The Lotus Flower Tiara

Summary
The Lotus Flower, or Papyrus, Tiara, worn in most recent years by HRH the Duchess of Cambridge, was originally a necklace made by Garrard. King George VI, when he was Duke of York, purchased the necklace of diamonds and pearls for his bride in 1923. Six months after the present was given, the new Duchess of York decided she would like it as a tiara better. It was sent back to Garrard to be dismantled and reassembled as a headpiece.

The Duchess, later Queen Elizabeth, and even later the Queen Mother, typically wore this tiara on the forehead, a style that was in vogue in the 1920s and 30s. She wore it in a series of portraits to mark the coronation of her husband as King, but not after, and she passed it onto her younger daughter, Princess Margaret. (The Queen Mother had also loaned it to her sister, Lady Elphinstone, for the coronation in 1937.)

Princess Margaret loaned it to her daughter-in-law, Serena, then Viscountess Linley, and now Countess of Snowdon. The Duchess of Cambridge, formerly Catherine Middleton, elevated the piece to even higher fame when she wore it, first in December 2013, and secondly, to a state banquet for the President of China in October 2015.

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