Princess Margaret broke the fashion rules on her wedding day

Princess Margaret
(Image credit: Getty)

Before Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton were there to break the sartorial rules - Kate with wedges and Meghan with tights - there was the original style rebel, Princess Margaret.

The Queen's sister even shunned tradition on her wedding day in 1960, when she said 'I do' to Anthony Armstrong-Jones. You see it's traditional for female members of the royal family to borrow tiaras from the royal vault for their wedding day. In fact, Princess Diana broke that tradition by wearing the Spencer tiara when she wed Prince Charles.

It seems like the took a leaf out of Princess Margaret's book, as she too did things her own way. She decided to buy her own jewels at auction, bidding £5,500 on a diamond tiara in 1959.

It originally belonged to the wife of the 3rd Baron Poltimore (also Margaret), and she actually bought the tiara before she became engaged, and wore it out and about several times before her wedding.

The tiara is also comparatively cheap compared to other wedding tiaras. It's said to now be worth around £40k, whereas Meghan Markle's wedding tiara was estimated at over a million pounds.

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Contributing Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK. She writes about catwalk trends and the latest high street and Instagram sartorial must-haves. She also helms the Women Who Win franchise.

She has worked in fashion for over 10 years, contributing to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Good Housekeeping, and Stylist.