Paola et Albert
AS BELGIANS wish their Queen a speedy recovery, here is a look back at her life, marriage and carefree youth in pictures.
In 1925 King Albert I & Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians celebrated their silver wedding anniversary. On this occasion, King Albert gave his wife an art deco design tiara, (probably) ordered from Cartier. In 1930, Queen Elisabeth wore the tiara for the first time, at the visit of Japanese Prince Takamatsu and his wife to Brussels. Also in 1930. Four years later, she passed the tiara on to her daughter-in-law, Queen Astrid, at the birth of grandson Albert. The baby was named after Elisabeth’s husband who had died earlier the same year. After Queen Astrid’s death, barely one year later, the art deco tiara was worn with great creativity by King Leopold III’s second wife, Princess Lilian. On one occasion she added stones to top of tiara for the visit of American President Hoover. These were probably the solitaires from the tiara of the nine provinces. When Leopold & Astrid’s youngest son, Prince Albert married, the tiara was given to his bride, Princess Paola who wore it often and in many different positions. The only time Queen Mathilde has worn this tiara was on her wedding day, 4 December 1999, as her personal "laurel wreath" tiara, a gift from the Belgian nobility wasn't ready to be used yet. 15 years later it was worn by another bride: Lili Rosboch von Wolkenstein, who married Prince Amedeo of Belgium in Rome in July 2014. Its last appearance was in 2016, when Princess Astrid wore the tiara to a banquet in honour of German President Joachim Gauck. This tiara is it the only piece of Belgian royal jewellery that has survived to be worn by 5 generations of the Royal Family. Will we ever see it on Queen Mathilde again, or on her daughters, Crown Princess Elisabeth and Princess Eléonore? We can only hope Queen Paola does not regard this important piece of jewellery as a personal possession and that instead, she will leave it to the use of the wider Royal Family.
Paola, Alberto, La princesa Lilian de Rethy, la madre de Paola y el rey Leopoldo III y la princesa M.Cristina de Bélgica.
