• e-mail

They say that diamonds are a girl’s best friend — and Diana was no exception, though very few of the sparklers she wore were her own.

On her wedding day she donned the priceless Spencer Tiara, an elegant floral headpiece that had been in her family since Victorian times — and she continued to wear it throughout her time as Princess. 

Fussy with headpieces — she is said not to have liked how they flattened her hair and dug in to her temples — she fixed them in place with ordinary elastic from John Lewis, according to her hairstylist Sam McKnight. 

A girl's best friend: Diana draped herself in diamonds at every opportunity, from family heirlooms to pieces borrowed from the Spencers’ favourite jeweller Collingwood. She is pictured in Hong Kong wearing a pearl and diamond tiara that was a wedding gift from the Queen

Necklaces and earrings, however, were a different matter. Diana draped herself in diamonds at every opportunity, from family heirlooms to pieces borrowed from the Spencers’ favourite jeweller Collingwood, ensuring a dazzling appearance that captivated everyone in the room. 

Today, for the first time, we chart the sparkling stones she so adored.

Raiding her mother's gems

Diana wore this piece from her mother’s collection to the charity event at Goldsmiths’ Hall in March 1981 — the first royal black tie event of her young life.

Diana paired this elegant diamond necklace from her mother's collection with her wedding earrings as she attended the first royal black tie event of her young life in 1981

Paired with her wedding earrings, this elegant diamond necklace featured a single strand of glittering stones fused together at the front to make an asymmetric vertical drop.

Paradoxically, Diana later learned the importance of not wearing jewellery with her many low-cut and strapless gowns. These dresses had necklines which seemed to beg for diamond chokers or pendants, but she soon came to realise the power of a bare decolletage.

A generous loan from the Queen

Resplendent in a sky blue Bruce Oldfield dress at a dinner in Australia, Diana accessorised with a necklace borrowed from the Queen.

This was the King Faisal of Saudi Arabia necklace, a fringe design with drop diamonds set with additional slender ‘baguette’ and rhombus-shaped ‘brilliant’ diamonds.

The King Faisal of Saudi Arabia necklace was chosen by Diana for an event in Australia in 1983. It was loaned to her by Her Majesty for the tour and is a fringe design with drop diamonds set with additional slender ‘baguette’ and rhombus-shaped ‘brilliant’ diamonds

Made by American ‘jeweller to the stars’ Harry Winston, it was given to the Queen as a gift by the Arab monarch during his visit to Britain in 1967.

Aware that Diana had few suitable pieces in her still-fledgling collection, the Queen, who adored the necklace, lent the piece for the royal couple’s tour Down Under in 1983.

Something borrowed... family heirloom that saved the day

On her wedding day in July 1981, Diana had relatively few pieces of jewellery from which to choose. 

The one saving grace was the Spencer Tiara, a dazzling floral headpiece which had been in her family in various guises for more than 60 years. 

Said to date back to the 18th century, it was given to Diana’s grandmother, Cynthia, Viscountess Althorp, by a distant relative called Lady Sarah Spencer as a wedding gift in 1919. 

The Spencer family tiara was Diana's favourite and she wore it on her wedding day. It features large gold scrolling foliage adorned with tulips, stars and a central heart, each decorated with diamonds and set in silver. A similar headpiece was recently sold by the family for £185,000

The tiara was remounted and sections were added in the Thirties, with the oldest pieces said to be at either end. It features large gold scrolling foliage adorned with tulips, stars and a central heart, each decorated with diamonds and set in silver. Its curved shape and whimsical design make it different to the more formal style of royal headpieces. 

Reportedly Diana’s favourite, it was worn by her older sisters, Jane and Sarah, on their wedding days (in 1978 and 1980 respectively). Diana, as bridesmaid to both, had longed for the day she might wear the sparkling headpiece as a bride, and on her wedding day it served as a fitting ‘something borrowed’. 

The tiara’s value is unknown, but earlier this year the Spencer family sold another headpiece, set with more than 800 diamonds, for £185,000 to a mystery bidder at auction.

The diamonds that she couldn't accept as a gift

Collingwood, founded in 1817, had been the Spencer family jewellers since Diana was a girl, so when it came to choosing a shimmering suite of diamonds for her official engagement portraits, taken by Lord Snowdon in February 1981, there was no better place to turn. 

Lady Diana selected an antique diamond necklace and matching girandole earrings for the sitting at Highgrove House. 

Diana selected this antique diamond necklace and matching girandole earrings for engagement portraits taken by Lord Snowdon. Jewellers Collingwood wanted to present it to her as a wedding present but Buckingham Palace officials said the valuable gift was inappropriate

Collingwood wanted to present her with the diamond set as a wedding gift, but Palace officials declared such a valuable present inappropriate. 

Instead, the jeweller gave the Princess a pair of diamond and pearl earrings. However Diana continued to borrow the set, wearing the necklace for King Khalid of Saudi Arabia’s visit to London in June 1981. 

The Collingwood diamond suite was subsequently offered for sale by an Iranian jeweller, who claimed they were Spencer heirlooms sold to pay for the wedding. 

