Princess Margaret wore the Poltimore Tiara at her 6 May 1960 wedding, but the diamond jewel was not borrowed from the Royal Collection: she had bought it at auction in 1959, before her engagement was publicly announced. Its later sale is often rounded to $1.2 million, but Christie’s reported a 2006 result of £926,400, or $1,704,576 at the time.
Which tiara did Princess Margaret wear?
Margaret wore the Poltimore Tiara, made by Garrard around 1870 for Lady Poltimore, wife of the second Baron Poltimore. Christie’s describes graduated cushion-shaped and old-cut diamond clusters alternating with diamond-set scroll motifs, with old-cut diamond terminals on a silver-and-gold mount. Its maximum diameter was 19.2 cm. Christie’s catalogue entry records the jewel’s construction and history.
The piece was designed to be worn in several ways: as a tiara, a fringe necklace, or eleven brooches. Its fittings included a screwdriver and brooch fittings. This was not just a tiara that happened to be worn differently; its convertible construction made the different forms part of the jewel’s design.
How her choice differed from the usual royal-wedding pattern
Royal brides typically borrowed tiaras from the Royal Collection, according to secondary accounts, making Margaret’s choice unusual: she bought a privately owned jewel for herself. That was a custom, not an absolute rule that every royal bride was required to follow. The distinction is about ownership and choice, not a proven breach of a binding ceremony rule. The Knot and Tatler characterize the decision as a break with tradition.
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Margaret bought the Poltimore at public auction on 29 January 1959 for £5,500, before her engagement to Antony Armstrong-Jones was officially announced. That figure is the recorded auction price when the tiara left the Poltimore family, not a current valuation. Christie’s lot history gives the date and price.
She wore it as a necklace before the wedding
The wedding was not the first time Margaret wore the jewel. Before the ceremony she appeared in it in fringe-necklace form on several occasions; Garrard notes one appearance at a gala ballet at the Royal Opera House. Christie’s says the wedding was the first time she wore it as a tiara, distinguishing its earlier use from its famous bridal appearance. Garrard’s history of the Poltimore Tiara recounts its alternate forms and appearances.
The wedding-day appearance and the later sale
On 6 May 1960, Margaret arrived at Westminster Abbey by horse-drawn carriage and wore the Poltimore as a tiara. Garrard describes the ceremony as the first royal wedding broadcast on television and reports an estimated global audience of 300 million; that figure is Garrard’s estimate, not a separately verified audience count. Garrard provides that retrospective account.
After Margaret’s death, the tiara was sold at Christie’s in 2006 from her collection. It brought £926,400 against an estimate of £150,000–200,000. Christie’s contemporaneous release gave the dollar equivalent as $1,704,576—not $1.2 million. The headline figure of $1.2 million is therefore not the sale’s reported dollar result; without a dated conversion method, it should be treated only as an approximate later-dollar framing. Christie’s 2006 sale release gives the result and estimate.
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Where is the Poltimore Tiara now?
Its present whereabouts are not publicly known. Garrard says the anonymous buyer’s acquisition was followed by the jewel disappearing from public view; there is no established basis for placing it in a particular collection or country. Garrard’s account states that its current whereabouts are unknown.
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