The Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara was made in the early 19th century, possibly in Germany, for Princess Augusta of Hesse Cassel, Duchess of Cambridge. It passed to her daughter, the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg Strelitz, and her great granddaughter, Princess Jutta of Montenegro, before its sale at Christie’s in 1981.
A copy was made at the request of Queen Mary, who left it to Queen Elizabeth II. That copy has since been worn by Diana, Princess of Wales, and the present Duchess of Cambridge. Two other models were produced in Germany in the early 19th century. One was for Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece, which still belongs to the Bavarian royal family and is displayed at the Residenz Museum in Munich. The other, created for Princess Youssoupov, disappeared after the Russian Revolution.
Two additional models (possibly only one) of the tiara were worn in the 1900s by Princess Maria Immaculata of Saxony, Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and in the 1930s by the Maharani of Patiala. One of these two tiaras (unless, of course, there is only one) was sold at Christie’s in 1985.
