The tiara plucked from obscurity to take a starring role at a royal wedding

The jewels of the Royal Family are some of the best known in the world but every now and again, even the Windsors can pull off a sparkling surprise. When Princess Eugenie got married, in October 2018, no one saw her tiara pick coming. This royal bride walked down the aisle in a diadem that few had ever heard of and which had been, until this appearance, an obscure part of this celebrated gem collection.

The Princess borrowed a tiara from her grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, and one that hadn’t been seen in many years. Eugenie wore the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara for her marriage to Jack Brooksbank, and it had plenty of very special family links.

The tiara was made in 1921 by the jeweller Boucheron for the very wealthy Margaret Greville who already had one of the most impressive collections of gems in London. It was constructed in the popular kokoshnik style, imitating the traditional Russian headdress. The tiara features a central emerald of over 90 carats set amongst brilliant and rose cut diamonds pave all set in platinum. The diamonds are interspersed with smaller emeralds on either side of the star gem.

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Princess Eugenie also wore a pair of diamond and emerald earrings as part of her bridal outfit. The gems were a gift from her groom, Jack Brooksbank.

The emerald and diamond tiara came into the Royal Family’s collection on the death of Margaret Greville in 1942. She left her sizeable selection of jewels to Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, in what became known as the Greville Bequest. Among the other gems to make its way into the Windsor vaults at the same time is an all diamond diadem now usually worn by the Duchess of Cornwall. When the Queen Mother died in 2002, the jewels were left to Queen Elizabeth II.

The tiara choice of Princess Eugenie surprised many but it put a spotlight on a jewel collection that continues to sparkle.