Kate Middleton doesn’t wear a tiara very often, but, when she does, she almost exclusively wears the Lover’s Knot Tiara that was once a favorite of her late mother-in-law Princess Diana.
As it turns out, the regal diamond and pearl design is actually a replica of another topper. Queen Mary commissioned the House of Gerrand to craft the design in 1914 based on a headpiece worn by her grandmother, Princess Augusta of Hesse. The monarch’s updated version included stones from other pieces in her collection.
Upon Queen Mary’s death in 1953, the Lover’s Knot Tiara was passed down to her granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth II. She wore it a few times in the 1950s before reportedly loaning it to Princess Diana as a wedding gift in 1981. While Diana opted for her family’s Spencer Tiara for her nuptials, she proceeded to wear the Lover’s Knot on countless occasions and ultimately gave it back to the royal family during her divorce.
Fast forward to December 2015 and the dramatic (and heavy!) diadem was on the head of her daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Cambridge, who was spotted through a car window wearing the crown on her way to a reception at Buckingham Palace. She’s subsequently worn it more than a handful of times, and we’re rounding up all the times Duchess Kate has rocked the Lover’s Knot Tiara!
