Princess Margaret broke royal protocol at wedding & bought £5,500 tiara – ‘trendsetter’
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Princess Margaret, then aged 29, married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, then aged 30, after she was unable to marry her first love, Captain Peter Townsend for being a divorcee, which was frowned on in the Royal Family at the time. Margaret broke royal protocol on her wedding day by televising the ceremony for the first time in royal history. But also, unlike other royal brides, the Queen’s younger sister bought her own Poltimore Tiara for £5,500, rather than borrowing one from the royal vaults.
Princess Margaret was known for doing things her own way, which meant she liked to break with royal tradition.
This was certainly the case when she married society photographer Anthony Armstrong-Jones.
A spokesperson from Design Bundles told Express.co.uk: “Princess Margaret was a trendsetter in every way, despite the centuries-old royal traditions she was born into.
“From being the first daughter of a king to marry a non-royal, to the wedding tiara she bought herself, rather than borrowed, her independence, confidence and commitment to style very much embody the values we celebrate today.
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“Princess Margaret’s marriage ceremony was also the first royal wedding to be televised, and so it’s no surprise that the occasion still draws such fascination today, as the UK’s most popular royal wedding.”
Rather than borrowing one of the many diadems available to her in the royal collection, as is traditional for royal brides, Margaret instead purchased a new one.
While the royals have been known to buy jewellery, for instance, Queen Mary famously bought the emerald tiara once belonging to Grand Duchess Vladimir of Russia, it was very unusual to not wear a family heirloom for a wedding day.
Despite having access to the crown jewels, Margaret wanted something she could call her own.
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“It’s such a modern thing,” Sara Prentice, creative director at the House of Garrard, told Vogue.
“We’re finding more and more now that women are purchasing for themselves, but way back in 1959, she chose it for herself.
“She must have loved it to do that.”
The Poltimore Tiara, Margaret’s headpiece of choice, was purchased by the Princess at auction in 1959 for £5,500.
Not just a tiara, it was designed to be broken down into a necklace as well as 11 brooches.
It is a completely closed circuit, which is quite rare.
While this was unusual enough, there was another way Margaret broke with tradition.
Most royal Princesses only wear a tiara for the first time on their wedding day, but Margaret wore her Poltimore Tiara on multiple occasions as an unmarried woman.
She even wore it before she was engaged for the state visit of the Shah of Iran in May 1959.
Margaret also wore it to the Royal Opera House later that year as a necklace.
Royal fan, Olivia Campbell, tweeted: “Princess Margaret was a Princess and a strong independent woman, defeating the narrative that the two have to be separate.”
After her death, the tiara was part of an auction of her estate by her children, Earl Snowdon and Lady Sarah Chatto, and raised an incredible £926,400.
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