He had bought them from an unscrupulous dealer, who had offered the Snowdon portrait as proof they belonged to Diana’s family. Thankfully the fraud was uncovered before the sale could be made.

The weighty Windsor tiara that gave her headaches

The most magnificent heirloom worn by Diana — or any of the younger royals to date — the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara (sometimes known as the Queen Mary Lover’s Knot) is thought to be worth around half a million pounds.

It came into her possession via the Queen, who gave the diamond and pearl-drop headpiece to her new daughter-in-law as a rather generous wedding present.

The tiara’s history can be traced back to 1818, when it was given as a wedding present to the German bride of the Duke of Cambridge, King George III’s seventh son. Passed down several generations, the tiara eventually caught the eye of Queen Mary, wife of George V, who had her own copy made by the royal jeweller Garrard.

Heirloom: from left, the Queen in the tiara in 1958; Princess Diana in 1991; and the Duchess of Cambridge in 2016. The Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara (sometimes known as the Queen Mary Lover’s Knot) is thought to be worth around £500,000

The tiara comprises diamonds and pearls from Queen Mary’s personal collection, set in silver and arranged in 19 arches capped with bows (or ‘lovers’ knots’), resting on a circular band of diamonds. On Mary’s death in 1953, it passed to her granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II. A spokesman for Garrard says Diana wore the tiara ‘an awful lot’, mostly for presidential banquets, gala dinners and formal portraits.

She felt it lent her a suitably regal air, but in private complained of its weight and said it gave her headaches if worn for too long.

After her divorce from Charles in 1996, the tiara returned to the Windsor vault. In December 2015, royal watchers were delighted to see the Duchess of Cambridge dust it off for the Queen’s annual diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace. Then again in 2016.

Sparklers fit for a star

Diana pulled out all the stops for this encounter with actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1982. Wearing a white fur coat, the Princess looked indistinguishable from a young, successful starlet, completing her look with a glittering diamond flower cluster necklace.

Diana pulled out all the stops for this encounter with actress Elizabeth Taylor in 1982. She chose a glittering diamond flower cluster necklace featuring graduated floral diamond patterns

The necklace, featuring graduated floral diamond patterns, was mid-way between a pendant and a choker, meaning it was particularly flattering on Diana. Although she generally preferred shorter necklaces as they showed off her long neck and elegant shoulders.

Timeless watch the Queen loved

This delicate diamond and platinum watch was presented to Her Majesty the Queen in 1947 as a wedding gift from the Swiss Federal Republic. 

Made at Vacheron Constantin, the world’s oldest watch factory, founded in Geneva in 1755, the diamond- encircled round watch face is joined to a strap with loops of diamonds, making it one of the most ostentatious timepieces ever seen. 

The diamond- encircled round watch face is joined to a strap with loops of diamonds and was a wedding gift to the Queen in 1947 from Switzerland. She then bestowed it upon Diana for her wedding. She is seen wearing it hear attending a gala dinner in Washington during 1985

The Queen wore the watch often in her youth, once showing it off over a pair of black satin gloves. 

It was among the many wedding presents the Queen bestowed upon Diana in 1981. Here she wears it to a gala dinner in Washington in 1985. The tiny gleaming stones mirror the crystals on the shoulder of her white silk gown.

Brooch that showed off her very playful sense of style

Looking particularly stylish at an America’s Cup Ball at the Grosvenor House Hotel in 1986, Diana, by then hitting her fashion stride, decided to pin a diamond brooch to a velvet choker and wear it as a necklace.

Little is known about this eye-catching arrow shaped brooch featuring diamonds and sapphires that Diana fashioned into a necklace for an America’s Cup Ball at the Grosvenor House Hotel in 1986

Little is known about the brooch, an arrow shape featuring diamonds and sapphires. Yet the remainder of her look was certainly eye-catching.

Her flamenco-style dress was by Murray Arbeid, her earrings were faux onyx stones from her favourite costume jeweller, Butler and Wilson, and she wore mismatched gloves (one black and another red), setting the tone for her most fashion-forward years.

The cherished reminder of friend who died from Aids

Not usually a fan of brooches, this diamond flower held sentimental significance for Diana. It was left to her by her friend Adrian Ward-Jackson, an art dealer, who died from Aids in August 1991, aged just 41.

This diamond flower featuring a central stone and 18 diamond ‘petals’ was passed to Diana  following the death of her friend Adrian Ward-Jackson from Aids at the age of just 41. She wore it to his memorial

Diana was patron of the National Aids Trust and had a close bond with Adrian, whose illness worsened while she was on a family holiday at Balmoral. She left Charles and the boys and rushed to London, holding an eight-hour bedside vigil on his final night.

With a central stone and 18 diamond ‘petals’, it passed to Diana on Adrian’s death and she wore it to his memorial.

Striking gift from the Sultan of Oman

This striking choker and crescent-shaped earrings — part of a set which also included a diamond bracelet — were given to Diana by the Sultan of Oman during the royal couple’ s tour of the Gulf States in 1986. Pictured here at a charity performance of Cinderella at the Royal Opera House in 1987, Diana adored the distinctly modern design