LONDON — The Spencer family, long celebrated for the dazzling diamond tiara that crowned Lady Diana Spencer on her wedding day in 1981, quietly holds one of the most remarkable private collections of aristocratic headpieces in Britain, and a detailed new examination of that collection reveals that the world has seen only a fraction of its treasures.
While the Spencer Tiara remains seared into the global imagination as the bridal crown of the future Princess of Wales, the family vaults at Althorp House contain at least three other significant tiaras, each with its own lineage, intrigue and, in one case, a multimillion-dollar auction fate.
The most famous of the pieces, the Spencer Tiara, was not even a possession of the British royal family when Diana wore it to St Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981. It belonged to her father, then Earl Spencer, who loaned it to his daughter for the wedding of the century.
The tiara’s design features swelling arcs of leaves and flowers, a romantic motif that made it an instant icon. Its central portion began as a wedding gift to Lady Cynthia Hamilton from Lady Sarah Spencer, daughter of the fourth Earl Spencer, upon her marriage to Viscount Althorp in 1919. He later became the seventh Earl Spencer in 1922, and the couple were Diana’s grandparents.
The oldest elements of the piece are believed to have come from a tiara once owned by Francis Viantis Montigue and given to Lady Sarah in 1875. In 1937, four matching pieces from Garrards were incorporated to form the tiara as it is known today.
Following Cynthia’s death in 1978, her granddaughter Lady Jane Spencer became the first to be photographed wearing the tiara at her wedding to Robert Fellowes in London that same year. Lady Sarah Spencer, Diana’s elder sister and a former romantic interest of the Prince of Wales, wore it for her 1980 wedding to Neil McCorquodale.
But the tiara’s defining moment came a year later, when Lady Diana Spencer wore it to marry the heir to the British throne. Unlike her sisters, Diana continued to wear the Spencer Tiara after her wedding, often choosing it over Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara. It graced banquets, state dinners, royal tours and numerous iconic portraits.
After her death, the tiara formed part of the Diana exhibition and now rests in the Spencer vaults at Althorp. In June 2018, Celia McCorquodale, daughter of Lady Sarah McCorquodale, wore the Spencer Tiara at her wedding to George Woodhouse at St Andrew and St Mary’s Church in Stoke Rochford, Lincolnshire — the first time it had been worn publicly since the late Princess of Wales.
The second piece, the Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara, is the elder of the two principal tiaras in the family’s possession, dating back to at least 1885. Its appearance is notable for a perceived weightiness, with a feather motif at the top that appears somewhat spiky, contrasting with an angular and harsh base, creating the impression of two distinct tiaras fused together.
It is widely believed that the tiara’s first owner was Charlotte, wife of John Poyntz Spencer, the fifth Earl Spencer. Over the years the piece has undergone several renovations, including adjustments to the placement of the honeysuckle elements and the meander border along its base.
In its original form, as depicted in John Chancellor’s portrait of Charlotte, the honeysuckles were positioned at the same level as the Greek key design. Another illustration of an early version shows the elements arranged on the same level as well.
During the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953, Cynthia Spencer, wife of the sixth Earl and grandmother of Princess Diana, notably wore the honeysuckle tiara, though it appeared slightly taller than its original form. Today the tiara has been enlarged, with the honeysuckles placed prominently at the top.
Despite Diana’s frequent use of the Spencer Tiara, there are no documented photographs of her wearing the family’s other diadem. A convincing photoshopped image circulating online purporting to show Diana adorned with the honeysuckle tiara is a fabrication, according to the examination.
It is also worth noting that the owner of the Spencer Tiara is the Earl Spencer. Diana never owned any of these tiaras. Prince William and Prince Harry will surely receive many of their late mother’s possessions, but neither of the Spencer tiaras will be among them.
Instead, the current Countess Spencer is far more likely to eventually be seen wearing the family’s diadems.
