Kate borrows Queen's tiara

Kate Middleton was wearing a tiara today loaned to her by Prince William’s grandmother the Queen.

The little known “halo” tiara was made by Cartier in 1936 and bought by Queen’s father, then the Duke of York, for the Queen Mother, then the Duchess of York, St James’s Palace said.

It was purchased three weeks before the duke succeeded his brother – King Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne – as King George VI.

The tiara was given to the Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, by her mother on her 18th birthday.

Kate used the loan of the tiara, a tradition at royal weddings, to signify the time-honoured custom of wearing “something borrowed” on her wedding day.

Kate’s bridal train is exceptionally modest compared to many former royal brides, measuring just two metres and 70 centimetres.

The train of Diana Spencer’s dress was 25 ft long when she wed the Prince of Wales in her Emanuel creation.

Sarah Ferguson’s train reached 17-feet and was emblazoned with the letter ’A’ in 1986.

The Queen, then Princess Elizabeth, had a 13-foot star-patterned train in 1947 which was inspired by Botticelli’s figure of Primavera, symbolising rebirth and growth after WWII.