Royal Jewels of the World

Imperial Rubies

2008-07-27T19:39:00.000-07:00

One of the most beautiful ruby parures was originally owned by
Marie Alexandrovna, the Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-
Gotha. Only daughter of Tsar Alexandar II of Russia, Marie
Alexandrovna was used to having the best of everything.
Her jewelry collection was superb and the bridal gifts from
her father were no exception.

Created by Bolin and given in 1874, the year of her marriage to
Prince Alfred, the parure consisted of a lotus-motif tiara, a
devant de corsage and a sumptuous necklace. As for the other
pieces shown, I am personally not certain of the background of
the three separate pieces, pendant earrings and one lone cluster.

The Duchess of Edinburgh wore her rubies for the coronation
festivities of Tsar Nicholas II in 1896. Here she is
photographed wearing the devant de corsage and necklace.
There seems to have never been pictures of Marie Alexandrovna
wearing the tiara, although she had another ruby tiara in
her collection.

From the Duchess of Edinburgh, the parure went to her daughter
Alexandra, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. If anyone recalls
seeing pictures of the princess wearing her mother's jewels,
let me know because I have yet to see one. The last wearer of
the set was Princess Margarita of Greece, Princess Alexandra's
daughter-in-law. She wore the tiara to the 1962 wedding of
Juan Carlos of Spain and Sofia of Greece, as well as another
wedding in the 1970's (pictured). The princess died in 1981
and her jewels were auctioned off in 1989.

Ruby Red

2008-07-22T11:39:00.000-07:00

It has been a long while since I last posted. Since it is still July,
I thought about posting some things about rubies. Here is what I posted at the Royal Jewels of the World Message Board.

The Greek ruby parure consists of a tiara in the naturalistic design
of olive fruits and leaves, a pair of pendant earrings, a necklace,
and two brooches.

Personally I do not know which pieces made up the original parure.
From this postcard picture of Queen Olga, born a Grand Duchess of
Russia, we can see the tiara and a choker necklace. I think there
was a pendant brooch, but since I cannot locate the bigger picture,
I can only speculate.

Bjarne Steen Jensen was kind enough to post a response to my initial
posting. Part of the parure may well have been a gift from King
George I to his wife, but given the financial state of the Greek
royal family at that time, the rest could have come from Russia.

I had thought the tiara altered, but Bjarne reassured us that it had
not. Rather, the tiara's leaves could be moved a little.

According to Bjarne, the rubies were left to Prince Nikolaos by Queen Olga. After his death, his widow, the former Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, presented the parure to Queen Frederika. In turn the then dowager queen gifted the set to her newly married daughter-in-law, Queen Anne-Marie.

From Queen Frederika's picture we can see that the necklace has been
shortened. Two pendants are gone, and so are several links. The color
of the rubies is a dark pinkish red that can be most likely categorized
as the color of pigeon's blood. Personally I like rubies that are
bright red or a rich red like human blood, since I have never seen
the blood of a pigeon. As for point of origination, it is probably Burma.

Happy St. Patrick's Day - Peridot Power!

2006-03-17T07:38:00.000-08:00

One of my favorite green parures and the one that got me to better
appreciate semiprecious stones, is the peridot parure of Archduchess
Isabella of Austria.

From the Sotheby's auction catalog (London - Magnificient Antique
Jewels 6/20/01), the parure was attributed to the Habsburg Imperial
Jeweller Kochert and originally made for the Archduchess Henriette,
wife of Archduke Karl of Tuscany. The parure passed on from
Archduke Karl to his nephew and heir, Archduke Friedrich,
the husband of Archduchess Isabella.

The parure consists of a tiara, necklace, earrings and a corsage
ornament, with large fine quality peridots set in flower and leaves
setting of the 1820's. After the death of Archduchess Isabella's
widower in 1936, the parure was auctioned off in 1937. It was
purchased by Count Johannes Coudenhove-Kalergi, the father of the
parure's last owner.

After the death of Countess Maria Coudenhove-Kalergi the jewels
were again auctioned off in 2001 and purchased by the jewelry
firm Fred Leighton. The necklace and earrings were worn by Joan
Rivers to the Acadent Awards a year or so after the sale.

Archduchess Isabella, nee Croy, wearing the peridot parure for a
portrait taken during the coronation of Emperor Karl I of Austria
as King of Hungary. The necklace's pendants can be removed and
placed upright on the tiara.

