Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark will celebrate his religious marriage to Princess Nina (née Flohr) on 23 October at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens. The engagement of Philippos and Nina was announced in September 2020. The couple held their civil marriage on 12 December 2020 at St. Moritz, Switzerland. Philippos and Nina’s wedding will be the first royal wedding to take place in Athens since 1965.
https://eurohistoryjournal.blogspot.com/2021/10/a-greek-royal-wedding-in-three-weeks.html
We’ll have an Open Post tomorrow for those who want to pop in and chat with friends as the wedding unfolds. Today let’s put our minds to speculation about the tiara and dress designer, which is sometimes more fun than the actual event. For clues, we can look at the last two brides to marry into the deposed Greek royal family.
Tatiana Blahnik was born in Venezuela and grew up in both Switzerland and the U.S. She graduated from Georgetown University and worked for Diane von Fürstenberg prior to her marriage. Due to her connections and model looks there were all kinds of speculation on who would design her gown. It was a surprise when she chose designer Angel Sanchez, who also hails from Venezuela. The gown features layers of lace, from the bolero to the bodice to the skirt. The dress was a surprisingly romantic choice for a woman who typically reaches for a more streamlined silhouette.
Marie-Chantal Miller was a New York It Girl for years before her engagement to Prince Pavlos. She was from a family that was rich beyond belief. Not surprisingly, given her money and contacts, she contacted an old school designer for a full-on couture dress. The dress was designed by Valentino and it has everything: rose appliques, twelve different types of lace, floral motifs on the sleeves, all topped with a Chantilly lace veil with a scalloped edge and butterfly embroidery.
I am not sure that Nina (née Flohr) will follow either of these paths (I am 99 percent sure it won’t be remotely like Marie-Chantal’s ensemble due to the changing times). However, the possibilities for her are wide open. She, too, has a father who is a billionaire. Her mother was a founding editor of Vogue Russia and worked for Tatler as a jewelry editor. Nina herself is a founder of both a luxury hotel and a scientific center in Mozambique. She has quite a strong personal style. So how will she proceed?
One thing that is fairly certain is that if she wears a tiara, it will be from the Greek collection and odds are it will be the tiara both Marie-Chantal and Tatiana wore, the Antique Corsage. The tiara is the family starter jewel, and also the one that is readily lent out. It is smaller in size, but its historical heft is mighty. It began as a stomacher in the possession of Queen Victoria of Sweden. The piece was versatile and could be broken down into brooches. It was inherited by Victoria’s granddaughter, who became Queen Ingrid of Denmark. Ingrid had the brooches set into a tiara for Anne-Marie, her youngest daughter, who promptly married and took the tiara to Greece.
Given all the above, what do you think? Will the Antique Corsage tiara appear? What designer will Nina pick? An old-school design house like Chanel or Givenchy? Someone new, like a rising star from her Russian background? Will it be a streamlined and modern gown or a floofy romantic dream?
