Vladimir Tiara

Summary
This tiara takes its name from the original owner, the wife of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, whose father was the Tsar Alexander II. Her name was Marie and she was born a princess of Mecklenburg-Scherwin. For her marriage, she converted to Russian Orthodox Christianity and took the name Maria Pavlovna. Officially, she was Grand Duchess Vladimir, hence the name of the tiara made for her and now in the collection of Great Britain's longest-reigning monarch, Elizabeth II. This tiara was made by Bolin, the jeweller of choice for Russia's Imperial court. The story of how the tiara and Maria's other jewels were smuggled out of Russia after the Revolution is material for a great movie plot. Her son, Grand Duke Boris, and a British art dealer called Albert Stopford are the heroes of the plot. The dowager Grand Duchess was not long to live after the Revolution and it was her daughter, Elena, who inherited the tiara. Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna was married Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, an uncle of Prince Philip, who married the future Queen Elizabeth II in 1947. "Princess Nicholas" decided to sell her inherited jewels to the highest bidder. That highest and most eager bidder was Queen Mary, consort of the British King George V. The tiara was a little damaged and so Queen Mary brought the tiara to the experts at Garrard for repairs and even to have some of her own "Cambridge emeralds" added, "plus a mechanism to make it possible to switch from emeralds to the original pearls easily." Queen Mary owned it until her death in 1953 and was pictured wearing it a handful of times: 1947, 1937, and 1930. The Royal Collection Trust calls it Queen Mary's Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, alternately known as the "diamond and pearl tiara," which Queen Mary purchased "from the Grand Duchess of Russia in 1921." Queen Elizabeth II wore the tiara so many times, in 1988 the frame had to be entirely replaced. Tatler calls it the Queen's "favourite tiara" and claims that it was the first choice of Meghan, Duchess of Sussex as a wedding tiara, although the Duchess wore the Queen Mary's Bandeau Tiara with her bridal veil.