Tuesday, March 15, 2011

To Tiara Or Not To Tiara?

Royal Wedding fever is in full swing, it seems, on both sides of the pond. Here in the States, everyone is anxious to know what wedding gown Kate Middleton will wear. It’s not so much a question of what she will be wearing, but who she will be wearing. Are we Americans obsessed with designers, or what?!

So it will probably come as a surprise to many label-conscious Yanks that the British are equally as anxious about a different detail entirely: What tiara will Kate wear?

That’s right, not the dress. The diamonds.

Of course, the tiara isn't really about the diamonds. It's representative of something else entirely. If Kate wears a tiara on her wedding day, it will be because Queen Elizabeth has offered it to her, which will show to the British people (and all of the world) an enormous amount of confidence in and support of Kate by the Queen. Because Kate is not a royal herself, she is not automatically entitled to wear a tiara. When Diana Spencer married Prince Charles back in 1981, she wore the Spencer tiara, a family heirloom. During her marriage, as the Princess of Wales, she was photographed in several royal tiaras, all on loan from the Queen.

For centuries, royals have been wearing tiaras. The tradition dates all the way back to leaders of ancient Persia. The British royal family is well known for their treasury of tiaras.

So for those of us who have been eagerly anticipating the first glimpse of Kate’s wedding gown, we can also now add the tiara to the list.

Will she or won’t she? And if so, which one?