Queen Máxima Wears a Ruby Tiara With a Century of Dutch Royal History to a Gala in Amsterdam

Rachel KingFri, April 24, 2026 at 1:21 PM UTC

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Queen Máxima of the Netherlands wore one of the Dutch royal family’s most storied jewelry pieces for an evening focused on international diplomacy. On Thursday, King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima hosted the annual Diplomatic Corps Gala Dinner at the Royal Palace of Amsterdam. Fresh off her return from an official visit to the United States, the Queen wore the Ruby Peacock Tiara and Parure to match her bright pink tiered Natan Couture gown.

A closer look at the Ruby Peacock Tiara and Parure.Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

The King and Queen arriving at the Diplomatic Corps Gala Dinner.Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

The tiara has a history stretching back to the late 19th century. According to The Royal Watcher, Dowager Queen Emma, the consort and the wife of King William III, commissioned a ruby parure from German jeweler Eduard Schurmann & Co. using stones from her predecessor, Queen Sophie. The suite—comprising a tiara, necklace, and stomacher in a peacock tail design—was intended as a lighter alternative to the Mellerio Ruby Tiara for Queen Wilhelmina. The parure was worn by many of the women of the Dutch royal family, until Princess Irene, Princess Beatrix’s younger sister, wore the jewels to two events in 1967: their sister Princess Margriet’s wedding and at their mother Queen Juliana’s 30th Anniversary Gala that same year. After that, the parure disappeared from public view for decades, leading many to speculate it had been sold.

Queen Maxima seen wearing the Ruby Peacock Tiara as a necklace at a dinner at the Noordeinde Palace in 2017.Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

However, it resurfaced in 2009, when the then-Princess Máxima wore the Ruby Peacock Tiara during the Swedish state visit to the Netherlands. Since her accession as queen, Máxima has worn it for several state visits. The parure has also re-entered circulation within the family. The King and Queen’s eldest daughter and heir to the Dutch throne, Princess Catharina-Amalia, wore the tiara for her first appearance at a state banquet in 2024.

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The Princess of Orange wears the ruby tiara at the Spanish state banquet in 2024.Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

The annual Diplomatic Corps Gala Dinner brings together approximately 140 foreign diplomatic representatives stationed in the Netherlands and Belgium alongside Dutch government ministers, mayors, and other heads of major institutions. Each year centers on a chosen theme, and this year’s was politics and administration.

A closeup of the back-side of the Ruby Peacock Tiara.Patrick van Katwijk - Getty Images

“Conflicts ripple uncontrollably across national borders and cause great damage to communities, cultures, and economies…No matter where we come from, we all feel the vibrations of the tense times in which we live,” the King said during his speech at the dinner. “The way forward lies in international cooperation. Cooperation compels us to seek what connects us…Geopolitics must not be a zero-sum game. Our lives are too intertwined to simply ignore and violate the rights and freedoms of others. This applies to smaller countries just as much as to larger ones.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”