The Poltimore tiara was worn by Princess Margaret during her lifetime, but is now no longer owned by the Royal Family. Instead it was sold off after Margaret’s death – what is the history of the piece, and where is it now?

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The tiara gets its name from the original owner – Florence Bampfylde, Lady Poltimore.

It was made for her by Garrard around 1870, and she wore it to the 1911 coronation of King George V.

Lady Poltimore’s grandson, the 4th Baron Poltimore, auctioned the tiara in 1959 and Princess Margaret snapped it up for just £5500.

Margaret announced her engagement to Antony Armstrong-Jones in February 1960, with their wedding taking place in May of that year.

Margaret wore the Poltimore on her wedding day, and continued to step out in it throughout her life.

In 2006, an image of Margaret taken in 1962 wearing the Poltimore – and only the Poltimore – in a bathtub found its way in to the public domain.

The image was taken by Armstrong-Jones, but he kept it under wraps until 2006, four years after Margaret’s death.

He then died in 2017, and his family withdrew it once again from pubic view – but TV series The Crown made a nod to the naughty image in their third series.

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The same year the image was made public, Margaret’s children auctioned off the Poltimore to help pay a massive inheritance tax bill. It sold for a whopping $1.3million (£926,400) to a private buyer.

While a tiara usually finishes halfway round, this piece is actually a completely closed circlet.

It can be broken down in to a necklace and an astonishing 11 brooches. It can also be worn as a smaller version, giving it great versatility.

It features a graduated line of cushion-shaped and old-cut diamond clusters alternating with diamond-set scroll motifs, each surmounted by old-cut diamond terminals, to the collet-set diamond line, which is mounted in silver and gold.

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Speaking about the diadem, Alexandra Michell Gemologist Prestige Pawnbrokers Hatton Garden said: “The Poltimore tiara was made famous by Princess Margaret, photographed in her bathtub, wearing nothing but the tiara.

“Created by Crown Jewellers Garrards’ in 1870 for Lady Poltimore, it was sold in 1959 at auction and bought by Princess Margaret as her wedding tiara for £5500 (todays equivalent value would be £125,000), although she wore it in its multiple forms before her actual wedding day a year later.

“The famous bathtub scene was reproduced by Helena Bonham-Carter in the TV series ‘The Crown’. The real scene came about when Princess Margaret was getting ready for an evening out, had already had her hair done and was bathing, when her husband, a photographer, snapped the picture.

“Now that it has had a starring role on TV, should this piece be presented at auction today, I’d imagine it would fetch up to £3,000,000.”

How many tiaras are there in the royal collection?

There are dozens of priceless tiaras owned by the Queen and other members of the Royal Family. Many of the British aristocracy also own tiaras, wearing them at state banquets and on wedding days.

As well as tiaras currently in existence, there are a couple which have been dismantled to make other diadems. This includes The Surrey Fringe and The Nizam of Hyderabad.

Some tiaras have formed part of iconic moments in the history of the Royal Family. The Cartier Halo for instance, was worn by Kate Middleton on her wedding day to Prince William in 2011.

Similarly, the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau was admired around the world thanks to it being the choice of Meghan Markle for her wedding to Prince Harry in 2018.

And it is the Lover’s Knot that is most often seen today, as it is a favourite of the Duchess of Cambridge. It was closely associated with Diana, Princess of Wales during her marriage to Prince Charles, so holds special significance for Kate.

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