The Prussian Meander Tiara |
Cecilie |
It's a striking and grand diadem, and was well suited to its original purpose - after all, had history turned out differently, Wilhelm would have succeeded his father, Wilhelm II, as Emperor of Germany and King of Prussia, and this would have been worn by an Empress and Queen. Obviously that's not what happened, but the tiara is still with the Hohenzollern family and is still worn by the couple's descendants.
In the next generation, it was worn by Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (1909-1967) when she married Cecilie and Wilhelm's son Prince Louis Ferdinand in 1938. Turning it into a family wedding tradition, it was worn by both of Kira and Louis Ferdinand's daughters at their respective weddings: Princess Marie-Cécile in 1965 when she married Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg and Princess Xenia in 1973 when she married Per-Edvard Lithander. The tiara disappeared for a time but made a grand reappearance when Prince Georg Friedrich, grandson of Kira and Louis Ferdinand, married Princess Sophie of Isenburg. Sophie wore her family's floral tiara for the couple's religious ceremony and then changed into the Prussian Meander Tiara for their wedding ball and looked every bit the new Princess of Prussia.
Left to Right: Kira, Marie-Cécile, Sophie |
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