Queen wanted Diana to wear this tiara for her wedding to Charles – why did bride defy her?

Princess Diana’s wedding day to Prince Charles was a global spectacle, with millions watching the fairytale ceremony.

Diana wore a stunning, enormous dress from the Emmanuels, which sparked many copycat gowns.

On her head she wore the sparkling Spencer tiara on her head – her family tiara.

The tiara has been in the Spencer family for almost 100 years, a wedding present given to Diana’s grandmother, Cynthia Spencer in 1919.

However, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II had other ideas about the jewellery Diana should wear on her head for the special day – the wedding of her eldest son.

Deborah Papas, Gemologist Prestige Pawnbrokers of Channel 4’s Posh Pawn told Express.co.uk the Queen hoped Diana would wear the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara.

She said: “The piece was made by Garrards in 1914 for Queen Mary who designed it and left it in her Will to her Majesty, The Queen.”

The Queen “loaned it to Diana for her wedding, but she did not wear it on the big day.”

However, the reason Diana refused to wear the tiara was for practical reasons rather than family allegiances.

It was “probably as she reported it to give her headaches as it is very heavy, however, she did love the piece and it was one of her favourites,” Deborah Papas said.

Diana was a huge fan of the beautiful diamond and pearl tiara known as The Cambridge Lover’s Knot.

The tiara went back into The Queen’s collection after Diana died in 1997. Later, the Queen had the top row of pearls removed and wore it frequently.

Now, it has been passed to The Duchess of Cambridge who first wore it in 2016. Deborah said: “It looks as stunning on Kate as it did on all the royals that wore it.”

She added: “One of my favourite quotes is from Keats ‘A thing of beauty is a joy forever’. This is certainly true of this magnificent tiara.”

“I am not surprised the tiara was prone to give headaches! It is large and made from platinum, which is a dense metal and would be at least 95 per cent pure, giving a heavy mount to start with.

“The pearls are large and together with the array of varying sizes of diamonds, would add to a hefty weight.

“The tiara has 19 arches and has a single drop oriental pearl suspended from a lover’s knot in each one graduating slightly in size around the piece. These drops are flexible and shows a shimmering movement as the head is turned.

So how much is the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara worth?

“The piece is hard to value due to the complexity of the make and the large number of diamonds to consider as well as natural pearls which are rare to find in this size and shape,” Deborah said.

“However, I would think it could be worth in the region of £2-4 million.”

Princess Diana and Charles sadly could not make their marriage last. They split, and Diana was linked to a number of other men. One of these was Hasnat Khan.

Her romance with Dodi al Fayed is one of her most famous, because the pair were together when they died in a car accident.

However, Diana had recently split with another man, Hasnat Khan, just weeks earlier.

Khan, 61, is a heart a lung surgeon who was born in Pakistan.

The medic was in a relationship with Diana for two years, and the former Princess of Wales was said to be smitten with the man. However, their relationship came to an end in June 1997.