The Duchess of Sussex deliberately kept her bridal outfit "clean and simple" when she married Prince Harry on 19 May 2018.
As well as choosing a Givenchy wedding dress that had a tailored, modern silhouette, Meghan was loaned a diamond tiara from Harry's late grandmother Queen Elizabeth's collection – but it may not have been in its original form. Meghan looked stunning with her dark hair styled into an effortless low bun which perfectly highlighted the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau Tiara fastening her 16-foot silk tulle veil in place.
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Made in 1932, the heirloom features a ten-diamond centre brooch dating from 1893 which was gifted to the then-Princess Mary from the County of Lincoln when she married Prince George, Duke of York in 1893.
She was pictured wearing the geometric tiara at a theatre performance of Little Miss Muffet in 1949. Although the rare photos show the diamond brooch at the centre of the bandeau tiara, just as Meghan wore on her wedding day, there have been reports that it previously featured sapphires, but there is currently no proof of this.
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The Duchess of Sussex borrowed the Queen Mary bandeau tiara from Queen Elizabeth
The bandeau and the brooch were bequeathed by Queen Mary to Queen Elizabeth in 1953, and the tiara was picked out by the Duchess on what she said was a "surreal" day.
In the audio recording for a Windsor Castle exhibition in 2019, Meghan explained: "Harry and I had gone to Buckingham Palace to meet with Her Majesty The Queen to select one of the options that were there, which was an incredibly surreal day, as you can imagine.
Meghan teamed it with a modern Givenchy wedding dress
"That [diamond bateau tiara] was the one that I think as we tried them on stood out; I think it was just perfect because it was so clean and simple, and I think also at that point an extension to what Clare and I had been trying to do with the dress, which was have something that could be so incredibly timeless but still feel modern."
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