The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg host a state banquet for the visiting President and First Lady of Singapore on March 27, 2025 (Sophie Margue/Maison du Grand Duc)
The President of Singapore continued his state visits in Europe last week with a stop in Luxembourg, where the grand ducal family threw a grand state banquet—tiaras and all!—in his honor.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, with the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess, host a state banquet for the visiting President and First Lady of Singapore on March 27, 2025 (Sophie Margue/Maison du Grand Duc)
Following their state visit to Belgium earlier in the week, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam of Singapore and his wife, First Lady Jane Yumiko Ittogi, headed to Luxembourg for a state visit with Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume, who will take over the reins in the grand duchy later this year, and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie were also in attendance for the banquet at the Grand Ducal Palace on Thursday.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg host a state banquet for the visiting President and First Lady of Singapore on March 27, 2025 (Sophie Margue/Maison du Grand Duc)
For the dinner, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wore a floral gown from Oscar de la Renta with the golden sash of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau. She wore a similar floral dress from the same designer for the New Year Gala a few months ago. On both occasions, she wore the same tiara: her favorite jewel, the Belgian Scroll Tiara.
Official wedding portrait of Hereditary Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, April 9, 1953
The tiara dates to 1953, when it was presented by the Société Générale, a French bank, to Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium to celebrate her marriage to Hereditary Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg. She debuted the tiara as she posed for official portraits after their wedding, and she wore it regularly for the next five decades.
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg attends a state banquet at the Palace of Laeken on April 16, 2024 (BENOIT DOPPAGNE/Belga News Agency/Alamy)
In the years following Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte’s passing, the tiara has become the favorite jewel of her daughter-in-law, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. In recent years, she has rarely worn another tiara. The all-diamond piece combines well with a variety of jewels from the family collection. Here, during the state visit to Belgium last April, she wears the tiara with jewels from the family’s aquamarine parure.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg host a state banquet for the visiting President and First Lady of Singapore on March 27, 2025 (Sophie Margue/Maison du Grand Duc)
For the Singaporean state banquet last week, Maria Teresa wore the tiara with pearl drop earrings and an amethyst bracelet, which comes from another parure of jewels from the grand ducal vaults.
The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg attends the National Day Gala, June 2017 (Cour Grand-Ducale)
The bracelet is part of the family’s suite of jewels set with oval-shaped amethysts. The bracelet can also be set on a frame and worn as a bandeau-style tiara. Here, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie wears the bandeau setting of the bracelet, plus the necklace and earrings from the set, at the National Day Gala in 2017.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, with the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess, host a state banquet for the visiting President and First Lady of Singapore on March 27, 2025 (Sophie Margue/Maison du Grand Duc)
Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie sparkled in a light green evening gown, which UFO No More tells us was made by Elie Saab. The same designer made Stéphanie’s wedding dress more than a decade ago, which shared some design similarities with this dress. With the gown, Stéphanie wore the sash and star of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau, as well as a jewelry treasure from the Luxembourgish vaults: the Chaumet Choker Tiara.
Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg attends a state banquet at the Grand Ducal Palace in honor of the King and Queen of the Netherlands on May 23, 2018 (Patrick van Katwijk/DPA Picture Alliance/Alamy)
Here, Stéphanie wears the same tiara for a different occasion, a banquet during the Dutch state visit to Luxembourg in 2018. The delicate lattice-style tiara, made by Chaumet, can be worn either as a tiara on a frame or as a choker-style necklace. It’s even more versatile, too: it can be worn with or without a set of grand pearl toppers. The grand ducal family acquired the piece at auction, and it’s been with them since the reign of Grand Duke Jean.
Princess Lilian of Sweden, Prince Bertil of Sweden, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, King Olav V of Norway, Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, Crown Princess Sonja of Norway, and Crown Prince Harald of Norway attend a concert by the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra celebrating King Olav’s 80th birthday, 1983 (NTB/Alamy)
Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte wears the tiara with its pearl toppers in this photograph, taken during the celebrations of the 80th birthday of her uncle, King Olav V of Norway, in 1983.
Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg attends a gala dinner on the night before the wedding of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie, October 19, 2012 (Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images)
And in this image, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa wears the tiara during a gala dinner held the night before Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie’s wedding in the autumn of 2012.
Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg arrives for her wedding to Nicolas Bagory in Bormes-les-Mimosas on April 29, 2023 (Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images)
Over the past decade, the Chaumet tiara has also become a firm favorite of another member of the family: Princess Alexandra, the only daughter of Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa. She’s worn it for state banquets and galas, and in the spring of 2023, she chose it for her religious wedding ceremony in the south of France.
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