Good taste does suggest one specific warning: under the circumstances, in deference to the noble guest, a woman should refrain from wearing a tiara, or any head jewel resembling a coronet.
Coronation
A coronation, or a royal wedding—which usually includes the coronation of the one marrying into the reigning house—is a special function, growing less frequent in our strangely mixed times. The accession of Grace Kelly, however, to become Princess of Monaco, shows that these occasions may still spread their glamour wide.
At such events, the type of diadem or coronet each person may wear is strictly defined in regulations that for centuries have been built up around the aristocracy in various lands. Manuals describe the ceremonial and the regalia in detail. An untitled woman privileged to be present will wear nothing but diamonds and precious and semiprecious stones; imitation jewelry is out of place. If she has a large diamond necklace, with pendants, there will be diamond earclips; if the necklace is a choker, the earclip may have pear-shaped diamond pendant or emerald or pearl drops. A beautiful diamond bracelet and ring will complete the regal costume.
A Queen’s Crown
The monarch’s crown, and often his consort’s or his queen’s, has of course been handed down from the heads of those that ruled before. Occasionally there is a deviation from the tradition, as at the bridal coronation of Queen Geraldine of Albania. Geraldine was a Roman Catholic countess betrothed to a Mohammedan king. A royal crown usually bears a symbol of the monarch’s faith incorporated into its design; there are religious motifs in the ornamentation. In this case, naturally, such motifs and symbolism were not to be involved.
The honor of designing Queen Geraldine’s crown was entrusted to me. My problem was to establish a royal but not a religious motif. I found it in the crest of the kings of Albania. This bears the stylized head of a rare mountain ram, which roams the snowy peaks of the beautiful Albanian mountains. A sculptured head of the ram I had encrusted with diamonds and set in the centre of the tiara; this tapered down to a border of white roses made of diamonds, the leaves fashioned of diamond baguettes—a decorative and distinctive diamond crown for the decorative and distinguished Queen Geraldine.
When Every Woman is Queen
There is one day on which every woman is queen: her bridal day—the day when all others yield place and do her deference. And she must remember that a queen comports herself with dignity, yet is always gracious.