Diana wore the sparkler on this day 44 years ago to marry Prince Charles.

On July 29, 1981, Lady Diana Spencer turned down the chance to wear a tiara from the royal collection and instead wore her family’s heirloom tiara, the Spencer tiara.
She would wear the tiara on numerous royal engagements throughout her years as Princess of Wales.
When they married, neither Kate Middleton nor Meghan Markle wore the iconic piece—and there’s a reasonable explanation as to why.

When she married Prince Charles at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981—44 years ago today—Princess Diana famously opted to wear her birth family’s heirloom tiara, the Spencer tiara, for her walk down the aisle. (She would also wear the sparkler numerous times throughout her royal life.)

Princess Diana wearing the Spencer tiara on her July 29, 1981 wedding day.Getty

Though all eyes were on Diana’s dress—complete with a 25-foot train—it was impossible to miss the Spencer tiara atop her head, but why didn’t Diana’s daughters-in-law Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle wear the tiara when they married Prince William in 2011 and Prince Harry in 2018? The reason is quite simple, actually.

“It was never a royal tiara, which is why royal brides like the Princess of Wales and the Duchess of Sussex didn’t wear it for their weddings,” Lauren Kiehna of The Court Jeweller told Marie Claire.

Kate Middleton wearing a Cartier tiara on her April 29, 2011 wedding day.Getty

The Spencer tiara’s origins date back over 100 years, to 1919 specifically, when Diana’s grandmother was given the tiara as a gift. Diana’s sisters, Lady Sarah McCorquodale and Lady Jane Fellowes, also wore the tiara for their respective weddings, but interestingly, of the daughters of Earl Charles Spencer—Diana’s younger brother and the keeper of the tiara—who have married, neither have opted to wear the tiara for their own nuptials. Lady Kitty Spencer married in 2021, and Lady Amelia Spencer married in 2023; Amelia’s twin, Lady Eliza Spencer, is thought to be getting married soon, and may choose to wear the topper—or not. (Though Kitty and Amelia eschewed the opportunity to wear the tiara, their mother Victoria Lockwood wore it on her wedding day to their father in 1989.) The last Spencer woman to wear the tiara was Diana’s niece, Celia McCorquodale, who wore the tiara on her 2018 wedding day.

Princess Diana in the Spencer tiara on November 16, 1986.Getty

“The Spencer tiara has always belonged to the Spencer family,” Kiehna said. “While she was Princess of Wales, Diana often borrowed the tiara from her father and her brother, who still owns it now. Eventually, it will be passed along with the rest of the family estate to Earl Spencer’s son, Viscount Althorp.”

Princess Diana.Getty

For Kate’s wedding day, she was loaned the Cartier Halo Tiara from Queen Elizabeth; Meghan wore the Queen Mary Diamond Bandeau Tiara. Though both Kate and Meghan will likely never wear the Spencer tiara—Meghan has only worn a tiara once, on her wedding day, and after her step back from life as a working royal, it seems unlikely she ever will again—Kate tends to prefer the Queen Mary’s Lovers’ Knot Tiara, which was also a favorite of Diana’s.

Princess Diana in the Spencer tiara in February 1992.Getty

Princess Diana on April 11, 1983.Getty

That said, the two women often wear jewelry from Diana’s collection—Kate, of course, wearing Diana’s iconic sapphire and diamond engagement ring since her own engagement in 2010, and Meghan often wearing Diana’s Cartier watch. When Meghan married Harry in 2018, she wore an aquamarine ring of her mother-in-law’s to their wedding reception that was a gift for Diana to wear in place of her engagement ring following her 1996 divorce from Charles. According to The Daily Mail, the aquamarine ring was given to her by her friend Lucia Flecha de Lima, the wife of the former ambassador of Brazil to the U.K.