The Fascinating Story Behind Princess Margaret s Most Legendary Tiara

In the vast collection of jewelry held by the British royal family, the Poltimore Tiara could be one of the most impressive pieces. It was expected that this tiara would occupy a prominent place, as it is one of the most famous pieces of jewelry associated with Princess Margaret. However, this expectation was not fulfilled. Before we take a closer look at the history of this amazing tiara, please support my channel by clicking the like and subscribe buttons. Thank you. Princess Margaret, a member of the royal family, openly embraced the privileges that came with her status. From her luxurious morning routine to her candid expressions, even in encounters with fashion icons, Margaret lived her life without reservation. Aware of her public image, the princess once candidly remarked to Andrew Duncan, the author of The Reality of Monarchy, saying, When my sister and I were growing up, she was made out to be the goody-goody one. That was boring, so the press tried to make out I was wicked as hell. While the descriptor, wicked as hell, may be extreme, Princess Margaret was undeniably spirited, and this vitality manifested in every facet of her life, including her choice of jewelry. The tiara that became the princess's trademark has a rich history. Known as the Poultimore Tiara, it originally belonged to Florence Bamfold, Lady Poultimore, wife of the second Baron Poultimore, created in 1870 by the House of Garward in London. It is the epitome of Victorian jewelry style. The diamond curls are reminiscent of flora, flowers, and nature. The frame is made up of silver and gold metal, with an intricately woven brown ribbon that matches the color of Margaret's hair. This is why the tiara looked like it was floating above her head. It is a completely closed circuit, which is quite rare. Its Christie's listing describes it as a graduated line of cushion-shaped and old-cut diamond clusters alternating with diamond-set scroll motifs, each surmounted by old-cut diamond terminals, to the collet-set diamond line, mounted in silver and gold. It was such an intricate piece of work that it took the House of Garward about six months to produce this multifunctional sparkler. The jewelry can be worn as a tiara or broken down into a necklace and as many as 11 brooches. As a tiara, it can also be worn in its full glory or in a slightly smaller version. In 1902, Lady Poultimore wore her tiara at the coronation of King Edward VII in Westminster Abbey. Margaret, the wife of the third Baron Poultimore, wore the tiara at the 1911 coronation. In 1953, at a Royal Opera performance held on the eve of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, the Poultimore tiara was worn by an unknown lady, probably Lady Stookley, daughter of the fourth Baron Poultimore. In 1959, Baron Poultimore, Lady Poultimore's grandson, sold the tiara at auction for £5,500. This is how the jewelry came to Princess Margaret. It is most often said that the princess bought it for herself. To be fair, it is worth noting that it is not known who exactly paid for the tiara, Margaret, her sister the Queen, or her mother. There are reports that the jewel was bought on the recommendation of Lord Plunkett, who was the Queen's deputy master of the household from 1954 to 1975. Plunkett, who mainly supervised Elizabeth's social life, was also an art collector and occasionally advised the monarch on purchases for the royal collection. Clearly, he thought the diamond tiara made by the crown jeweler Garrard during the 1870s would be the right piece for Margaret's wedding. And wow, was he ever right! By far the most famous occasion when Princess Margaret wore a tiara was her wedding to Anthony Armstrong Jones in 1960 at Westminster Abbey. At the time, she paired the tiara with her Norman Hartnell gown. Beautiful, stylish, and somewhat rebellious, Princess Margaret was known for doing things her own way, which often meant breaking royal tradition. She married socialite photographer and ladies' man Anthony Armstrong Jones, not only becoming the first royal daughter to marry a commoner in hundreds of years, but also breaking protocol in her choice of tiara. Instead of borrowing one of the many tiaras available to her in the royal collection, as is traditional for royal brides, Margaret wore a piece of jewelry bought at auction on her head. It was very unusual not to wear a family heirloom on her wedding day. While it was unusual enough, Margaret had another way of breaking tradition. While most royal princesses don't wear a tiara for the first time until their wedding day, Margaret had worn her Baltimore tiara many times as an unmarried woman. So for example, shortly after purchasing it, Margaret wore the tiara to the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden during a state visit by the Shah of Iran in May 1959, and in 1960 she also wore the tiara as a necklace, as you can see in this photo. At her wedding, the Baltimore tiara emphasized Her Royal Highness' regality, sitting spectacularly on the head of the very petite princess. By the way, Princess Margaret's headpiece is said to be the largest and the most royal of all wedding tiaras in British history. Although Margaret wore other tiaras throughout her life, the Baltimore was the tiara most closely associated with her. Her toxic marriage to Anthony lasted 18 years, but eventually ended in divorce. Princess Margaret continued to wear the Baltimore tiara during the separation and after the divorce. The Baltimore tiara, already a trademark, was worn at many of Princess Margaret's last events, including the Heads of State Banquet for VE Day in 1995 and the State Opening of Parliament in 1996. After Margaret's death in 2002, the Baltimore tiara was inherited by her children, David Armstrong Jones and Sarah Chatto. In 2006, Britain was rocked by a hitherto unknown photograph of a half-naked princess sitting in a bathtub wearing a Baltimore tiara. The photograph was taken in 1962 by Margaret's husband, photographer Anthony Armstrong Jones, who, however, kept it secret and published it only four years after his ex-wife's death. The photo became the cause of a scandal. The late princess recalled all her ambiguous actions and extremely difficult character, and the famous wedding tiara in the same year when the image was made public was sold at auction by her children to pay the huge inheritance tax left by their mother. Her son, David Armstrong Jones, explained why they had to sell Margaret's treasure. There were many, many reasons, mostly financial, that persuaded us that that was the correct route because, you know, when people die, taxes need to be paid, he told The Telegraph. The tiara became the head of the auction and was sold at Christie's Auction in London. The top end of the auction estimate was set at around $350,000, but it ended up selling to a private Asian buyer for a staggering $1.7 million. In my opinion, this is a suitably grandiose price for an incredibly majestic tiara. However, it has not been seen since. Royal experts speculate that the price of the tiara has now increased many times over, in part because a copy of it was featured in the TV series The Crown, where the role of the rebel princess was played by Helena Bonham Carter. The bathroom photo shoot was not without a repeat. If the piece were to be auctioned today, it's very likely that it would fetch around $3.9 million. 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