Queen Elizabeth's Equerry Came Up With an Unusual Solution After Her Tiara Broke on the Way to a Gala
It was the second time the late Queen experienced a tiara incident.
Members of the Royal Family don’t wear tiaras as much as they did during the earlier years of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, typically reserving them for major state occasions like the opening of Parliament or formal banquets for visiting world leaders. While you won’t see Princess Kate wearing a diamond headpiece at a film premiere or black tie event, in 1973, it was commonplace for the royals to break out a tiara, like Queen Elizabeth did for the Fanfare for Europe Gala.
The glittering event was held at the Royal Opera House in London, and while traveling to the gala from Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth experienced a tiara mishap.
According to the Royal Watcher blog, the late Queen, who was wearing an ivory gown with a matching fur stole, was reportedly wearing the Vladimir Tiara, but it broke en route to the Royal Opera House. Since they didn’t have time to detour to Buckingham Palace to get a replacement tiara, an alternate solution was required.
Queen Elizabeth attends a 1973 gala wearing the Plunket Tiara.
Queen Elizabeth attends a 1973 gala wearing the Plunket Tiara.
Fortunately, Queen Elizabeth’s equerry and friend Lord Plunket lived near the opera house, located in London’s Covent Garden neighborhood, and he offered to loan her his family’s diamond tiara for the night. Lord Plunket “took it out of the safe in time for the Queen’s car to arrive,” per the Royal Watcher, and she had just enough time to arrange it on her head before they got to the opera house.
“It was indeed their family’s tiara,” Mrs. Shaun Plunket, sister-in-law of Lord Plunket, wrote to Royal Jewels of the World. “The queen’s tiara had somehow broken that night en route to the event; Lord Plunket (Shaun’s older brother) lived around the corner and dashed home to retrieve his own tiara for her to wear. Voilà.”
The gala marked the only time Queen Elizabeth wore a tiara that wasn’t part of the Royal Family’s collection, and Lord Plunket wasn’t forgotten for saving the day. Per the Royal Watcher, the late Queen made Lord Plunket a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order the following year, but sadly, he died of cancer in 1975.
