Garrard and the Lotus Flower Tiara: a royal jewel of 1923 blooms again
Garrard made the Lotus Flower Tiara in 1923 for the Queen Mother. It has passed through three generations of royal women, and now a new collection takes up its flower.
The Lotus Flower Tiara, shown as a Garrard archive model. Photo: Garrard
Among the royal jewels made by Garrard for the British Royal Family, few capture their decade as clearly as the Lotus Flower Tiara. The London jeweller created it in 1923 for the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, in the early years of her marriage to King George VI. More than a century later the tiara is still worn on formal occasions, and its flower has now given its name to a new collection of jewellery.
Egypt in the air
The design belongs to the 1920s in every line. Excavations in Egypt drew enormous interest in those years, and when Tutankhamun’s tomb was opened in 1922, archaeologists found lotus flowers scattered around the young pharaoh. In Ancient Egypt the lotus stood for rebirth and renewal. The richness of the objects found in the royal tombs suited the mood of the years, and the tiara translates that mood into diamonds and pearls.
Next to the grander royal tiaras it looks light and unmistakable. Its lotus motifs are framed by diamond arches and finished with lustrous white pearls, the Art Deco gem par excellence. The jewel is also known as the Queen Mother’s Papyrus Tiara.
A wedding gift, remade
The stones came from a necklace that King George VI had given his wife as a wedding gift. At her request, Garrard’s London workshop took the diamonds and pearls and turned them into the tiara. She wore it the way the 1920s preferred, low across the forehead as a .
The workshop’s own record survives. Garrard’s Royal Ledger notes the commission on 15 October 1923 as the “mounting of three pearls, 491 brilliant and 99 diamonds from a necklace as a bandeau in gold and silver settings”.
Three generations of royal wearers
In 1959 the Queen Mother gave the tiara to her younger daughter, Princess Margaret, just before Margaret’s marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones. The princess wore it often, from the 1960s into the early 1990s. She then lent it to her new daughter-in-law, Serena Stanhope, for her marriage to Viscount Linley, Margaret’s son.
For more than ten years afterwards the tiara, still owned by the royal family, stayed out of sight. It returned in 2015, when Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore it to her first State Banquet, held in honour of the president of China. In December 2022 she chose it again to host a diplomatic reception at the palace, and today it belongs to the suite of tiaras she wears on formal occasions.
Claire Scott, Garrard’s Design and Development Director, also oversees the house archive. What she admires most is the jewel’s versatility: it can sit across the forehead, as in the 1920s and 1930s, or in the more traditional position on top of the head, with the hair worn up or down.
It is a piece that has easily adapted to the changing styles of all the royal women it has adorned over the past 100 years.
The Lotus Collection
Today Garrard carries the motif into its Lotus Collection. Its jewels show a lotus opening towards the light, with diamonds and brightly coloured stones outlining each petal in flowing, sculptural lines.
The collection includes the Lotus Flower and Diamond Slider Pendant in 18K white gold, drop earrings with yellow sapphires, ear climbers with purple sapphires and rings set with tsavorites, yellow sapphires or blue sapphires. The Lotus Blossom pendant, ring and earrings rely on diamonds alone, the earrings in 18K rose or yellow gold, and a high jewellery ring combines diamonds with mother of pearl.
The tiara itself stays with the royal family. The Lotus Collection lets the same flower, first set in diamonds and pearls in 1923, bloom again in coloured stones.
Glossary
- Bandeau
- A narrow tiara worn low across the forehead, a style especially popular in the 1920s.
- Art Deco
- The decorative style of the 1920s and 1930s, known for clear geometric lines and motifs borrowed from ancient cultures.
- Rose-cut
- An old diamond cut with a flat base and a domed top of triangular facets, softer in sparkle than a brilliant.
- Tsavorite
- A green variety of garnet, valued for its vivid colour.
Questions readers ask
Who made the Lotus Flower Tiara, and when?
Garrard made it in its London workshop in 1923 for the late Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The house’s Royal Ledger records the commission on 15 October 1923: three pearls, 491 brilliant and 99 rose-cut diamonds, taken from a necklace and mounted as a bandeau in gold and silver settings.
Who has worn the Lotus Flower Tiara?
The Queen Mother wore it first, low on the forehead in the style of the 1920s. Princess Margaret received it in 1959 and wore it into the early 1990s, then lent it to Serena Stanhope for her marriage to Viscount Linley. Catherine, Princess of Wales, has worn it since 2015, including at a diplomatic reception in December 2022.
What is the Garrard Lotus Collection?
It is a collection of jewellery inspired by the tiara. Diamonds and coloured gemstones such as tsavorites and yellow, purple and blue sapphires trace the petals of a lotus flower in pendants, earrings, ear climbers and rings, set in 18K white, rose or yellow gold.
