From here, it was later purchased by Edwina, Countess Mountbatten, in 1937, with some confusion over its origins, as the Chaumet tiara now came in a Cartier box. Nonetheless, the headpiece was soon to become one of the most worn and recognised of its time in the hands of Lady Mountbatten. An heiress in her own right, Edwina had married Lord Mountbatten in 1922, five months after their meeting. Her new husband was the son of Louis Alexander Mountbatten, Marquess of Milford Haven and Princess Victoria, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. He was uncle to the Duke of Edinburgh and a mentor to the Prince of Wales and would later become the last Viceroy of British India and the first Governor General of the Dominion of India. It was during this time that Countess Mountbatten wholeheartedly devoted herself to humanitarian welfare and was frequently seen by her husband’s side wearing the Mountbatten Tiara for the more formal occasions in India as well as at the Coronations of both King George VI in 1937 and Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
