The Tiara Kate Middleton Debuted Last Night Has a Secret — One Queen Victoria Put in Her Will Janine HenniDecember 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM 0 Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP via Getty Kate Middleton at the German state banquet at Windsor Castle on Dec. 3, 2025 Kate Middleton wore Queen Victoria's Oriental Circlet Tiara for the first time on Dec.
- - The Tiara Kate Middleton Debuted Last Night Has a Secret — One Queen Victoria Put in Her Will
Janine HenniDecember 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM
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Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP via Getty
Kate Middleton at the German state banquet at Windsor Castle on Dec. 3, 2025 -
Kate Middleton wore Queen Victoria's Oriental Circlet Tiara for the first time on Dec. 3
The heirloom tiara had not been worn in public since 2005
It was an exclusive use for Princess Kate to wear the tiara, as Queen Victoria stipulated a strict royal rule for its future wearers
Kate Middleton had her most epic tiara moment yet at the German state banquet by bringing an heirloom headtopper out of the royal vault for the first time in 20 years.
On Dec. 3, the Princess of Wales shimmered in Queen Victoria's Oriental Circlet Tiara at the diplomatic dinner at Windsor Castle, where she joined Prince William, King Charles and Queen Camilla in hosting German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and his wife, first lady Elke Büdenbender.
It was a show-stopping fashion statement by Princess Kate, 43, as it marked the largest tiara she had ever worn in her 14 years of royal life, made all the more exciting by the fact that the sparkler had not been worn in public since 2005.
It was also an exclusive use for Kate to wear it, as Queen Victoria stipulated in her will that the Oriental Circlet would be worn by queens and future queens only, The Court Jeweller reported. Queen Victoria designated the headtopper as an heirloom of the crown, meaning it would pass from monarch to monarch. As the wife of the heir to the throne, Princess Kate is destined to be queen consort one day, making the tiara moment all the more regal.
Aaron Chown / POOL / AFP via Getty
Prince William and Kate Middleton at the state banquet on Dec. 3, 2025.
The Oriental Circlet Tiara was commissioned for Queen Victoria, one of Britain's most popular monarchs, by her beloved husband, the German-born Prince Albert, in 1853 by Garrard.
According to the jeweler, Prince Albert had the tiara set with opals, one of his favorite gemstones, and 2,600 diamonds. It was inspired by jewels that the Queen received from the East India Company, and Albert helped design it.
The sparkler went back to Garrard in 1958 for adjustments, including the removal of diamonds in it that had belonged to Queen Charlotte amid a dispute with Queen Victoria's Hanoverian side of the family, the Court Jeweller said.
Though changes were made, following her husband's sudden and unexpected death at age 42 in 1861, the heartbroken Queen Victoria wore mourning dress for the rest of her life and never sported the sentimental tiara again.
A generation later, her daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra, inherited the Oriental Circlet and brought it back to Garrard in 1902 to have it altered. Queen Alexandra had the opals replaced with rubies as she believed opals were unlucky and had some of the arches removed to make the tiara smaller.
Though Alexandra tweaked it to her taste, she is thought to have only worn it once: on a state visit to Germany.
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Kate Middleton at the state banquet on Dec. 3, 2025.
The next queen, Queen Mary, was never photographed in the headtopper, and it remained unseen until Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, made it a favorite in her rotation.
The Queen Mother inherited it in 1936, the year of her husband King George VI's accession to the throne, and "it quickly became one of her favorite jewels," Garrard said.
Cecil Beaton/Underwood Archives/Getty
Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, in a 50th portrait by Cecil Beaton in 1950.
Upon King George's death in 1952, the tiara technically should have passed to the new Queen Elizabeth. However, the monarch saw how much her mother loved the headpiece and allowed her to keep it.
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The Queen Mother would continue wearing the headtopper, distinct for its Mughal arches and lotus design, and it was so closely associated with her that after she died in 2002, her daughter wore it just once. Queen Elizabeth glittered in the Oriental Circlet Tiara at a state banquet in Malta in 2005, matching it with a ruby parure of jewels.
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Queen Elizabeth at a state banquet in Malta in 2005.
Twenty years later, Princess Kate served a style surprise by wearing the Oriental Circlet Tiara to the state banquet at Windsor Castle, celebrating the visit from Germany. It is only the fifth tiara she has ever worn as a royal.
The tiara's German ties made it an ideal choice for the castle bash, and Princess Kate made fashion history as the first princess — rather than queen or queen consort — to ever wear it.
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Published: December 04, 2025 at 07:00PM on Source: RON MAG
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