Queen’s glittering gifts for Bea
OFFICIAL ROYAL WEDDING PHOTO ALBUM
PRINCESS Beatrice walked down the aisle at the Royal Chapel of All Saints in a stunning gown gifted to her by her grandmother the Queen, and wearing the same dazzling tiara worn on Her Majesty’s own wedding day.
Despite a dramatically scaled down ceremony on Friday due to the coronavirus restrictions, the Queen ensured that her beloved granddaughter’s big day would be extra special.
Her Majesty and the Duke of Edinburgh looked on as Beatrice married Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in the small private ceremony in Windsor, after postponing their planned grand wedding in May because of the lockdown.
The Queen loaned Beatrice a vintage dress designed by Norman Hartnell and made from Peau De Soie taffeta in shades of ivory, trimmed with ivory Duchess satin, with organza sleeves.
This dress, which the Queen is believed to have worn to the
‘The Queen made the big day extra special’
premiere of Lawrence Of Arabia in London in 1962, is encrusted with diamanté and has a geometric checkered bodice.
It was remodelled and fitted for Beatrice by the Queen’s dresser Angela Kelly and top designer Stewart Parvin.
However, the crowning glory was the 100-year-old Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara which her grandmother allowed Beatrice, the eldest daughter of Prince Andrew and Sarah Ferguson, to wear.
The priceless heirloom was worn by the Queen on her marriage to Philip and by Princess Anne on her 1973 wedding day.
It was originally made for Queen Mary by Garrard & Co in 1919, from a diamond necklace given by Queen Victoria for her wedding. Mary regularly had her jewellery dismantled in order to make new pieces.
However, there was huge drama when the tiara broke on the morning of the Queen’s big day in 1947. She told the story to the Duchess of Cambridge in 2018 while attending an exhibition featuring Kate’s wedding dress.
She said: “The catch, which I didn’t know existed, it suddenly went. And I didn’t know it was a necklace, you see... I thought I’d broken it.
“We stuck it all together again but I was rather alarmed.”
For the ceremony on Friday, Beatrice carried a bouquet of trailing jasmine, pale pink and cream sweet peas, Royal Porcelina ivory spray roses, pink O’hara garden roses, pink waxflower and baby pink astilbe.
In keeping with royal tradition sprigs of myrtle were included in the bouquet, which was made by Patrice Van Helden Oakes, coowner of RVH Floral Design, which made sister Eugenie’s bouquet when she married wine merchant Jack Brooksbank in 2018.
Beatrice’s wearing of the 100-year-old diamond fringe tiara continues a tradition seen at other royal nuptials.
At the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton in 2012, Kate wore the Halo tiara which had been gifted to the Queen on her 18th birthday. It consists of 739 brilliants and 149 baton diamonds.
As a mark of her senior status within the Royal Family, Kate has also worn the Lover’s Knot tiara eight times on State occasions.
This was the favourite of Princess Diana’s and consists of diamonds and 19 hanging pearls, set in silver and gold.
Her Majesty also loaned Beatrice’s younger sister Eugenie the Greville emerald tiara for her wedding.
That piece was left to the Queen by its original owner, Dame Margaret Greville, in 1942.
Her Majesty decides which items of the royal collection to loan to family members for special occasions.
Ahead of Prince Harry’s wedding to Meghan Markle in Windsor in May 2018, the Queen selected Queen Mary’s diamond and platinum bandeau tiara for the Duchess of Sussex to wear.
But royal sources said that Meghan instead wanted to wear another emerald tiara from the family collection.
It was reported that Harry told staff before the wedding: “What Meghan wants, Meghan gets.”
A royal insider claimed at the time: “There was a very heated exchange that prompted the Queen to speak to Harry.
“She said, ‘Meghan cannot have whatever she wants. She gets what tiara she’s given by me.’”