Celebrity
Princess Madeleine wears controversial ruby tiara for the first time as Sweden’s royals host Iceland’s president on state visit
Princess Madeleine of Sweden has surprised many royal watchers by wearing a rare tiara with a controversial past to a lavish palace banquet.
The Swedish royals have welcomed Iceland’s president Halla Tómasdóttir, and her spouse, Björn Skúlason, for a two-day state visit.
As per royal tradition, the first night of the tour ended with a gala dinner inside the Royal Palace with the women wearing gowns and tiaras.
Watch the video above.
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It was hosted by King Carl XVI Gustaf and his wife Queen Silvia with their eldest daughter, and heir, Crown Princess Victoria among the guests alongside her husband Prince Daniel.
Prince Carl Philip was there too but his wife, Princess Sofia, was absent.
Last week Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip showed off their three-month-old daughter, Princess Ines, on the palace balcony during celebrations for the King’s 79th birthday.
The baby was born on February 7 and is the first daughter for the couple, who have three sons.
Princess Ines will be baptised on June 13, on what will be Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia’s 10th wedding anniversary.
Also attending the palace banquet overnight was Princess Madeleine and her husband Christopher O’Neill.
Princess Madeleine and O’Neill recently returned to Sweden after living in Florida for nearly a decade and isn’t a working member of the royal family, unlike her siblings Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Carl Philip.
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But since their return in late 2024, Princess Madeleine and O’Neill have been taking part in more official engagements with the royal family. She recently announced the launch of her own skincare line, minLen.
Their three children Princess Leonore, Prince Nicolas, 10, and Princess Adrienne, seven, were also included on the palace balcony last week for their grandfather’s birthday.
For the banquet, Princess Madeleine wore a diamond and ruby tiara for the first time even though it has been in the Swedish royal vaults for decades.
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Royal historian Trond Norén Isaksen said the jewel had long been “a bone of contention within the Swedish royal family”.
Created by E. Wolff & Co., for British jewellers Garrard, the tiara was a gift from King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Great Britain to their niece, Princess Margaret, when she married Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in 1905.
How princess got away with repeating this look since 2015
Later known as Crown Princess Margareta, the royal died in 1920 and the tiara passed to her second son, Prince Sigvard, who in 1934 was stripped of his royal titles when he married a commoner.
The tiara came back into the King’s ownership when Sigvard got into financial difficulty before once again being left to a descendant of Sigvard’s years later.
Sweden’s current King, who acceded the throne in 1973, eventually bought back the tiara. As for Sigvard, he was banished from the royal court in 1983 when he announced he’d taken back his royal title.
The ruby and diamond tiara has since been worn by Queen Silvia in the years since but never before by Princess Madeleine.
Her sister Crown Princess Victoria wore the diamond and aquamarine Kokoshnik tiara which has been a favourite of Madeleine’s.
Queen Silvia chose the large headpiece known as Queen Sofia’s tiara, which is sometimes called the Nine Prong tiara due to its large diamond prongs designed to represent sunburst-like rays, creating the effect of a sun rising from the water.
The Queen also wore her incredible suite of jewels consisting of large pink topaz stones surrounded by diamonds.
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