Princess Anne wore first tiara at 17 – but Beatrice & Eugenie not given this privilege

The Royal Family rarely wears tiaras while out and about nowadays, so it’s always fascinating when they do.

Usually, the Princess of Wales and Queen Camilla don diadems at state dinners or the yearly Diplomatic Corps reception at Buckingham Palace.

Royal women rarely wear tiaras before their wedding day, including Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie who are royals by birth.

However, the Princess Royal was granted this uncommon favour before her 1973 wedding to Captain Mark Phillips.

Princess Anne, 72, donned her first tiara in a formal photograph when she was 17 years old, but she also routinely wore sparkly headpieces to evening occasions like ballroom dancing, charity banquets, and film premieres.

This is most likely due to the white tie dress code that was in place at the time, which required both men and women to wear floor-length evening dresses, white gloves, and tiaras.

During a night out at the cinema in 1969 with Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, Anne wore the Cartier Halo tiara.

Princess Kate made headlines in 2011 when she wore this diamond headdress with a band of scrolls on her wedding day.

The Meander tiara, which formerly belonged to Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, was also frequently seen on the Princess Royal.

Zara Phillips, Princess Anne’s daughter, borrowed this diadem for her 2011 nuptials to Mike Tindall.

The late Queen’s sister, Princess Margaret, also donned headpieces before she married Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, making Anne not the only British-born Princess to do so.

Margaret particularly loved the Cartier Halo and Lotus Flower tiaras, both of which were later worn by the Princess of Wales.

When Princess Anne walked down the aisle to marry Captain Mark Phillips, she looked beautiful wearing Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara.

This tiara was worn by Queen Elizabeth at her 1947 wedding to marry Prince Philip, and also by Princess Beatrice to marry Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in 2020.

Beatrice and Eugenie, unlike their aunt Princess Anne, had to wait for their respective wedding days before they could wear a tiara in public.

Princess Eugenie wed Jack Brooksbank in 2018, and the Princess of York wore a beautiful Greville Emerald Kokoshnik tiara.

Now both sisters are married, they can wear tiaras at public functions. For instance, Beatrice wore her mother’s York Tiara at the recent royal wedding in Jordan.