Queens Mary and Silvia wear Empress Josephine’s granddaughter’s tiaras to King Frederik X’s first state banquet

This May 6, 2024, two queens honored their husband’s common ancestors. King Frederik To attend this state banquet, Queen Mary and Queen Silvia both wore tiaras and finery from the Napoleonic era, including those belonging to Josephine of Leuchtenberg, granddaughter of Empress Josephine and ancestors by Frederik and Carl Gustaf.

Also read: King Frederik

An exceptional state banquet in Stockholm for the first state visit of the Danish royal couple

King Frederik X and Queen Mary of Denmark make their first state visit. King Frederik, who succeeded his mother less than four months ago to the Danish throne, chose Sweden for his first state visit. This Monday, May 6, the Danish royal couple was welcomed by King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia at the royal palace in Stockholm. After the traditional welcome ceremony, a press conference and an awards exchange ceremony, the King and Queen of Denmark continued their engagements with the Speaker of Parliament and at the Prime Minister’s residence. At the end of the afternoon, the two royal couples met at the Royal Institute of Technology where they met astronauts.

In the evening, as is tradition, the host sovereigns invited the invited sovereigns to a state banquet. Gala evenings are usually sumptuous at the Court of Sweden and the Court of Denmark. This state banquet therefore promised to be particularly sumptuous, especially since the two neighboring countries are not only geopolitical and historical allies, the two ruling families are also cousins. King Frederik X’s grandmother, Queen Ingrid, was born a princess of Sweden. Ingrid was the aunt of King Carl XVI Gustaf.

The state banquet was the perfect opportunity for the two queens to show off their finest finery. The two sovereigns had the same idea: to honor the common ancestors of King Carl Gustaf and King Frederik. The Swedish Royal Cassette has a large collection of tiaras and jewelry from the Napoleonic era, due to the origins of the Bernadotte dynasty. Queen Silvia wore the Leuchtenberg sapphire tiara and Queen Mary wore the ruby ​​tiara, a tiara passed down from Josephine of Leuchtenberg to one of her granddaughters upon her marriage to the King of Denmark.

Read also: For her 50th birthday, Mary of Denmark wears the ruby ​​tiara from an ornament worn at Napoleon’s coronation

Queen Mary wears Désirée Clary’s ruby ​​tiara

Queen Mary chose to wear this ruby ​​tiara for her official photos shared on the occasion of her 50th birthday. This delicate tiara represents ivy leaves set with diamonds, while the rubies dotted between the leaves represent small red berries. The origin of the tiara dates back to the coronation of Napoleon.

For his coronation ceremony, the emperor offered a sum of money to his court to buy jewelry and make ornaments for the women who would attend his coronation. Among them, there is Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte and his wife, Désirée Clary, who was also first engaged to Napoleon. Bernadotte had a diamond and ruby ​​set made by a Paris jeweler for his wife. It was a set of jewelry, including hair jewelry.

Read also: The four crown jewels accessed by Mary of Denmark upon becoming queen

In 1810, the Swedish parliament chose Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte as heir to the old King Charles XIII, who was ill and childless. John the Baptist ascended the throne in 1818 under the reigning name of Charles XIV John. Désirée Clary lives little in Sweden, a country of which she is now queen. She still returned to Sweden when her son, the future Oscar I, married Princess Joséphine de Leuchtenberg, granddaughter of Empress Joséphine. When Désirée died in 1860, her jewelry collection passed to her daughter-in-law Joséphine. Josephine will give the diamond and ruby ​​set to her granddaughter, Louise, when she marries the future King Frederick VIII of Denmark. The gift is a nod to the colors of the Danish flag, which is red and white. This is how the set passed into the possession of the Danish royal family. Under the reign of Christian X, the jewelry of the set was modified to create a real tiara, as we know it today.

Read also: First gala photos of King Frederik X and Queen Mary with the emerald set reserved for queens

The sapphire tiara of Joséphine de Leuchtenberg

The tiara worn by Queen Silvia this Monday is a tiara set with diamonds, topped with eleven large sapphires. This imposing tiara also has its origins in the Napoleonic era. The sapphires were a gift from Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon, to her daughter-in-law, Augusta of Bavaria during the birth of her son Augustus. Augusta had married Eugène de Beauharnais, viceroy of Italy, in 1806. Eugène received the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg from his father-in-law, King Maximilian I of Bavaria, hence the name transmitted to his descendants. It was Augusta’s daughter, Joséphine de Leuchtenberg, who inherited the sapphires.

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Sapphires have been passed down from generation to generation through the Swedish royal family, starting with Josephine of Leuchtenberg, who was Queen of Sweden through her marriage. Sapphires have been mounted in different ways on several pieces of jewelry over the ages. Today, the set consists of earrings, a necklace, brooches and of course an imposing tiara. All pieces include at least one sapphire. The tiara alone has 11 sapphires.