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When it comes to "something borrowed," royals just do it best. Among British royals, wedding traditions include the bride-to-be wearing a tiara on her big day—and it's not your average hair accessory.
While tiaras are known to be blinged-out with diamonds, there's a sentimental value involved, too. Almost every piece in the royal vault has a history that can be traced back to its original owner, or in some cases, the original necklace or brooch that it's been crafted from. Oftentimes, daughters choose to wear the same tiara that their mother did on her own royal wedding day. And if you're really lucky, a bride that marries into the royal family is sometimes gifted a tiara by her new in-laws (talk about "something new" goals!). It's a family tradition that goes beyond dozens of sparkly diamonds.
For example, when Meghan Markle walked down the aisle to wed Prince Harry, she wore Queen Mary's Diamond Bandeau Tiara, on loan from Queen Elizabeth II herself. Similarly, when Princess Eugenie's own royal wedding rolls around in the coming weeks, she's expected to borrow the York Tiara, which her mother, Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, wore during her 1986 wedding to Prince Andrew (like mother, like daughter!).
Below, we're taking a look back at some of the most iconic royal wedding tiaras throughout history.
Queen Elizabeth II
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November 20, 1947
Queen Elizabeth's wedding tiara of choice was Queen Mary's Russian Fringe tiara, a piece made for her grandmother in 1919, which can also be worn as a necklace. Her only daughter, Princess Anne, wore it for her own big day in 1973.
Brigitte, Duchess of Gloucester
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July 8, 1972
Proving that it's not always about diamonds, Brigitte wore a different type of crown for her wedding to Prince Richard of Gloucester: a romantic flower crown.
Princess Diana
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July 29, 1981
The Spencer family tiara reached its iconic status when Princess Diana wore it for her wedding to Prince Charles. It is said that her sisters, Lady Sarah and Jane, wore the Spencer tiara on their wedding days and Diana wanted to keep with tradition, declining to borrow her mother-in-law's Queen Mary's Lover's Knot sparkler.
Serena Armstrong-Jones, Countess of Snowdon
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October 8, 1993
When marrying David Armstrong-Jones, the son of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Serena donned a delicate Lotus Flower tiara that was given to her mother-in-law by her mother in 1959.
Lady Sarah Chatto
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July 14, 1994
The daughter of Princess Margaret wore the Snowdon Floral tiara for her summer wedding. It is made up of three diamond floral brooches that were turned into a tiara for this very day.
Sophie Rhys-Jones, Countess of Wessex
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June 19, 1999
When she wed Queen Elizabeth II's youngest son, Prince Edward in a small ceremony at Windsor Castle, Sophie Rhys-Jones donned a beautiful tiara that most of the world had never seen. Her "something new" was a gift from her new mother-in-law and is said to have been custom-made using four different pieces from one of Queen Victoria's crowns.
Laura Lopes
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May 6, 2006
For her big day, Laura wore the same tiara her mother Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall wore on her wedding day in 1973 to her first husband, Andrew Parker Bowles. The Cubitt-Shand tiara belonged to Camilla's grandmother, Sonia Keppel, and features a gorgeous floral design encrusted in—what else?—but diamonds.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge
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April 29, 2011
For her highly-anticipated royal wedding to Prince William in 2011, Kate Middleton donned the stunning Cartier Halo tiara, which she borrowed from Queen Elizabeth II. King George VI gifted the tiara to his wife, the Queen Mother, in 1936 and it now sits among Queen Elizabeth II's collection.
Meghan Markle
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May 19, 2018
Ahead of May's royal wedding, it was heavily debated which tiara Meghan Markle will choose for her first turn as a royal. Would she pay homage to her late mother-in-law, Princess Diana, by wearing the Spencer Tiara, perhaps? Well, Markle ended up surprising everyone with her crown of choice, pairing her Givenchy wedding dress and 16.5-foot veil with the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau Tiara.
In a press release, Kensington Palace wrote, "The veil is held in place by Queen Mary's diamond bandeau tiara, lent to Ms. Markle by The Queen. The diamond bandeau is English and was made in 1932, with the entre brooch dating from 1893."