The Tiaras in the Downton Abbey Movie Are Based on Real Royal Tiaras
How many tiaras does one Downtown Abbey costume designer need? There are never enough, says Anna Robbins, who dressed all the Crawleys and their royal visitors for the new Downton film. “I really wanted to make the Diamond Honeysuckle tiara [commissioned by Queen Mary shortly after she became Queen] as I thought it could work in such a wonderful ways in the ’20s,” says Robbins. "Also the Harewood Scroll Tiara and Queen Victoria’s Sapphire Coronet [now on view in the new jewelry galleries of the Victoria & Albert Museum]. I didn’t have the budget for some of them because of the intricate construction and I didn’t have enough royal balls in the movie to require as many tiaras as I wanted to make!"
Robbins did however, get plenty in there. Queen Mary, played in the film by Geraldine Jones, wears a replica of the Duchess Vladimir diamond and emerald tiara. Royal jewel spies will also spot a classic diamond fringe tiara as well as the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara (a diamond diadem created for Queen Mary and now favored by Queen Elizabeth, which gets its name from the group of women who pooled money to fund its creation).
Robbins chose the royal jewels carefully, with history, and her public, in mind.
Selecting the pieces to replicate was a process, she says, that involved choosing pieces first that would have existed at the time the film takes place, then making sure they worked for the style and proportion of the costumes in the movie. And finally, choosing “pieces that the audience might recognize from our current royals.”
The Crawleys themselves are also costumed in tiaras and diamond headpieces, ready as they are for a royal visit. For the Crawley family jewels, Robbins had other considerations. “Those jewelry decisions tend to come after the designs for the costume itself. So I look at the style, color, tone, and fabric of the costume and any protocol or dress code for the event in the script and this all marries up with characterization and balance and composition across the characters in any given scene.”
The scene of a royal visit and ball, Robbins knew, would send the Crawley women into the family vault. She adorned them accordingly. “They would have brought out their very finest jewelry,” says Robbins. “So while the bar was set high by the royals in the scenes, I was quite happy for the family to meet that bar.”
And was there any hesitation that the characters' jewels would upstage the royals in a scene? “I think the carat war would be clearly won by the Queen quite happily, so we were quite safe there.”
Robbins sourced the pieces from Sophie Millard, a company that provides the jewels for many of her projects, as well as other vintage jewelry suppliers. “I am always on the lookout for the perfect necklace, brooch or tiara, and found some key pieces in antique fairs in London—Alfie’s antiques was one. But on top of that we went the extra mile for this grand event and were loaned three genuine antique tiaras from Bentley & Skinner for the ball."
Cora Crawley, Lady Grantham, played by Elizabeth McGovern wears an Edwardian tiara with foliate swags and floral motifs that is convertible into a coronet, circa 1900.
Lady Edith, played by Lara Carmichael, can be seen in a Late Victorian diamond tiara, circa 1890.
Violet, the Dowager Countess of Grantham, played by the great Maggie Smith, attends the ball in a diamond foliate tiara that is convertible to a necklace, circa 1880.
The tiaras and headpieces were certainly appropriate for the occasion of a royal visit but also reflect the trend of the time. “They are definitely on trend for 1927, and the positioning of certain decoration is a real marker of the point in the decade,” says Robbins. “It also reflects the fact that our female characters are all married and so are entitled to wear tiara—so there are a lot more of them! So this was a lovely thing to explore that I wasn’t able to across the board on the series.
Robbins points out that a good tiara demands good hair. "The decoration of hair in the 20s is beautiful and inventive and changed so much across the course of the decade. It’s definitely something I’d love to see more of,” she says.
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