The 'Girls of Great Britain and Ireland' Tiara was given to the future Queen Mary as a wedding present in 1893. The diamond tiara was purchased from Garrard, the London jeweller, by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville.
In 1947, Mary gave the tiara to her granddaughter, the future Queen Elizabeth II, as a wedding present.
The tiara was described by Leslie Field as "a diamond festoon-and-scroll design surmounted by nine large oriental pearls on diamond spikes and set on a bandeau base of alternate round and lozenge collets between two plain bands of diamonds".
Queen Elizabeth II originally wore the tiara without the base and still usually wears it without the pearls.
A portrait of Queen Elizabeth II wearing the tiara, designed by Arnold Machin, has appeared on many Commonwealth currencies, including those of Britain, Australia, Jamaica, Canada and Ceylon.
Famous quotes containing the words girls, britain and/or ireland:
“And here we have that splendid family
I never ran to when I got depressed,
The boys all biceps and the girls all chest....”
—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
“Only in Britain could it be thought a defect to be “too clever by half.” The probability is that too many people are too stupid by three-quarters.”
—John Major (b. 1943)
“Life springs from death and from the graves of patriot men and women spring living nations.... They think that they have pacified Ireland. They think that they have purchased half of us and intimidated the other half. They think that they have foreseen everything, think they have provided against everything; but the fools, the fools, the fools, they have left us our Fenian dead, and while Ireland holds these graves Ireland unfree shall never be at peace.”
—Patrick Henry Pearse (1879–1916)