Two royal weddings, two historic fringe tiaras, one weekend.
In Liechtenstein, Princess Marie Caroline, the only daughter of Prince Alois, the Hereditary Prince, married Leopoldo Maduro Vollmer. The couple are based in London but married in Vaduz. The Princess wore a wedding favourite of her family: the Hapsburg fringe tiara, which has been worn by at least four generations of her family. (More on the tiara from the Court Jeweller.)
Meanwhile, Kate Morgan wore the historic Fife fringe tiara at her wedding to Lord Hugh Carnegie, son of the Duke of Fife. Both tiaras date back to the late Victorian era of the 19th century, which was a heyday of tiaras.
The Hapsburg version is believed to be from 1890, while the Fife one is a year younger, and was a wedding present to Princess Louise to the Duke of Fife by her parents, the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.
On a long-term loan at Kensington Palace along with the stupendous Fife tiara (featuring gumdrop-sized diamonds), the Fife fringe tiara has been absent for much of the summer due to family weddings. In June, Hugh’s brother, George, married Matilda St. Aubyn, who also wore the tiara, according to Tatler.
After weeks and weeks of speculation, the Mail on Sunday says it’s confirmed that William, Kate, and the kids cruised the Greek Isles on a spectacular yacht. Rumours about their Greek vacation had been running wild all summer: the royals were on a megayacht owned by a royal from the United Arab Emirates; or on a boat owned by Microsoft billionaire Charles Simonyi; or an eco-conscious yacht called with Almax.
Finally, the British tabloid stated that Kefalonia Press had confirmed the Wales family were on a yacht called the Lady Beatrice, which is owned by a British financier Peter Dubens. His firm is an investor in the old school of the royal kids, Thomas’s Battersea, the Mail states.
What is noteworthy is the intense privacy surrounding the Wales family’s yacht vacation, which would have cost a pretty penny if they were renting on the open market (likely six figures per day). Given past royal vacations in the Mediterranean, it’s unlikely they went that commercial route. It must be nice to be able to snag such a large yacht to take a leisurely vacation in the middle of the summer holiday season.
The Mail on Sunday piece comes after Russell Myers of the Daily Mirror revealed that Queen Camilla had enjoyed her own Greek cruise on the yacht belonging to a Saudi-Canadian billionaire named Wafic Saif, who has donated heavily to charitable causes in Britain. Unlike the super-private Wales vacation, Camilla’s sea vacation went public when the tabloid got a long-distance photo of the Queen on the yacht.
Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, will be in Alberta from Sept 4-7 as the new royal patron of Spruce Meadows, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary. The RCMP Musical Ride and Lord Strathcona’s Horse — back from guarding royal residences in Britain — will be at the huge sporting venue outside of Calgary.
The Telegraph’s editorial cartoonist, Matt Pritchett, is getting ready for President Trump’s upcoming state visit by referencing an excerpt in the Times from Valentine Low’s upcoming book of how the future Queen Camilla fended off an attempted sexual assault on a train when she was a 16 or 17-year old: “I did what my mother taught me to. I took off my shoe and whacked him in the nuts with the heel.”
I always admire the skill of editorial cartoonists in how they can combine several news stories into one cogent cartoon. (Here is Matt’s X/Twitter account to see more of his creations).
Valentine Low’s second book, Power and the Palace: The Inside Story of the Monarchy and No. 10 Downing Street is published by Headline Press on Sept. 11. Given his track record — he was a longtime royal correspondent for the Times and his first book, Courtiers, was an impeccably sourced bestseller — this promises to be one of the best royal books of 2025.
Certainly, the excerpts published in the Times have sparked lots of interest…
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source writeroyalty.substack.com ’
