Queen Letizia reached for one of the Spanish crown’s rarest tiaras on Wednesday night, unveiling the Cartier Pearl and Diamond Tiara during a state dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid. She and King Felipe VI were joined by Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and First Lady Elke Büdenbender, who are in Spain for a three-day state visit — an occasion that brought out pieces seldom seen beyond the royal vaults.
The tiara, commissioned by Cartier in 1920 for Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, was the night’s defining piece. The piece, made in platinum, is shaped around eight luminous pearls framed by diamond scrollwork — a composition Queen Ena once personalized by swapping the pearls for emeralds. Since 2018, Queen Letizia has been the only royal to wear the tiara.
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The Spanish royal balanced the rare tiara with a black Carolina Herrera gown, one of her go-to designers. The piece featured a square neckline and short sleeves finished in black beading. She added diamond drop earrings from the royal collection.
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Queen Letizia’s hair — a low, polished chignon — held the tiara high on its frame, mirroring how Queen Ena traditionally wore the piece in portraits. The only hit of color came from the red-and-gold sash of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, worn as protocol for the evening’s diplomatic setting by both her and her husband.
While Letizia has worn several historic pieces from the Spanish vaults over the years — including the Cartier Loop Tiara, the Prussian Diamond Tiara and the Spanish Floral Tiara — the Cartier Pearl and Diamond Tiara remains one of the collection’s most seldom-chosen designs. Its reappearance marked one of the tiara’s few public outings in recent years.