Tiaragate 2018

The Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex (of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle) on 19 May 2018 was a fantastic occasion. People, including relatives of the bride herself, came from all corners of the world to line the procession route in Windsor. Royals and celebrities alike filled the Chapel of St. George, George Clooney on the bride's side, and Princess Anne on the groom's side. They were united in celebration of what they dared to believe was a fairytale. Nothing but praise attended the new Duchess as she emerged into the sun, adorned with Queen Mary's Bandeau Tiara.

Controversy about the wedding tiara for the Duchess of Sussex only hit the public domain after the publication of Charles at Seventy by Robert Jobson in November. It was Jobson's book that originated the quote from Prince Harry, "What Meghan wants, she gets." Dan Wootton, in his "exclusive" for The Sun, quoted a "well-placed royal insider" claiming that what "Meghan" wanted was "a tiara with emeralds," and when the couple was told it was impossible, Harry "hit the roof." Was the desired but denied tiara the Vladimir Tiara? Or was it the Emerald Greville Tiara worn by Princess Eugenie at 2018's "other" royal wedding? No one could say for certain. Even Dan Wootton, with his impeccable insider source, was doubtful that one of so many emerald-encrusted jewels in the royal collection could be singled out. Wootton's source had said that "there were concerns it could have come from Russia originally," so naturally one would think of the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara. If that was the tiara, gossips could scratch off the notion that "Meghan" had been denied what she wanted by the powers at the palace simply because it had been claimed by the Queen's granddaughter. As the Court Jeweller phrased it, Princess Eugenie's wedding tiara was of Russian style (kokoshnik) but not Russian origin. Russian provenance, indeed, seems to be the understated, barely acknowledged problem. Russophobia was tragically prevalent in 2018. It had been so since 2016. Genius intellect is hardly required to put those pieces together. Was "Meghan" denied the tiara she wanted because it shares its name with Vladimir Putin?

2020
Finding Freedom, a book purporting to tell the "true story" (without being authorized) of the "royal exit" of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, brought the controversy back to the headlines. Omid Scobie and Carolyn Durand share authorship of this highly trumpeted account of the two-year marriage and "Megxit." The Duke and Duchess claimed through a spokesperson that they did not contribute to Finding Freedom in any capacity, either directly or indirectly, yet the authors admitted in the preface that they spoke to the couple "when appropriate." According to the authors, the color green was critical for the Duchess. Emeralds are green; "Meghan" likes green. (Case in point: Their son Archie Harrison's official christening photo was staged in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle; the Duchess wore green to their last Royal family event, the Commonwealth Day service in March.) The Finding Freedom book states that the Duchess and her bridal dress designer, Clare Waight Keller, rifled through historical photos of tiaras for part of their research into what head adornments would best compliment the dress. The Court Jeweller logically points out that, this being the case, it is impossible that Eugenie's tiara could have been Meghan's first choice, because Eugenie's tiara was never publicly seen before Eugenie herself wore it. The Court Jeweller expertly shoots down the Finding Freedom (erroneous) claim that Diana, Princess of Wales wore the Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara. Diana, in fact, only ever wore two tiaras in her time as HRH the Princess of Wales: her own Spencer family tiara and Queen Mary's Lovers' Knot tiara. Any other tiaras you might see on Diana's head are photoshopped. The whole controversy seems less a kerfuffle about which tiara Meghan (primarily) wanted and more about a dispute between Angela Kelly and the Duke of Sussex. Kelly is a fashion expert on retainer (since 2002, and the death of predecessor Bobo MacDonald) to fulfill the roles of Personal Assistant, Advisor, and Curator on matters of the Queen's jewelry, insignias, and wardrobe. She has also published a book, entitled, The Other Side of the Coin: The Queen, the Dresser and the Wardrobe. The public dispute between the Finding Freedom subjects and Ms. Kelly is undoubtedly good for book sales.