Queen Mary of Denmark was the unrivalled star of the first day
of a State Visit to Latvia and she crowned
her success with a tiara that has a very modern symbolic
meaning.

Mary, who was accompanying her husband on this important trip,
chose a diamond and ruby tiara that’s far from grand in stature but
is heavy with story.

For the tiara in question was bought by Mary herself when she
was still Crown Princess of Denmark. She acquired the gems at
auction and is believed to have paid several thousand euros for
them. However, their value has increased greatly since then as
they’ve become part of a royal collection.

Her decision stamped her own personality on her life as a royal.
Queen Mary had been presented with a parure of ruby and diamond
gems just before her marriage to King Frederik in 2004. The bride,
then Mary Donaldson, had no royal style jewels of her own – she was
marrying into one of the oldest reigning dynasties in the world as
a former business consultant, not a princess.

The jewels she received had once belonged to her groom’s
grandmother, Queen Ingrid of Denmark. However, Denmark has fairly
strict rules around its gems. Its most famous tiaras are reserved
for the use of the current queen only. Around 2012, Mary decided to
add her own gems to her collection and bought an antique Edwardian
necklace at auction. She wore it publicly for the first time
several years later and before long had done what its original
designer intended for it – had a frame made so it could also be
used as a tiara.

Since then, the diadem has become one of her favourite pieces.
It’s a very pretty tiara, featuring delicate scroll designs
dominated by diamonds but with a sprinkle of rubies and spinels,
both known for their deep red shade. This was also symbolic, paying
homage to the colours of the Danish flag.

On her husband’s accession as King of Denmark, on January 14
2024, Queen Mary acquired a new set of tiaras to wear as those gems
reserved for majesties was suddenly at her disposal. She’s worn
them for high profile events since and made particular use of a
stunning emerald tiara that is seen as one of the most symbolic in
the collection and which is so important to Denmark that it can
never leave the country.

The Danish queen has also dug into the royal archives since King
Frederik took the throne and debuted two new tiaras. One is a

gold diadem set with stones that were found during a 19th century
royal visit to Pompeii and Vesuvius.

Queen Caroline Amalie, wife of King Christian VIII, had the
unique gold tiara created sometime around 1820. The tiara is set
with varied oval-shaped gems, including a striking large red stone
in the centre. The stones give the tiara a particularly personal
touch as she collected them while the couple was visiting Rome and
Pompeii from 1819 to 1821. 

At the end of 2024, Queen Mary revealed she had been working
with royal jewellers to
make a new tiara for the Danish royal collection. She used gems
from a set known as the rose stone collection which had been worn
as a necklace. She had the large round diamonds made into a bandeau
style tiara which bears some similarities to smaller diadems in
other royal collections including that of the Netherlands.

However, her latest appearance shows the importance she still
places on a tiara that she found at auction and bought to give
herself her own piece of royal jewellery. The diamond and ruby
diadem is a piece filled with very modern royal symbolism.