Look closely to the left of the central diamond spike on the tiara, and you'll see that the gap is bigger than the one on the right . . . This is because the tiara broke on the then-Princess Elizabeth's wedding day and was raced across London with a police escort to be mended by the royal jeweler. Queen Mary's Fringe Tiara was originally made from a necklace that Queen Victoria gave to her granddaughter-in-law Mary on her wedding day. Mary then passed it on to her daughter-in-law the Queen Mother who lent it to her daughter Elizabeth as her 'something borrowed.' The diamond and pearl cluster earrings had also belonged to Queen Mary, and originally featured detachable pearl and diamond drops. However Mary made the separation permanent when she gave the top clusters to her granddaughter Elizabeth when she was 19, keeping the drops for herself to be made into another pair of earrings.
The tiara-tastrophe wasn't the only jewelry drama on the future queen's wedding day. The pearls were a wedding present from her parents and had been displayed along with the rest of her gifts at St James's Palace, so an aide had to borrow the King of Norway's limousine to fetch them. The two separate necklaces are among the oldest in the royal collection. The shorter is made of 46 pearls and was worn by Queen Anne in the early 18th century, and the longer is made of 50 pearls and belonged to George II's wife Queen Caroline in the late 18th century.
