The remarkable history behind the Kent Pearl and Diamond Fringe Tiara
The tiara worn by Lady Marina traces its origins back to the early twentieth century and Queen Mary, one of Britain’s most influential royal collectors of jewellery.According to royal jewellery historians, Queen Mary commissioned Garrard to create a distinctive diamond bandeau in 1925. The piece was later passed to her daughter-in-law, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Duchess of Kent. When Katharine Worsley married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, in 1961, Princess Marina gifted the tiara to her future daughter-in-law as a wedding present.Tatler notes that the original Art Deco bandeau eventually disappeared from public view and is widely believed to have been transformed into the Kent Pearl and Diamond Fringe Tiara, which became one of the Duchess of Kent’s signature jewels.In the 1970s, Katharine reportedly redesigned the piece, giving it a more dramatic fringe appearance while retaining the distinctive diamond motif inherited from Queen Mary’s original design.
How the unseen royal tiara became a touching family tribute
Lady Marina’s choice carried particular emotional weight because the tiara had long been associated with her grandmother.The Duchess of Kent wore the jewel on numerous royal occasions throughout her life, helping transform it into one of the defining pieces of her personal collection. It was also worn by other members of the Kent family, including Lady Helen Taylor and Marina’s mother,Sylvana Tomaselli, but it had largely disappeared from public view in recent decades.Town & Country reported that Lady Marina paired the tiara with diamond-and-pearl floral earrings that had also belonged to the Duchess of Kent, creating a coordinated tribute to her grandmother’s memory.The timing made the gesture especially poignant. Lady Marina announced her engagement to Nico Macauley on 8 June 2025, the wedding anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Kent. Less than a year later, she walked down the aisle wearing jewellery directly linked to that royal love story.
A royal heirloom that links four generations of Windsor women
Beyond its sentimental value, the tiara tells a larger story about royal continuity. Over the course of a century, the jewel has passed through the hands of four generations of royal women, from Queen Mary to Princess Marina, then to the Duchess of Kent and finally to Lady Marina Windsor. Its reappearance at the Yorkshire wedding transformed it from a historic heirloom into a living part of family history.Royal weddings frequently showcase spectacular jewels, but few carry such a personal narrative. For guests attending the ceremony, the tiara may have appeared simply as a beautiful antique diamond piece. For those familiar with its history, it represented something far more meaningful: a granddaughter honouring her late grandmother through one of the most treasured symbols of her life.Nearly three decades after it was last prominently seen, the Kent Pearl and Diamond Fringe Tiara once again took centre stage, this time as a touching reminder that some royal traditions are measured not by ceremony, but by family memory.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source timesofindia.indiatimes.com ’
