Queen Mary Brings a Lost Sapphire Tiara Back to the State Table
Queen Mary of Denmark wore a 127-year-old sapphire tiara to a state banquet at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on Monday evening, Oct. 19.
The dinner was hosted by the queen and King Frederik of Denmark in honor of Vietnamese President Tô Lâm and First Lady Ngô Phương Ly. It capped the first day of a three-day state visit, the formal official visit Denmark holds for a foreign head of state.
The tiara has a long road back to the table. It was made as a wedding gift for Queen Alexandrine when she married the future King Christian X of Denmark in 1898 Town & Country. The gift came from her Russian royal relatives, Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.
It did not stay in royal hands. The tiara was sold at auction by Bruun Rasmussen in 2018 for approximately $290,000. The Danish Royal Collection bought it back from a private owner in 2024.
Queen Mary then worked with jewelry designers Diana Holstein and Hanan Emquies to remake it. The result is fully reversible and can be worn three ways, as a tiara, a necklace or a brooch.
For the banquet she wore it low as a bandeau diadem, a band worn across the forehead. She also detached its top jewel and wore it on blue velvet as a bracelet. It matched her midnight blue gown by Danish designer Jesper Høvring.
Christiansborg Palace, the parliament building where Denmark stages official galas, hosted the dinner. The Danish Royal House listed the event as a gala dinner on the 19th in connection with the Vietnam visit Danish Royal House.
What makes this stand out is the reuse. Old jewels often sit in vaults. This one was bought back, taken apart and put to work again.
