The anarchists finally got what they wanted, and the royal couple were exiled in 1931, with the Crown not being reinstated until 1978. The latter was a fact that Queen Eugenie was clearly confident about, as it included a Joyas de Pasar (jewelry that is passed down) in his 1963 will and final will, leaving instructions that a small group of his royal coins never leave the family but are simply passed from monarch to monarch. The keeper of the tiara during this period had been the daughter-in-law of Queen Eugenie, the Countess of Barcelona, who notably wore it for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, but in 1978, according to the wishes of Eugenie, it was up to the new Queen Sofia, wife of her grandson, Juan Carlos de Bourbon, whom General Franco had appointed to succeed her.
Queen Letizia of Spain wearing the Fleur-de-Lys tiara during a gala dinner at the Royal Palace in Madrid, 2017
CHEMA MOYA / AFP via Getty ImagesWhen King Juan Carlos I abdicated in 2014, his son Felipe and his wife, television journalist Letizia, were crowned as the new and current King and Queen of Spain. Once again Eugenie’s Joyas de Pasar were honored and the tiara was presented to the new queen. He was seen atop Letizia at Buckingham Palace in 2017 and at the Imperial Enthronement in Tokyo in 2019.