Headgear to die for

MENTIONED briefly in our Christmas roundup, this little gem of a very well-priced book was produced in conjunction with an exhibition last year curated by the author at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston and called Crowning Glories: Two Centuries of Tiaras.

Tiaras adorned the heads of royal mummies in the tombs of the Ancient Egyptians and continued to be worn by women of rank and wealth, as shown by the fascinating illustrations showing assorted duchesses, grand-duchesses, queens, princesses, the odd empress and no end of ladies and glitterati wearing some of these most splendid jewellery confections on their very fancy heads.

The book traces the tiara’s history and features more than 75 of the world’s most famous tiaras with details of craftsmanship, the jewels used and a note on the jeweller. Particularly splendid and with an odd, sad tale to go with it is the sumptuous Queen of Serbia’s tiara c.1800, while the Grand Duchess Vladimir’s tiara c.1870 and the Devonshire tiara of 1856 are remarkable examples of the jeweller’s artistry.

While her husband officiated as viceroy and then governor general of India, the Countess Mountbatten of Burma alternated her Chaumet tiara with another of pearls and diamonds, because “she could not be seen twice in the same one”. It’s a female thing.