Tiara Thursday: Your Favorite Tiara Appearance of 2011

Oh yes, the nostalgia's rolling on as the year wraps up. It's time for a very Thursday sort of question...

Which tiara appearance was your favorite this year?

I'll round up the tiara appearances of the ladies that we regularly feature in Week in Review posts for you to vote on, but feel free to throw out other nominations in the comments.

Princess Charlene of Monaco
Maybe it's not a tiara, technically, but I'm counting it because I can do what I want: borrowed floral ornaments from Caroline for her wedding day kick off the year in tiaras for Charlene, followed by the sparkly microphone known as the Diamond Foam Tiara at her wedding ball. And then her streak of not just going for it with the tiara wearing began with the Ocean Tiara around her neck at the Red Cross Ball.

The Duchess of Cambridge
This is the part where you tell me it's unfair to include this appearance - but too bad kittens, a tiara appearance is a tiara appearance. You can omit it from your own personal voting criteria if you like. Thus, Kate makes her lone entry in our game wearing the Halo Scroll Tiara while doing the laundry (was that not it?).

Letizia, Princess of Asturias
Woe is Letizia! Only one wee tiara appearance for the whole year, during the state visit from Chile, in some major hair and the Prussian Diamond Tiara.

Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
Mette-Marit kicked off the year wearing both of her tiaras in new official portraits and then stuck resolutely to her Diamond Daisy Tiara for the rest of the year: at the state visit from Lithuania, the state visit from Luxembourg, the wedding ball in Monaco, and the state visit from South Africa.

Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
What's this? A whole year without a single spotting of the Ruby Parure Tiara? I'm counting on Mary to rectify this at the upcoming New Years Court gala and/or during Queen Margrethe's Ruby Jubilee, also in January. To her credit, she did give us some new tiara news when she added pearls to her standard Wedding Tiara during a state visit from Korea and then took them off again for the wedding in Monaco.

Princess Máxima of the Netherlands
Look at this: not a single tiara repeat in an entire year. And this is why she's still my girl, no matter how many ill-fitting Natan outfits and disastrous messy hairstyles I must endure. First, she added a 13th tiara to her repetoire by debuting Queen Emma's Diamond Tiara in Qatar, and then she went with the Rose Cut Diamond Bandeau while on a state visit to Germany, the Antique Pearl Tiara for portraits marking her 40th birthday, and aquamarines at the wedding ball of the Prince and Princess of Monaco.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg
It's a good thing our friends from Luxembourg turned up at the Nobel festivities this year, otherwise we would have been left with two meager tiara showings from MT: the Belgian Scroll Tiara while state visiting (it should be a verb, don't you think?) Norway, and the Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide Tiara at the wedding ball in Monaco. In Sweden for the Nobel, she brought the Chaumet Emerald Tiara and the pearl and diamond choker tiara. Also, I would like it known that I am still bitter that we never got a glimpse of her tiara and outfit for the National Day gala. Pffft.

Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden
Victoria pops in with three Baden Fringe Tiara appearances at a representation dinner, and then another one, and in Monaco, and some pregnancy tiara style wearing the Cut Steel Tiara at the final representation dinner of the year. Finally, the Nobel Prize hoopla brought out the Six Button Tiara and one last showing of the Baden Fringe.

Princess Mathilde of Belgium
Poor Mathilde. No government for nearly the whole year means no incoming state visits, I suppose, and little opportunity to bust out one's bling. Good girl, then, for squeezing in a tiara appearance at the wedding of William and Catherine by sporting her Laurel Wreath Tiara as a necklace, and then as a proper tiara at Albert and Charlene's wedding ball.

UPDATE: The poll is closed! The top 5 winners are:
  1. Máxima's official portrait, 17% of the vote
  2. Catherine's wedding, 11%
  3. Charlene's wedding, 10%
  4. Máxima in Germany, 6%
  5. Mary in Monaco, 5%
Photos: Daylife/Getty Images/AP/Svenskdam/Hello/Belga