The Belgian Sapphire Tiara: A Priceless Gem with a Scandalous History

Queen Elizabeth II wearing the Belgian sapphire tiara. Image from Getty Images

In 1947, Princess Elizabeth, heiress presumptive to the British throne, married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince of Greece and Denmark). The bride received gifts from all over the world, from the humblest to the most precious. Among the priceless jewels she received were the  Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara, a pair of diamond earrings and diamond brooch, all three from her grandmother, Queen Mary.  The Nizzam of Hyderabad thought it was fitting for a future queen to receive a tiara on this special day, while the people of Burma sent her 96 rubies to protect her from harm; the two gifts were later used to create the Burmese ruby tiara. From King George VI, the bride received a suite of sapphires, consisting of a necklace and earrings (a bracelet and ring was later purchased to complement it).

Some time later, when Elizabeth was already a queen, she thought the sapphire suite seemed incomplete. Ah, a tiara is what I need! In 1963, she found just the right piece to crown her ruby set. What made it special is its royal provenance that dates back to the 19th century.

Princess Louise of Belgium, the daughter of notorious King Leopold II, was married to Prince Ferdinand Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. However, it was an unhappy marriage, so she left her husband for Count Geza Mattachich, a lieutenant in a Croatian regiment of the Austrian army. The two lived in Paris but Louise’s extravagance cost her her fortune. But what scandalized the Belgian royal court was when it was learned that Mattachich forged the signature of Princess Stephanie (Louise’s sister) on promissory notes for jewelry worth $2.5 million at that time. This episode left Louise in an asylum, while Mattachich was imprisoned. In order to pay off her debts, King Leopold II auctioned off all of the jewels that she inherited from her mother, the late Queen Henriette. One of the pieces sold was a sapphire necklace, which was sold again in 1963 and was snapped by Queen Elizabeth II.  This would be the latest addition in the queen’s extensive tiara collection.

After having necklace set on a frame, the queen has exclusively worn it as a tiara. A close look at it would remind you that it was formerly a necklace. The queen frequently wore this tiara  until the 1990s. It was back on the spotlight, albeit briefly, in 2015, when Her Majesty donned the tiara at the state banquet for Chinese President Xi Jinping.