daughter-in-law, Mary. It was given as a personal inheritance, rather than as an Heirloom of the Crown. Although Alexandra did not often wear the kokoshnik-style tiara after her husband became King, Mary did frequently wear it for portraits as Queen.
When her second son took the throne in 1936, Mary had to give much of her jewellery to the new queen, Elizabeth. However, she did not give the Queen Alexandra Kokoshnik Tiara to Elizabeth, because it was personally hers and one of her favourite pieces.
Queen Elizabeth II inherited this tiara upon her grandmother’s death in 1953. She wore the tiara for countless state banquets and events throughout her reign. She wore it for several other notable events, including meeting with the Pope in 1959.
However, in the last years of her reign she favoured other tiaras and this piece wasn’t seen for almost a decade until Queen Camilla chose it for the State Banquet in November 2024 in honour of the Amir of Qatar.
You can get a closer look at the tiara yourself with a visit to The Edwardians: Age of Elegance which runs from April 11th until November 23rd 2025 at The King’s Gallery.
