When Kate Middleton arrived at Westminster Abbey on her wedding day on 29 April 2011, all eyes were on her long-sleeved lace bridal gown by Alexander McQueen. But attention quickly moved to the dazzling tiara upon her head: the Cartier Halo, comprising 739 brilliant-cut diamonds and 149 baguette diamonds.
Ahead of the wedding, there had been much speculation about which pieces Kate would borrow from the late Queen Elizabeth II’s extensive jewellery collection. There were reports that the young royal might ditch the tiara altogether, and wear a flower crown, like her own mother, Carole, did when she married her father, Michael. In the end, Kate went for the traditional approach, selecting a tiara that’s steeped in royal history.
Featuring a scroll design, the tiara was purchased by Queen Elizabeth II’s father, then the Duke of York, in November 1936 as a present to his wife, Elizabeth, the Duchess of York (who later became the Queen Mother). The Duchess was first photographed wearing the tiara at a charity ball at London’s Claridge’s that month – just weeks before King Edward VIII abdicated and the Duke became King George V. “The halo tiara is a style that was very popular in that period,” Rachel Garrahan, Vogue’s contributing jewellery and watch director, and co-curator of the V&A’s new Cartier exhibition, notes.
The tiara was later gifted by Queen Elizabeth to the then Princess Elizabeth for her 18th birthday – although Queen Elizabeth II was never actually pictured wearing the headpiece in public. Later, both Princess Margaret and Princess Anne were photographed in the tiara, before the Cartier Halo was worn by Kate on her wedding day.
Of course, the French jewellery has enjoyed a long relationship with the British royal family, as the V&A’s Cartier exhibition shows. While the Halo tiara will not be on display, the showcase does feature the Cartier Scroll tiara, which also features – you’ve guessed it – a scroll design. Comprising 1,040 diamonds, the headpiece, too, has a royal connection: it was originally commissioned by the Earl of Essex in 1902 for his wife, Adele, Countess of Essex, who wore it to King Edward VII’s coronation that year. Some 50 years later, the Scroll tiara was worn by Winston Churchill’s wife, Clementine, to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953. “It’s a beautiful example of tiaras at that time, [with] these beautiful scroll motifs set in diamond and gold,” Garrahan describes.
Nowadays, the Cartier Scroll tiara belongs in the jewellery house’s extensive archives – although it did make a rare public appearance in 2016, when Rihanna wore the diamond headpiece on the cover of W magazine – styled by British Vogue’s former editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful.
