Queen Mary of Denmark - Danish Royal Rubies

Crown Princess Mary wears the ruby set for the very first time at the official state dinner four days before her wedding

That first evening where I wore the ruby set, there was so much new

There was so much overwhelming for me. It wasn't just the jewelry

It was the significance of the whole event, of the whole period, the whole time which I was going through

So I don't really think I thought so much about what I had on in terms of jewelry

except that it felt new and somewhat unusual to have such a significant and beautiful piece of jewelry on

Everything that was going on at that time was, part of a very new and overwhelming time

I mean, it wasn't just the jewelry. It was also the dress. I mean, I've never worn a dress like this before

The whole thing was overwhelming. Crown Prince Frederick has inherited the ruby set from his beloved grandmother

And now the new Crown Princess is the one to carry on the legacy This set was belonging to Queen Ingrid that was very much love and admired by the Danish people

And here was I coming from Australia about to marry their crown prince

So at that time it felt very much like I was loaning this set

And it's, I suppose, a process that one goes through. and over time you start to feel like that you can wear it in your own right

But as the years have progressed, it's felt much more that it's mine

and that I wear it as Crown Princess Mary. I enjoy seeing it on her very much

Queen Ingrid usually wore it as a complete set, But in the last few years, I've worn it in many variations

Of course, in the start, you want to make sure you don't offend anyone by doing the wrong thing

or wearing the jewelry in a way that it's not meant to be worn

So I naturally discussed it with my mother-in-law, how it could be used and not used

but she's also very creative with the way she uses jewelry. So she was always very open to my ideas on it I mean I changed the earrings for example that they can be worn as just a solitaire a single earring

so the long pendant can be taken off, and then you can attach a pearl, or I've worn the brooch as something to gather a part of my dress

The tiara without the large necklace, or with or without the brooch

I like to play with it a little bit. The tiara made for Queen Ingrid's mother-in-law, Alexandrine, was worn as a headband

When the fashion changes, Queen Ingrid has the tiara modified and expanded, so now it is worn on top

top of the head. Very often things are reset. For example, the tiara, my mother had the two

little brooches added to the tiara so to fill it out a bit more because it suited my

mother to have a slightly bigger sort of siara. I know that the crum princess has also

adjusted the tiara a little bit, so it suits her face and shape better, which I think

is that is perfectly normal and I think it a very good idea I just done it recently because that idea that was on loan to me and this tiara

that belonged to Queen Ingrid everyone remembers her in the Ruby set

So of course there was a lot of consideration that went into changing the tiara

and it was very important to keep it as much in the spirit of Queen Ingrid

just wanted to make it more fitting to me. Very little was changed, actually

We removed some of the bouquettes from the side and it was put on a new structure that was fitted to my head

so that today I can wear it as it's meant to be worn

more upright instead of lying more flat on my head