It’s official: On her wedding day, Meghan Markle (now Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Sussex) wore Queen Mary’s bandeau tiara, which the Queen loaned her for the occasion.
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Markle reportedly visited Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace to choose what tiara she would wear on her big day. The tiara she picked belonged to Queen Mary, who was married to King George V and is Queen Elizabeth’s grandmother.
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The center stone of the tiara is a brooch, which features ten diamonds and which Mary of Teck received as gift from the County of Lincoln in 1893 when she married then-Prince George, Duke of York. Forty years later, in 1932, the diamond and platinum bandeau tiara was specifically made to accommodate the brooch.
The tiara is a flexible band of eleven sections, featuring interlaced ovals and pavé diamonds along with large and small brilliant diamonds. Queen Mary officially bequeathed the tiara to Queen Elizabeth when she died in 1953.
Queen Mary is buried next to her husband, King George V, at Windsor castle. She outlived not only her husband, but her son, Queen Elizabeth’s father, King George VI. She watched her granddaughter become Queen and for a brief period, there were three living Queens: Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen mother), and the reigning monarch Queen Elizabeth II.
In addition to her engagement ring, Meghan is also wearing earrings and a bracelet by Cartier.
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