When Will Princess Charlotte Wear Her First Tiara? (It May Be Earlier Than Mom Kate Middleton!)

Traditionally, royal women wear their first tiara at their wedding — but that's not always the case

Princess Charlotte is still years away from her first tiara moment — but it may come sooner for her than other women of the royal family.

Royal women often wear their first tiara on their wedding day. That was the case for Princess Charlotte's mom, Kate Middleton, and her aunt Meghan Markle. Even blood members of the royal family — including Queen Elizabeth's granddaughter Princess Eugenie, Princess Beatrice and Zara Tindall — didn't sport the sparkling headpieces until their nuptials.

However, the 8-year-old daughter of Prince William and Princess Kate, both 41, could get to wear a tiara from the royal vault before her walk down the aisle. It's possible that Princess Charlotte will follow in the footsteps of Queen Elizabeth's daughter, Princess Anne, and the late monarch's sister, Princess Margaret, who both wore tiaras ahead of their wedding days.

RELATED: Every Time Kate Middleton Has Worn a Tiara — See the Photos!

Princess Anne, 72, wore her first tiara as a teenager and continued to step out in the jewels on several white tie occasions (such as state banquets or palace receptions) ahead of her 1973 wedding to Mark Phillips. For example, she wore the Cartier Halo tiara (worn by Kate on her April 2011 wedding day) to the State Opening of Parliament in 1967 and in 1969, Princess Anne accompanied her mother in another statement head-topper — Princess Andrew’s Meander Bandeau — for a state visit to Austria.

For her wedding day, Princess Anne did opt for an extra special headpiece: Queen Mary's fringe tiara, which Queen Elizabeth also wore to marry Prince Philip.

The reason Princess Anne and Princess Margaret, who died in 2002, were able to wear tiaras to gala events ahead of their wedding is likely because they — unlike the women marrying into the royal family or Queen Elizabeth's granddaughters — were working members of the royal family.

Princess Charlotte — as the granddaughter of King Charles, daughter of heir Prince William and sister of future monarch Prince George — will likely be a working member of the royal family someday.

Young royal women from countries outside the U.K. have started adding tiaras to their wardrobes. At the 18th birthday gala for Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway last summer, three future queens of Europe wore their first tiaras out and about — in addition to the birthday girl, Princess Catharina-Amalia of the Netherlands and Princess Elisabeth of Belgium also had their tiaras debuts at the event. (Princess Estelle of Sweden, who is second in line to the throne, was a little too young to wear such a headpiece — but fit right in wearing a statement headband!)

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Although Princess Charlotte hasn't worn a tiara yet, she wore a special headpiece at the May coronation of King Charles — the Princess of Wales and her daughter coordinated in Jess Collett x Alexander McQueen headpieces featuring silver bullion, crystal and silver thread work three-dimensional leaf embroidery.

Charlotte also wore a staple of royal women's wardrobes, a hat, for the first time at the funeral of Queen Elizabeth in September.

In the 12 years since her wedding, Princess Kate has only worn a handful of tiaras. Along with her wedding day tiara (which she only sported once), the Princess of Wales has donned the Lotus Flower tiara and, seemingly her favorite from the number of time she's reached for it, the Queen Mary's Lover's Knot tiara, which was also worn often by Princess Diana.

Even after a decade, Princess Kate is still having tiara firsts. She first experimented wearing a tiara with her hair loose (rather than swept into an updo) in December and wore her first tiara outside the U.K. in June while attending the royal wedding of Crown Prince Hussein and Princess Rajwa in Jordan.

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