The marriage of the then Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip on Nov. 20, 1947 was the biggest royal wedding Britain had known in decades. The bride was a monarch in waiting, saying 'I do' in the ancient and very royal setting of Westminster Abbey, and needed a spectacular tiara to set off her wedding look. But Elizabeth also wanted something with a very personal touch.
She settled on a fringe tiara belonging to her own mother, then Queen Elizabeth and later Queen Mother, which had been created by Garrards in the Russian kokoshnik style. It contained 47 bars of diamonds, but as well as the carat count, it was filled with plenty of history and sentiment, too, or the tiara had begun life as a diamond necklace given to the bride's beloved paternal grandmother, Queen Mary, for her own wedding. And the person who handed it over to Mary was none other than Queen Victoria herself.
The tiara famously broke as Elizabeth was getting ready for her wedding and had to be driven at high speed across London for a quick repair. The Queen Mother told her daughter not to worry as "we have two hours and there are other tiaras". Given the extent of the Royal Family's jewellery collection, that has to be the royal wedding understatement of the century. The sparkler, known now as the Queen Mary Fringe Tiara, was patched up in time and took a starring role in this very famous royal event.