The jewelry narrative of Diana, Princess of Wales, is unique within the annals of the British Royal Family because it represents a duality of identity. Unlike other royal brides who were entirely dependent on the Sovereign for their regalia, Lady Diana Spencer entered the monarchy as a member of one of Britain’s premier aristocratic houses, possessing its own ancestral vault. Consequently, her tiara usage was defined by a tension between the Spencer Tiara symbolizing her own lineage and independence and the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara symbolizing her official role within the House of Windsor. While she utilized the Crown’s jewels to perform her state duties, she frequently retreated to her family’s heirloom for comfort and identity. Her approach to these objects was not merely traditional; she famously subverted jewelry etiquette, repurposing chokers as headbands and redefining how royal regalia could be worn in the media age.
The Ancestral Anchor: The Spencer Tiara
For the wedding of the century in July 1981, the expectation was that the new Princess of Wales would wear a piece from the royal collection, likely the Lover’s Knot. Instead, Lady Diana chose to wear the Spencer Tiara. This decision was a powerful assertion of her own aristocratic pedigree. She was not a commoner being elevated; she was a Spencer joining the Windsors.
The tiara itself is a composite object, a "Frankenstein" of jewelry assembled over nearly sixty years. It is not a single commission but a marriage of various family heirlooms. The central element, a heart-shaped motif flanked by scrolls, was a wedding gift presented to Diana’s grandmother, Cynthia, Viscountess Althorp, in 1919. Other sections of the tiara originated from a piece belonging to Lady Sarah Spencer in the 1870s, and further diamond elements were added from the family collection to complete the span. The final unification of these pieces into the current scrolling tulip and star design occurred in the 1930s, executed by a leading London jewelry firm.
Visually, the Spencer Tiara is distinct from the royal diadems. It is a floral scroll design, lighter and more open than the heavy, imperial fenders of the royal vault. Its provenance is purely English aristocracy, devoid of the Russian or German stones that populate the Queen’s collection. Throughout her marriage, this remained Diana’s preferred tiara. She wore it for the most significant state occasions, not only for its sentimental value but for practical medical reasons. The Princess famously suffered from migraines, and the lightweight construction of the Spencer Tiara was far more comfortable for long banquets than the heavy royal loans. By wearing it, she maintained a visual link to her pre-royal identity, keeping one foot firmly planted in the history of Althorp House.
The Royal Burden: The Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara
If the Spencer Tiara represented freedom and family, the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara (often referred to simply as Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot) represented duty and the weight of the Crown. This piece was a lifetime loan from Queen Elizabeth II to the Princess of Wales shortly after her marriage.
The tiara’s history is a testament to Queen Mary’s obsession with genealogy. It was commissioned in 1913 to replicate a specific tiara owned by her grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse, the Duchess of Cambridge. The design is Gothic Revival, characterized by nineteen openwork diamond arches. Suspended within each arch is a large oriental pearl drop, and the entire structure is surmounted by diamond "lover’s knot" bows. Originally, the tiara was topped by a row of upright pearls, but Queen Mary later had these removed to reduce the height, leaving the silhouette we see today.
For Diana, this tiara was the official uniform of the Princess of Wales. She wore it for the State Opening of Parliament and major diplomatic receptions. However, the relationship between the wearer and the object was fraught. The tiara is notoriously heavy, and the swinging movement of the pearl drops generates a distinctive noise and kinetic force that many wearers have found distracting. Diana frequently complained that the sheer weight of the piece induced splitting headaches. Furthermore, its aesthetic heavy, traditional, and pearl-laden contrasted sharply with her modern, fashion-forward wardrobe. Yet, she understood its semiotic power. When she wore the Lover’s Knot, she was projecting the majesty of the future Queen Consort, aligning herself visually with the Queen and Queen Mary. It was the armor of the state, worn when the occasion demanded absolute regality.
The Art Deco Rebellion: The Emerald Choker Bandeau
Perhaps the most iconic moment in Diana’s jewelry history occurred during a tour of Australia in 1985, involving the Queen Mary Art Deco Emerald Choker. This piece was part of the Delhi Durbar Parure, a suite of jewelry created to celebrate the proclamation of King George V as Emperor of India in 1911.
The choker features sixteen distinct rectangular clusters of diamonds and emeralds, arranged in the geometric style of the Art Deco period. It was given to Queen Elizabeth II by Queen Mary, and subsequently loaned to Diana as a wedding gift. Traditionally, this object was designed to be worn tightly around the neck. However, in a moment of accidental innovation (or perhaps deliberate styling rebellion), Diana attempted to put the choker on over her head, and it stuck on her forehead. Liking the look, she wore it across her brow as a bandeau for a gala dance in Melbourne.
This styling choice was radical. It referenced the flapper fashion of the 1920s but applied it to a piece of serious royal emeralds. It shattered the stuffy image of royal jewelry, transforming a static heirloom into a piece of high fashion. The "disco diadem" look became one of her defining images, symbolizing her ability to modernize the monarchy. It showcased her willingness to bend the rules of protocol to suit her own aesthetic, treating the Crown’s treasures as accessories rather than sacred relics.
The Sapphire Innovation: The Velvet Headband
While not a traditional tiara of gold and platinum, the Sapphire and Diamond Velvet Headband deserves mention as a piece of "constructed" regalia. The genesis of this piece lay in a suite of sapphire jewelry given to the Princess by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia as a wedding gift.
The suite included a watch set with sapphires and diamonds. Finding the watchstrap style outdated, Diana dismantled the piece. She took the central sapphire and diamond cluster from the watch face and the diamond production from the strap, mounting them onto a band of midnight-blue velvet. She wore this makeshift "tiara" across her forehead or on top of her hair. This was a democratization of jewelry; she was creating her own headwear from dismantled gifts, bypassing the Royal Vault entirely. It spoke to her resourcefulness and her desire to create a look that matched her blue eyes and engagement ring, without the headache-inducing weight of the Lover’s Knot.
Princess Diana’s tiara collection was small in number but massive in impact. She effectively rotated between two primary pieces: the Spencer Tiara and the Lover’s Knot. This rotation created a visual dialogue between her two selves. The Spencer Tiara was the "People’s Princess" accessible, personal, and connected to her own roots. The Lover’s Knot was the "Princess of Wales" formal, dutiful, and encumbered by the weight of tradition. Her experimental use of the Emerald Choker and the Sapphire Headband demonstrated a third facet: the global fashion icon who refused to be defined solely by the past. Unlike the Queens before her, who accumulated gems to display wealth, Diana used tiaras to display personality, turning the static symbols of monarchy into dynamic elements of her own personal narrative.
