Towards the end of the nineteenth century there was a rise in popularity of palmette motif tiaras throughout European royalty, some strikingly similar to each other. Among them The Hartenau Palmette Tiara was acquired by Count and Countess von Hartenau sometime throughout their short lived marriage between 1889 and 1893. The diadem features five graduated detachable diamond set leaves each with a central sapphire separated by peaking round diamonds which remain once the palmettes are removed.
Although sold to an anonymous buyer at auction in 2021, the story begins 200 years ago. German Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine was born in 1823, son of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse and his wife Wilhelmine of Baden. Alexander’s sister was Tsarina Maria Alexandrovna, wife of Tsar Alexander II of Russia who was only sixteen when her marriage was determined.
It was when Prince Alexander accompanied his young sibling to Russia that he met and fell in love with her lady-in-waiting Countess Julia von Hauke. Differing social standing forbade their union so they eloped back to Germany where she was granted the title of Princess of Battenberg. Their five children included Prince Louis of Battenberg, father to Earl Mountbatten of Burma, as well as Princess Alice, later the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and thereby grandmother to His Majesty King Charles III.
However, it was their third child, Alexander Joseph who eventually acquired the Palmette Tiara for his wife. The young prince was spending time in Russia with his uncle, Tsar Alexander II, when war broke out with Bulgaria. The resulting 1878 peace treaty meant that an independent Bulgaria needed a new monarch and 22 year old Alexander was unexpectedly given the job.
Ruling for only seven years before more political upheaval, Alexander abdicated and returned to Germany where, just like his parents, he entered into a morganatic relationship with Austrian opera singer Johanna Loisinger acquiring the titles Count and Countess of Hartenau. Happiness was short-lived, at the age of 36 Alexander died of septicaemia, less than a month after the birth of their second child. Johanna moved home to Vienna and died aged 86 in 1951. There are photographs of Johanna wearing the tiara with and without the detachable palmettes.
