- Princess Anne’s milestone 75th birthday is on August 15, and to mark the occasion, Buckingham Palace has released three portraits of the daughter of Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip.
- Two of the photos were taken at her Gatcombe Park estate, but in the first portrait—taken by royal photographer Chris Jackson at Windsor Castle on July 8—the Princess Royal is wearing her long-favorite tiara, the Festoon Tiara.
- The sparkler is estimated to be worth $4 million and was given to Anne as a gift in 1973, when she was 23 years old.
Despite Princess Anne’s wish that no fuss be made over her milestone 75th birthday, Buckingham Palace released three new portraits to mark the occasion.
In one, taken by royal photographer Chris Jackson and released one week ahead of the Princess Royal’s August 15 birthday on August 8, Anne is photographed alongside her husband, Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence, at a state banquet held at Windsor Castle on July 8 hosting France’s President Emmanuel Macron and First Lady Brigitte Macron. Aside from her hair transformation—her first in 50 years—Anne wears a tiara she’s also worn for five decades: the Festoon Tiara, worth $4 million.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Buckingham Palace
Anne was given the Festoon Tiara in 1973 by the World Wide Shipping Group of Hong Kong, Maxwell Stone of U.K. jeweler Steven Stone tells InStyle. The gift was in recognition of the Princess Royal christening one of their ships, and the then 23-year-old has worn the tiara with regularity ever since.
The tiara is crafted entirely from platinum and set with an array of diamonds in an openwork design; it showcases three prominent diamond swags, gracefully suspended between upright diamond motifs, according to Stone. It is adorned with both round and cushion-cut diamonds along its upper and lower edges and, Stone adds, is valued at an estimated $4 million.
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“Believed to date back to the early 20th century, it carries not only exquisite craftsmanship but also a rich sense of history,” Stone says, describing the topper as having a “perfectly balanced silhouette combining elegance with remarkable lightness.”
“Its refined proportions and comfortable fit have made it one of the Princess Royal’s most cherished choices for formal occasions,” he adds.
The tiara made its public debut in 1973, the same year it was given to Anne. She wore the piece for a series of portraits to mark her 23rd birthday, and wore it again in pre-wedding photographs with her first husband, Captain Mark Phillips, whom Anne married that November. (They divorced in 1992.)
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“Since then, it has graced countless high-profile occasions, from Queen Elizabeth’s Silver Jubilee Gala to numerous state banquets,” Stone says.
While the Festoon Tiara is certainly glamorous, the hardest working royal is typically as down to earth and no frills as it gets. To that end, Anne requested a low-key 75th birthday, with sources telling royal correspondent Roya Nikkhah that “Anne’s policy is, ‘I will do things for my birthdays that have a zero, but I won’t do things for my birthdays that have a five,’” she said on the “Royals with Roya and Kate” podcast (via The Daily Mail).
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A source speaking to The Daily Mail’s Rebecca English said that the Princess Royal has “never felt the need to court public opinion and has just got on with the job with the minimum of fuss.” As to how long Anne plans to do the job—you know, the job of being royal? Well, she said herself earlier this year that there is no real retirement plan for her line of work, and according to reporting by Nikkhah, Anne plans to start “winding down” her royal duties after her 80th birthday in 2030.
Like her father Prince Philip before her, she doesn’t plan to retire until she’s even older than that: “I was told that she’s told her team, ‘I’m going to start winding down a little bit at 80, in five years’ time, and then I want to step back completely at 90,’” Nikkhah said.