As with Queen Victoria's diamond and emerald parure, the Kokosnhik tiara is on display at
The emerald and diamond tiara was then given to Queen Victoria's granddaughter Princess Alexandra, later the Duchess of Fife. It has remained in the family since and was last worn by the 3rd Duchess of Fife at the 1960 State Opening of Parliament.
The crown was designed specially for Victoria and can now be seen in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
Because they are heirlooms of the crown, they passed from Victoria to Alexandra to Mary to Elizabeth to Elizabeth II, arriving in the Queen's jewelry box in 1952. She still wears them today, though generally only one at a time.
This glittering Diamond Tiara was a wedding gift from an aristocratic groom to his royal bride, who wore it for glittering royal events in the Edwardian era. Worn by their daughter at a coronations, it is still owned by their great-grandson, the Duke of Fife.
It is likely that these jewels will be passed down to members of the Windsor family and if the Queen follows tradition, she will leave the majority of them to the next monarch, which in this case is King Charles III. But as the Queen's will is private, there may be some surprises.
Known as the Greville tiara, and also the Boucheron tiara, the headpiece has been seen on Camilla more than 10 times since she married Charles in 2005. The tiara was gifted to Camilla soon after her wedding by Queen Elizabeth II.
Only Kate Middleton Can Wear Queen Elizabeth's Jewels
This has caught the attention of critics in the royal family because the Duchess of Cambridge is said to be the only one with access to the Queen's jewelry, meaning the Sovereign favors Kate.
While Kate inherited $110 million in jewelry from the Queen, that collection did not include the Spencer tiara, a diamond-encrusted crown inherited by William's late mother, Princess Diana, in the mid-1970s. Diana wore the tiara in her wedding to King Charles—then Prince Charles—in 1981.
The necklace was part of a set which included a tiara, brooch and earrings. The stunning piece was passed down to the Queen Mother, who wore it often until her 2002 death. It was later lent to Princess Kate from Queen Elizabeth.
It was perhaps the crown most associated with the queen and is one of the Crown Jewels on public display in the Jewel House at the Tower of London.
The crystal replicas of the Cullinan stones were replaced by the diamonds for the coronation of Queen Camilla in 2023. In 1937, the year of George VI's coronation, Cullinan V was added to the crown. Following Queen Mary's death in 1953 the crown was put on display at the Tower of London.
One of Victoria's most treasured jewels, the coronet was designed for her by Prince Albert in 1840 – the royal couple's wedding year – and made by Joseph Kitching, partner at Kitching and Abud. In 1842, Victoria wore the newly completed coronet in a famous portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter.
According to The Sun, Meghan had originally wanted to wear the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara, also known as the Russian emerald headdress—but was told by the Queen that it would not be appropriate for her to wear that particular crown.
The Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara
Speculators assumed this had been the Emerald tiara that Meghan had coveted. But once again, it's origins are well documented and can be easily traced. The word Kokoshnik is a Russian word meaning 'Cock's Crown'. It is used to describe a traditional Russian peasant headdress.
Eugenie had the rare honor of wearing the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara, something which no member of the Royal Family had worn in public before her wedding day. With an estimated worth of $12.2M, the true value was sentimental for Eugenie, who wore it as her something borrowed from her grandmother, the Queen.
After the princess' death, most of her personal jewelry was inherited by her two sons Princes William and Harry, with pieces loaned to her during her lifetime being returned to Queen Elizabeth II, where they are most likely to have been inherited by King Charles in 2022.
Royal Inheritance
Representatives told Forbes in 2021 that Harry was not a beneficiary of any of the $100 million left to the royal family by his great-grandmother, the Queen Mother.
The monarch was famously a fan of pearl accessories, and the earrings she gave Meghan appeared to be a smaller version of one of her own go-to pairs.
One of the oldest objects in the Crown Jewels is the twelfth-century Coronation Spoon. It is used for anointing the sovereign with holy oil, the most sacred part of the coronation ceremony.
The most valuable royal piece is known as the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace. It was a wedding gift to the queen (then Princess Elizabeth) from the Nizam of Hyderabad in 1947, according to Regal Fille.
Some have even looked ahead to consider what jewelry young Princess Charlotte will one day lay claim to. They include a tiara worth over $1 million, and her mother Kate Middleton's engagement ring.
READ MORE. During Diana's lifetime, the Princess wore the pendant attached to a silver necklace, while Camilla later opted to don it as a brooch. The Queen Consort was seen wearing the jewel to a party to celebrate her husband's 50th anniversary as the Prince of Wales in March 2019.
Instead, the late Princess of Wales chose a piece from her own family's treasure trove – the century-old Spencer Tiara worn by her mother Frances and sisters Sarah and Jane on their own wedding days, which was likely picked for its sentimental meaning.
The tiara was inherited by Diana's father John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer in the mid seventies and, as such, remains in the Spencer family. But while Kate may not inherit the famous diadem, it seems it will one day be given to her daughter, Princess Charlotte.