King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain began their state visit to the Netherlands on Wednesday April 17. In the evening, they were guests of a state banquet hosted by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima. For this prestigious gala, Queen Letizia chose to wear a tiara long worn by Queen Sofia: the Cartier Habsburg tiara. This tiara is a historical nod to the ties that unite Spain and the Netherlands.
Read also: Princess Amalia wears ruby tiara for her first state banquet in honor of King Felipe VI
Queen Letizia as Lady of the Order of the Lion of the House of Nassau
Spain and the Netherlands were Habsburg territories for a long time. The Austrian Habsburg dynasty ruled Spain from 1504 to 1700. This same family ruled the territories of the Netherlands from 1556. The Netherlands returned to Habsburg control from 1713 to 1789. From this period, a tiara is today its symbol: the Habsburg Cartier tiara.
Read also: Queen Letizia wears fleur-de-lis tiara in Denmark and Queen Sofia’s sapphire jewelry
This April 17, 2024, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands offered a state banquet to King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, who were finishing the first day of their state visit. The banquet was the perfect opportunity for queens and princesses to show off their finest finery. All the attention of the Dutch press was focused on Princess Amalia’s first participation in a banquet, but Queen Máxima and Queen Letizia also saw things big to mark this event. Queen Máxima exceptionally wore the Stuart tiara with its priceless diamond, while Queen Letizia wore a tiara as a nod to Dutch history.
Queen Letizia wore a cobalt blue evening dress from The 2nd Skin Co. She also wore her new ribbon and badge of the Order of the Lion of the House of Nassau. On her head, Queen Letizia wore a tiara long associated with her mother-in-law, Queen Sofia. King Felipe’s mother made this Cartier tiara one of her favorites.
Read also: Queen Máxima wears the Stuart tiara and her diamond in honor of the Spanish sovereigns
Queen Letizia wears Habsburg Cartier tiara at state banquet in Amsterdam
The Dutch royal family has the particularity of having fewer family ties with other European royal families. The dynasty descends from the Princes of Orange, whose family origin was not royal, and over the generations few marriages were contracted with major royal families. Their closest common ancestors, through Felipe’s maternal line, date back to the 18th century and are Duke Frederick Eugene II of Württemberg (1732-1797) and King Frederick William II of Prussia (1744-1792). Through his paternal ancestors, King Felipe is a descendant of Orange-Nassau through Queen Marie-Christine, who is a double descendant of William IV of Orange-Nassau through his daughter Caroline and his grandson Frédéric-Guillaume.
Read also: King Felipe and Queen Letizia welcomed with honors by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima in Amsterdam
The tiara worn by Queen Letizia is a platinum tiara, set with diamonds and topped with pearls, was made by the French jeweler Cartier at the end of the 19th century for Queen Marie-Christine. Born Archduchess Marie-Christine of Austria in 1858, the future Queen of Spain is doubly linked to the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty. His father was Charles Ferdinand of Habsburg, from the branch of the Dukes of Teschen. As for his mother, Elizabeth of Habsburg, she was the granddaughter of Emperor Leopold II of Austria.
On November 29, 1879, Marie-Christine married King Alfonso XII of Spain, who had already been on the Spanish throne for five years. Alfonso XII was already a widower and had just seen his new fiancée, sister of his late wife, die. This union between a Bourbon king and an archduchess of Austria recalls Spain’s strong ties to this Austrian dynasty. The Bourbon dynasty replaced the Habsburg dynasty in Spain, and the Orange-Nassau dynasty replaced the Habsburg dynasty in the Netherlands.
In addition to being the link between the Bourbon dynasty through her marriage, and the Habsburg dynasty through her marriage, Marie-Christine is also the one through whom we can find a common ancestor to the royal family of Spain with the royal family of the Countries -Down. Marie-Christine is a descendant (double descendant) of William VI of Orange-Nassau. When Queen Marie-Christine died in 1929, her son Alphonse XIII inherited the diadem. The tiara will then pass to her son Juan, then to her grandson Juan Carlos and today it is worn by Letizia.
Nicolas Fontaine
Editor-in-chief
Nicolas Fontaine has been a designer-editor and author for numerous Belgian and French brands and media. A specialist in royal family news, Nicolas founded the site Histoires royales of which he is the editor-in-chief. [email protected]
