Queen Victoria’s ruby and diamond bandeau was designed by Prince Albert and made by Joseph Kitching in 1844. In 1848, the piece was altered by Garrard’s (the court jeweller) and again in 1860, when ‘Strawberry leaves, scrolls and Rubies‘ were added. From then, it became known as the Strawberry Leaf tiara. Queen Victoria can be seen wearing the original bandeau in the 1855 watercolour by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.
After Albert died in 1861, Victoria only wore white jewels. However, the Strawberry Leaf tiara is one of the few coloured stones that she wore during her mourning. Ten years after the death of her husband, she wore the tiara to the wedding of her daughter, Princess Louise, which she wore alongside parts of its coordinating parure.
© Royal Collection Trust / HM King Charles III
In 1885, Queen Victoria gave the tiara and parure to her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice, as a wedding gift. At some point after she received the tiara, Beatrice had a jeweler enlarge the piece by adding an additional row of diamond elements at its base, including strawberry leaf designs that mirror the top of the tiara.
In the early 1920s, Princess Beatrice loaned Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara to her daughter, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, who wore the tiara and parure for a series of portraits by Christian Franzen y Nisser. However Victoria Eugene didn’t inherit the tiara: instead, the ruby set was left to her elder brother, the Marquess of Carisbrooke and his wife Irene. Irene wasn’t fond of rubies and is believed to have had the piece reset with all-diamonds in 1933.
The tiara was last seen worn in 1939 to the opera but since then its whereabouts has remained unknown.
©️ Queen.Victoria.Roses 2024
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What a lovely tiara. I have always liked that water color of Queen Victoria. Have many pieces of Victoria’s jewelry gone unaccounted for?
I imagine there might be as Albert gifted her so many lovely pieces of jewelry.
I believe there’s a few that were passed into her children and grandchildren so they’re either still in private collections or been sold on. Luckily the most poignant pieces were either left to the crown or added to the royal collection