When Kate Middleton arrived at Westminster Abbey on her wedding day on April 29, 2011, all eyes were on her long-sleeved lace bridal gown by Alexander McQueen. But attention quickly moved to the dazzling tiara upon her head: the Cartier Halo, comprising 739 brilliant-cut diamonds and 149 baguette diamonds.
Ahead of the wedding, there had been much speculation about which pieces Kate would borrow from the late Queen Elizabeth II’s extensive jewelry collection. There were reports that the young royal might ditch the tiara altogether, and wear a flower crown, like her own mother, Carole, did when she married her father, Michael. In the end, Kate went for the traditional approach, selecting a tiara that’s steeped in royal history.
Featuring a scroll design, the tiara was purchased by Queen Elizabeth II’s father, then the Duke of York, in November 1936 as a present to his wife, Elizabeth, the Duchess of York (who later became the Queen Mother). The Duchess was first photographed wearing the tiara at a charity ball at London’s Claridge’s that month—just weeks before King Edward VIII abdicated and the Duke became King George V.
The tiara was later gifted by Queen Elizabeth to the then Princess Elizabeth for her 18th birthday—although Queen Elizabeth II was never actually pictured wearing the headpiece in public. Later, both Princess Margaret and Princess Anne were photographed in the tiara, before the Cartier Halo was worn by Kate on her wedding day.
Of course, the French jewelry house has enjoyed a long relationship with the British royal family, as the new Cartier exhibition at the V&A shows. While the Halo tiara will not be on display, the showcase does feature the Cartier Scroll tiara, which also features—you’ve guessed it—a scroll design. Comprising 1,040 diamonds, the headpiece, too, has a royal connection: it was originally commissioned by the Earl of Essex in 1902 for his wife, Adele, Countess of Essex, who wore it to King Edward VII’s coronation that year. Some 50 years later, the Scroll tiara was worn by Winston Churchill’s wife, Clementine, to Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation in 1953.
Nowadays, the Cartier Scroll tiara belongs in the jewelry house’s extensive archives—although it did make a rare public appearance in 2016, when Rihanna wore the diamond headpiece on the cover of W magazine—styled by British Vogue’s former editor-in-chief, Edward Enninful.