Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara: Adored by Three Generations of Royals
A timeless classic that exudes royalty, Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara has also been worn on numerous occasions by Alexandra’s daughter-in-law, Queen Mary, and great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II.
From the moment she arrived in Britain as a beautiful Danish princess preparing to marry the Prince of Wales, Alexandra, future Queen Consort of King Edward VII, was a star of her time. Thrust into the spotlight when she married Queen Victoria’s eldest son in 1863, she captured the nation’s attention from the moment the Royal yacht carrying her from Denmark docked in Gravesend. Greeted by 80,000 well-wishers, hers was a beauty that turned heads and it was matched by a style that spoke brilliantly of her charming and vivacious spirit.
With her instinctive sense of style, Alexandra took great pleasure in covering her neck in glittering chokers and scattering diamond stars across her gowns, with multiple ropes of pearls piled down her décolletage and gold serpents twisting around her wrists. Her love of adornment generated a steady stream of commissions for Garrard, her principal jeweller, with Alexandra’s fondness for dazzling tiaras that reflected her royal status leading to the creation of the famous Kokoshnik Tiara.
A gift to the then Princess of Wales from the ‘Ladies of Society’, a committee of prominent aristocratic women, to celebrate her 25th wedding anniversary in 1888, the idea for the design came from Alexandra herself. Inspired by a diamond kokoshnik tiara belonging to her sister, Empress Maria Feodorovna, that she had long admired, the classic halo shape borrowed from the style of a traditional Russian peasant headdress.
Sometimes mistaken for Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara, also created in our workshop, the commission for Queen Alexandra’s Koshoshnik Tiara was recorded in the Garrard Royal Ledger on 10 January 1888, stating, simply: “A brilliant graduating diamond tiara in the Russian style, also to form a necklace.” Comprising a series of 61 vertical bars, set with more than 400 perfectly matched diamonds, the completed Kokoshnik Tiara was indeed convertible into a necklace, showcasing Garrard’s expertise in crafting versatile diamond jewels that could be worn in multiple ways.
The tiara became a signature piece for Alexandra, who wore it on many occasions as both the Princess of Wales and, following her husband’s accession to the throne in 1901, as Queen Consort to King Edward VII. In 1893, she was photographed wearing the Kokoshnik Tiara for the wedding of her son, the Duke of York, to Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, the future King George V and Queen Mary. Fittingly, in 1947, more than 50 years later, Queen Mary would wear the jewel for her official 80th birthday portrait.
In 1953, Mary bequeathed Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik Tiara to her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II, and so began a new era of royal appearances. Worn at numerous state banquets and events, including a ball at the White House in 1976, where she danced with the President, Gerald Ford, one of the Queen’s most memorable Kokoshnik Tiara moments was captured by the British photographer John Swannell at Windsor Castle in 2001. The official portrait forms part of the National Portrait Gallery’s collection.
Read more about Garrard’s most important creations for the British monarchy in Jewellery of the Royal Family: A Garrard History.
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