Your guide to the Danish royal family’s exquisite and extensive tiaras

Loved by Crown Princess Mary, the Danish Ruby Tiara is a glittering piece with a history almost as extravagant as the tiara itself. In fact, the Danish Ruby Tiara wasn’t even a tiara to begin with – nor was it Danish. For the opulent coronation of Napoleon Bonaparte and Joséphine de Beauharnais in 1804, Désirée Clary was gifted a luxurious parure of ruby and diamond jewels including a necklace, earrings, a brooch and two branch-shaped hair ornaments. 

When Désirée passed away, the ruby parure was inherited by her daughter-in-law, Queen Josefina of Sweden. Her granddaughter, Princess Louise married King Frederik VIII of Denmark in 1869. Upon her wedding day, her grandmother gifted her the ruby parure because the red and white colours of the rubies and diamonds matched the Danish flag.

In turn, King Frederik VIII and Louise handed down the ruby parure to their son King Christian X and Alexandrine. They then passed the parure to King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid – who was a great-great-great-granddaughter of the parure’s original owner. Queen Ingrid took the two branch-shaped hair ornaments and turned them into a full tiara.

Whilst many of Queen Ingrid’s jewels were bequeathed to her three daughters, this particular tiara and ruby parure were left to Crown Prince Frederik.

The Ole Lynggaard Midnight Tiara is an exceptional display of modern Danish art and ingenuity. With more than 400 hours of craftsmanship, 1,340 brilliant-cut diamonds, 31 specially cut moonstones, and hand engraved details, the Midnight Tiara can only exclusively be worn by Princess Mary.

The Pearl Poiré Tiara is one of the most exquisite tiaras in the Danish royal family’s collection. 

Unlike the Danish Crown Jewels, which belong to the state, the Pearl Poiré Tiara and parure are a part of the Danish Royal Property – meaning it belongs to the royal family and can only be worn by a sitting monarch or queen consort.

The tiara was commissioned around 1825 by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia as a wedding fit for his daughter, Louise,  who was set to marry Prince Frederik of the Netherlands. The crown made its way through a number of Scandinavian royal families before it was finally inherited by Queen Margrethe’s great-grandmother, Queen Louise who married King Frederik VIII of Denmark in 1869. 

Since then, the Pearl Poiré tiara has been donned by Queen Margrethe at a number of important occasions including in her first official portrait as Queen.

The Baden Palmette Tiara is another diamond-encrusted tiara that Queen Margrethe inherited from her mother, Queen Ingrid. The tiara features tall, intricate heart motifs and due to its romantic character, the Queen often wears this particular piece to royal weddings. 

The tiara is thought to be a gift from German Emperor Wilhelm I to his only daughter, Princess Louise of Prussia, for her wedding to Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden in 1856.

Queen Ingrid inherited the tiara from her great grandmother, Princess Louise of Prussia. Upon Queen Ingrid’s passing in 2000, the Baden Palmette tiara was bequeathed to Queen Margrethe where it became part of the Danish royal tiaras.

Since then, the Pearl Poiré tiara has been donned by Queen Margrethe at a number of important occasions including in her first official portrait as Queen.

The Khedive of Egypt Tiara gives the Floral Aigrette tiara a run for its money as the most romantic tiara in the Danish royal family’s collection. The tiara was gifted to Princess Margaret of Connaught and Prince Gustav Adolf, the future King of Sweden as a wedding present.

The tiara is made of diamonds and features an intricate scroll motif. Made by Cartier, the tiara was gifted by Khedive Abbas II of Egypt to the couple as a reminder that the pair had fallen in love in Cairo. 

When Margaret died in 1920, she left this tiara and her other jewels to her daughter, Queen Ingrid. Though Ingrid did not wear the tiara on her wedding day to Frederik IX, Queen Margarethe, her sister Queen Anne-Marie and countless other Danish royals have donned this tiara for their nuptials.

Whilst this is not exactly a tiara, it is one of the most interesting and artistic pieces that Queen Margrethe wears. Made in 1976 by Arje Griegst, the Golden Poppies were commissioned by Queen Margrethe herself. 

The piece features eight golden poppies which are attached to a comb. The comb is intended to be fastened at the nape of the neck and the flowers are to ornate across the wearer’s head. The poppies are also removable and can be worn individually making it a versatile and avant-garde piece.

As the name suggests, the Queen Alexandrine Diamond Drop Tiara once belonged to Queen Margrethe’s paternal grandmother, Alexandrine of Denmark. The tiara features hundreds of dainty diamond droplets hanging from the frame. 

There is not a great deal of information surrounding the tiara’s creation. However, Alexandrine of Denmark left the piece to her son King Frederik IX who in turn gifted it to Queen Margrethe on her 18th birthday. 

Queen Margrethe often wore the Alexandrine Diamond Drop Tiara throughout her reign before gifting it to Alexandra Manley. Alexandra Manley is known as the Countess of Frederiksborg who was married to Queen Margrethe’s son, Prince Joachim, from 2005 to 2015.

Though the couple divorced in 2005, Alexandra kept the tiara and often wears it to royal family occasions.

The Princess Dagmar Tiara was owned by Princess Dagmar of Denmark, Queen Margrethe’s great aunt. This particular tiara is quite dainty and features tall, floral diamond motifs. The Princess Dagmar Tiara is one of the more elusive tiaras in the collection. There is very little information about its origin or how the royal family came to acquire it. However, at some point it was passed down to Queen Margrethe who in turn loaned it to Princess Marie of Denmark, her daughter-in-law. 

This particular piece quickly became Princess Marie’s favourite of the Danish royal tiaras. She has since worn the Princess Dagmar tiara consistently since first wearing it on her wedding day in 2008.

For her ruby jubilee in 2012, Queen Margrethe was gifted a truly stunning yellow gold tiara from the people of Greenland – which is part of the realm of Denmark. 

The tiara features several floral motifs and was made from melted down coins that had been retrieved from Greenlandic mines. ‘Naasut’ was used to name the tiara as it is the Greenlandic word for flowers.

Designed by Nicolai Appel, a Greenlandic goldsmith, the tiara also came with a set of matching earrings.

The Floral Aigrette tiara is another interesting piece within the Danish royal family’s tiara collection and has a special connection to Queen Margrethe’s great grandmother. The tiara is entirely made of intricate diamonds and consists of three sections that together form the frame of the tiara. These pieces can also be separated and worn as hair ornaments and a corsage ornament.

The tiara was said to have been owned by Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, who is Queen Margrethe’s paternal great grandmother. The tiara then ended up in the possession of Danish opera singer, Lauritz Melchior’s wife. Upon her death in 1963, King Frederik IX brought the tiara back into the family fold when he purchased it for Queen Margrethe’s mother, Queen Ingrid. 

Queen Ingrid debuted the tiara at Queen Margrethe’s 1967 wedding to Henri de Laborde de Monpezat. In turn, Queen Margrethe wore the Floral Aigrette tiara to her son Prince Frederik and Princess Mary’s 2003 wedding.