Why Queen Elizabeth Let Sarah Ferguson Keep Her Tiara But Not Princess Diana

For the royal family, it’s a tradition for brides to wear a tiara on their wedding day. The brides with this precious headpiece paired with their exclusively designed couture gowns really look like princesses. But what happens when members of the royal family divorce — can the ladies keep their tiaras?

Sarah Ferguson was able to keep hers, but the intriguing part is that Princess Diana was barred from keeping hers. Both of them were divorced from their husbands, but only Prince Andrew’s ex-wife was able to leave the Palace with her piece of jewelry.

Diana and Sarah were also given settlement money and jewels, but Prince Charle’s ex-wife’s most precious tiara was taken away from her. There’s a reason Queen Elizabeth had to ask her former daughter-in-law to return her tiara after her divorce from Prince Charles, and this is because it belongs to the royal jewelry vault.

Queen Elizabeth has this vault where the royal jewels are kept. It’s Her Majesty’s property, but she allows the princesses to borrow some pieces from time to time.

In the case of Princess Diana, she had to return her Lover’s Knot tiara simply because it’s from the royal family’s private collection. And since she became non-part of the family following her divorce, she couldn't be allowed to wear her famous headpiece.

Princess Diana was able to keep her tiara that was made from 38 teardrop-shaped pearls, diamonds, silver and gold for 15 years only. However, she was able to bring home most of her jewelry. Today, her Lover’s Knot tiara is often seen worn by Kate Middleton.

Sarah’s York tiara, on the other hand, was a gift from the Queen when she married Prince Andrew. This was given to her as a personal gift on her wedding day, so it’s her property and not the royal family’s and is not considered part of the British royal family’s heirloom. The tiara features a large diamond at the center and is mainly made from gold floral scrollwork. To this day, Sarah still wears her tiara for special functions.