The third piece, a diamond and pearl tiara, held a place in Countess Raine Spencer’s personal jewelry collection. She was the second wife of Earl Spencer and stepmother to Diana. A friend of Raine’s revealed that the family’s reception toward her after her marriage was less than welcoming.
“None of them liked her and they were vile to her,” the friend recounted. Subsequently, Diana and Charles coined the nickname “Acid Raine” for their father’s new spouse.
However, over time Diana’s perspective on her stepmother evolved. Toward the latter part of Diana’s life, her relationship with Raine grew closer. Raine became a pillar of support for Diana, especially amid strained relations with her own mother, Frances, and escalating tensions within the royal family.
When Diana started finding her own mother impossible to deal with, she became extremely friendly with Raine. They swapped notes, spoke every morning and lunched together once a week or once a fortnight. “They were very, very close and Diana used to lean on Raine’s shoulder and tell her all her problems, of which there were many,” the account states.
“So their relationship completely turned around. It was quite a dramatic turnaround.”
Adorned with large button pearls set within an antique Victorian frame, this convertible tiara can also be worn as a necklace. It likely hails from the collection of Dame Barbara Cartland or was acquired through the Spencer inheritance, as it was exclusively worn by Raine, Countess Spencer.
Following the dissolution of her three marriages, one of the tiara’s earliest public appearances as a necklace was noted at the Opera Ball in Vienna in 1998. The tiara graced the Victoria and Albert Museum’s “Pearls” exhibition in 2013 and 2014. It was subsequently sold to the Albion Art Collection, where it presumably remains today.
The fourth and final tiara of note is an Edwardian diamond piece bestowed upon Lady Delia Spencer, the great-aunt of Princess Diana, by her father, the sixth Earl Spencer, on the occasion of her marriage in 1914.
Adorned with more than 800 diamonds, the tiara showcases exquisite craftsmanship and bears a unique provenance. Its frame is secured by delicately crafted wing-top screws, allowing for easy removal. Hidden clasps enable the tiara to be divided into three central sections forming a choker necklace, while the two outer sections combine to create a bracelet.
This exceptional piece was gifted to Lady Delia upon her marriage on February 18, 1914, to the Honorable Sydney Peel, the younger son of the first Lord Peel, Speaker of the House of Commons, and grandson of Prime Minister Sir Robert Peel. The total weight of the diamonds adorning the tiara is estimated to be around 48 carats.
The tiara’s remarkable versatility, with its ability to transform into a necklace and bracelet, adds to its allure. In March 2017, the Spencer family tiara made headlines when it was swiftly sold at the world’s largest art and antiques fair for $225,000, mere hours after being put up for sale.
The revelation of the breadth of the Spencer collection underscores a quiet truth about one of Britain’s most scrutinized aristocratic families: while the world fixated on a single diamond crown, the Spencers were custodians of a hidden dynasty of jewels, each carrying the weight of marriages, mourning, reconciliation and, ultimately, survival.
For historians of royal jewelry, the Spencer tiaras represent a rare window into how aristocratic families adapted heirlooms across generations, dismantling and reassembling them as fortunes, fashions and family dynamics demanded. The Spencer Tiara itself is a composite of at least three separate eras of craftsmanship, a physical record of the family’s evolution.
The fact that Diana never owned the tiaras she made famous has also drawn renewed attention. As the property of the Earl Spencer, the pieces remain with the family line rather than passing to the royal households of her sons. That distinction matters to collectors and historians alike, because it means the Spencer legacy in jewels remains intact at Althorp rather than dispersed into the Crown’s vast collections.
For now, the tiaras rest largely out of public view, their diamonds catching light only on rare occasions such as family weddings. But their stories — of a bride who became a global icon, of a stepmother vilified then embraced, of an Edwardian masterpiece that can be broken apart and worn three ways — continue to fascinate.
The next time a Spencer bride walks down the aisle wearing the family tiara, the world will once again be watching. But behind that single glittering moment lies a collection far richer and more complicated than most will ever know.
