Several British royal tiaras are considered unlucky or "cursed"
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The Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara has become infamous for its association with tragic events in the lives of its wearers
The Oriental Circlet Tiara — which has been worn by Kate Middleton — was redesigned to remove its opals, as they were thought to have brought bad fortune
Mostroyal tiarasare known for their eye-popping jewels, but some have gained an unlucky reputation over the years.
These headpieces have garnered negative attention due to patterns that have emerged among each wearer. For example, anyone who possesses the ill-famed Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara has seemingly experienced great misfortune afterwards.
Meanwhile, the Koh-i-Noor diamond, which is part of a crown worn by theQueen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, reportedly brings a "grisly" death to any man who attempts to wear it.
Here's everything to know about the British royal tiaras and crowns that have been considered unlucky throughout history.
The Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara
Of all of the British royal tiaras, the Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara is one of the most infamous.
This diadem, which is adorned with diamond foliage and strawberry leaves, was designed byPrince Albertin 1861, most likely as a wedding gift for hissecond daughterwith Queen Victoria, Princess Alice, perThe Royal Collection Trust.
Prince Albert never made it to the wedding, however: He died of typhoid fever on Dec. 14, 1861, perPBS. The tiara's giftee met a similarly tragic fate: Two of the four children Alice shared with husband Louis IV, the Grand Duke of Hesse, died young. Prince Frederich died at the age of 3 in 1873 after falling from a window, while Princess Marie died in 1878 of diphtheria. Princess Alice died from the same disease as her daughter at the age of 35 on Dec. 14, 1878 — the same day as her father died.
The tiara was passed down to her son Ernest, who lent it to his first wife, Grand Duchess Victoria Melita, for the coronation of Tsar Nicholas II, perTatler. The couple's only child died of typhoid and they soon divorced.
Ernest remarried Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich in 1905. In 1937, the pair's daughter-in-law, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark wore the tiara to thecoronation of King George VIin 1937. Cecile went into premature labor on Nov. 16, 1937, while traveling to the wedding of her husband Georg's brother, forcing an early landing. The plane crashed, killing everyone onboard, including Eleonore, Georg, Cecilie and their two sons.
The Strawberry Leaf Tiara, which was found in the wreckage, is now housed at the Foundation of the House of Hesse, per theMirror.
Oriental Circlet Tiara
The sizableOriental Circle Tiara, which has been worn byKate Middleton, isn't exactly cursed, but it was redesigned due to superstition surrounding some of its jewels.
Crafted by Garrard in 1853, the piece is one of the oldest ever created for the royal family. Featuring lotus flowers and Mughal arches, the headpiece was originally designed with 2,600 diamonds and an array of opals — a reported favorite of Prince Albert, who commissioned the tiara for his wife, Queen Victoria.
Victoria's daughter-in-law, Queen Alexandra of Denmark, who inherited the tiara as the wife of King Edward VII, had the opals removed, as they had fallen out of favor due to a growing association between the gemstone and bad fortune. According toGarrard, Alexandra had the tiara recommissioned in 1902, replacing all of its opals with a collection of Burmese rubies that also belonged to her mother-in-law and removing several of its arches to make it smaller.
The Oriental Circle Tiara has since been passed down through the monarchy, as Queen Victoria stipulated in her will that theOriental Circlet would be worn by queens and future queens only.
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The Queen Mother remained in possession of the tiara untilher deathin 2002, when it was passed it down to her daughter,Queen Elizabeth.
It was last worn by Kate at Windsor Castle on Dec. 3, 2025.
The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara
TheGrand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, which started out with tragic origins, became a well-loved favorite of Queen Elizabeth.
Before it made its way into the British royal collection, the Bolin-made tiara belonged to its namesake, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna,the wife of the Russian Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich and the aunt of Tsar Nicholas II by marriage. She commissioned the diamond-and-pearl headpiece in celebration of her wedding.
It was not a harbinger of good fortune for the Grand Duchess, however. Upon Tsar Nicholas II's assassination in 1918, Marie fled from the Vladimir Palace, leaving the tiara behind. Marie's son and a British art dealer later disguised themselves as workers to recover the jewelry and later brought it to England.
Marie never saw the tiara again. Clinging to her imperial status in the face of the Russian Revolution, she remained the last Romanov in the country until she was forced to flee to France in 1920. She died that same year, and her daughter, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, inherited the tiara, according to theCourt Jeweller.
Elena, who was married to the financially bereft Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, then sold the piece to the Queen Mother, who passed it down to Queen Elizabeth.
The Queen continued to wear the piece, which she had recommissioned to make the pearls interchangeable with emeralds or without jewels, throughout her reign. It was the last tiara she wore ahead ofher deathon Sept. 8, 2022.
The Koh-i-Noor Diamond
Queen Elizabeth's mother, the Queen Mother, also wore a reportedly cursed jewel, known as the Koh-i-Noor, or "mountain of light" diamond — and she donned it on her 1937coronation day.
The 105-carat rock was reportedly found on a bank of the holy Krishna River in southern India some 800 years ago before spending centuries hidden inside a golden statue at a Hindu temple, perNPR, before passing through the Persian, Afghan and Sikh and Mughal empires.
According to the outlet, any men who attempted to wear the diamond have been met with "grisly" deaths. However, royal women have had better luck with the piece: Queen Victoria acquired the diamond in 1849 as part of a treaty marking the end of the second Anglo-Sikh war, per NPR. Women — especially queen consorts — are thought to be able to wear the Koh-i-Noor safely.
Though she originally wore it as a brooch, it was made into a crown for her cousin, the Queen Mother, for her 1937 coronation. She wore the crown again for thecoronation of her daughterin 1953, and it was last seen atop her coffin in 2002, perSmithsonian.
According to NPR, the diamond was deliberately kept off ofQueen Camilla's coronation crown, as India, Iran and Afghanistan have all laid claim to the legendary stone. It's currently on display in the Tower of London as part of the British crown jewels.
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