A formidable character who became the matriarch of the Royal Family, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born at Kensington Palace on May 26, 1867 in the same room where Queen Victoria (who was a distant cousin) had been born 40 years prior.
In 1891, Mary, then 24, was betrothed to her second cousin once removed, Prince Albert, eldest son of the then Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII). However, six weeks after the announcement of the engagement, Prince Albert died unexpectedly during an influenza pandemic. The following year, Mary became engaged to his only surviving brother, Prince George (future King George V), and married him in 1893. When he became Prince of Wales in 1901, she became Princess of Wales.
In 1910, following the death of his father, King Edward VII, King George V acceded to the throne and Mary became Queen. In 1936, her husband died, and was succeeded by her son, Edward VIII, until he abdicated in favor of his brother, George VI, in order to marry Wallis Simpson. When Queen Mary’s granddaughters, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret, were born, she took an active interest in their lives, taking them to London to visit art galleries and museums. She died on 24 March 1953 at the age of 85, 10 weeks before her granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation.
Now, revisit some of the most glittering diadems worn by Queen Mary, which later became favorites of the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The Queen Mary Fringe Tiara
Princess Anne on her wedding day with her husband Mark Phillips, her younger brother Prince Edward, and cousin Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones. Anne wears the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara
Hulton Deutsch/Getty Images
Commissioned by Mary in 1919, the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara was originally a fringe necklace that was a wedding day gift from Queen Victoria, which she wore in her hair. However, Mary was fond of customizing her jewelry pieces to make them into something new and more to her taste. 26 years after her wedding day in 1893 she asked Garrard to make it into a kokoshnik-style piece, consisting of 47 graduated brilliant and rose-set tapering bars, separated by 46 narrower spikes, which could still be removed to make a necklace.
This was worn by Queen Elizabeth II on her wedding day, but on the morning of her wedding, the then Princess Elizabeth, heir to the throne, was unaware that her tiara was also a necklace, and accidentally touched the clasp. Luckily, royal jeweler Garrard was on hand to fix it, with the Queen adding, ‘I think he taped up the spring’. The Queen Mother reportedly remained calm as ever, saying: ‘We have two hours and there are other tiaras.’
