Have you ever wondered?
The royal family are like buried treasure to me… every day I discover something new and intriguing.
So much so that people are actually starting to text me royal news.
There I am last night, when my phone dings and I see my friend has messaged me.
She kindly informed me that royal tradition is pretty weird when it comes to tiaras.
And so, I looked into it.
Have you ever seen a picture of Princess Eugenie or Princess Beatrice rocking a tiara? Nope.
Well, according to London jewelry expert Geoffrey Munn, there’s a significant reason why Eugenie and Beatrice don’t get tiaras.
Munn told Town and Country that “any woman may wear one, but ancient tradition has it that they must be a bride or already married.”
“The tiara has its roots in classical antiquity and was seen as an emblem of the loss of innocence to the crowning of love. One of the mainstays of European royalty and aristocracy is to do what you have always done and formal dress, jewelry, and tiaras are just part of this.”
“Tiaras are certainly amongst the largest pieces of jewelry, and certainly the most imposing, but they not emblems of inherited rank.”
“It is not the owner that triggers the wearing of tiaras but the event at which they are worn. In the past they were worn at full evening dress occasions, which are now know as ‘white tie.'”
“Sometimes the invitation would say ‘Tiaras will be worn.’ This is virtually over now. Correct form decreed that they were never worn at hotels. That too has fallen by the wayside.”
How interesting!
So while the rule isn’t super strict, it is likely that the main members of the Royal Family have stuck with tradition.
This means we’ll see the lovely Princess Eugenie wearing a tiara on her wedding day in October.
But Beatrice will likely have to wait until she herself is getting married!
Oh, I cannot bloody wait!