Emerald Dreams

2006-03-15T08:23:00.000-08:00

Another beautiful set of green are the royal emeralds of Greece.
The parure consists of a large diamond tiara set with five
cabachon emeralds, a pair of drop earrings, a corsage ornament
and five detachable pendant drops. Queen Anne-Marie wears the
pendant drops on a diamond chain that she inherited from her
grandmother, Queen Alexandrine of Denmark.

The emeralds most likely came to Greece with Queen Olga, born
a Russian grand duchess. I have not seen any image of the queen
wearing the emeralds in any setting, but Russia was a source of
emeralds and the Romanovs had many of the best gems in their
possession. So who was the first owner of the emeralds?

The first known wearer of the stones was Queen Elisabeth, born
a princess of Romania and daughter of the flamboyant Queen Marie.
In the first picture the queen wore a single cabachon emerald,
set between diamond leaves, as a bandeau. Later on it was redone
as another bandeau, this time with two other cabachons all set
upright on a row of collet diamonds. The tiara was reset yet
again, this time set between E-shaped diamond motifs in a
kokoshnik frame. E of course was for "Elisabeth", making it
and the matching corsage ornament a unique design.

When Queen Frederika, nee Hanover, wore the tiara, the border
had been removed and the jewel augmented. The queen often
wore it as a necklace, along with the diamond tiara of her
mother-in-law, Queen Sophia, nee Prussia. Queen Anne-Marie
has worn the emeralds many times - the Pahlavi celebrations
at Persepolis, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Berleburg-Sayn's
wedding and Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark's wedding.

A Beautiful Green

2006-03-10T06:13:00.000-08:00

The Norwegian emerald
parure is one of the
loveliest, with the dark,
rich green of the rain
forest. Its origins goes
back to Napoleon with the
neo-Classical design common
for that time. The original
owner was reportedly the
Empress Josephine, making
its way first to Sweden
through Princess Josephine
of Leuchtenberg.

Queen Sofia of Sweden, nee Nassau, wearing the tiara. During her
time the necklace had seven pendants and there were no earrings.
Crown Princess Margarita, nee Connaught, wore her mother-in-law's
emeralds to her cousin King George V's coronation in 1911. The
set was later inherited by the queen's youngest son, Prince Carl,
and worn by his wife, Princess Ingeborg, nee Denmark.

The tiara, necklace and brooch came to Norway as gifts to Crown
Princess Martha from her parents on the birth of the Norwegian
heir, the future King Harald. By the time Crown Princess Martha
received the jewels, all but one of the pendants were gone, and
the two large tear-shaped emeralds were replaced by diamond
honeysuckle motifs and made into earrings.

The Green Queen

2006-03-06T08:38:00.000-08:00

In honor of March and St. Patrick's Day,
I thought some green would be appropriate.
We start off with the Cambridge Emeralds.
They were won in a charity lottery in 1818
by Queen Mary's grandmother, Augusta,
the Duchess of Cambridge.

After Queen Mary acquired the Vladimir Circle Tiara she had it
adapted to be worn with the remaining fifteen emerald drops.

Other pieces in the collection include two pendant brooches.
Along with the emeralds presented to Queen Mary at the Delhi
Durbar, these green gems are just luscious!
(The Queen's Jewels by Leslie Field, 1987 ed., p.88)

The Khedive of Egypt Cartier Tiara

2006-03-04T17:26:00.000-08:00

A jewel of great sentimental value to the Danish Royal Family
is the diamond and platinum Cartier tiara of Crown Princess
Margarita of Sweden. It was originally a weddng gift from
the Khedive of Egypt to Princess Margaret of Connaught, who
was to marry the future King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden in
1905. Egypt was the place where the royal couple first met.

After the untimely death of Crown Princess Margarita in 1920,
the tiara was inherited by her daughter Princess Ingrid, who
brought it with her when she married into the Danish Royal
Family in 1935. Upon her death in 2000 the tiara passed on
to Queen Ingrid's youngest daughter, Queen Anne-Marie of
Greece.

When the three daughters of Queen Ingrid got married, they
wore their grandmother's tiara as a way to acknowledge her
memory; Princess Margrethe in 1967, Princess Benedikte in
1968 and Princess Anne-Marie in 1964.

This lovely family tradition was carried out in the next
generation, with Princess Benedikte's older daughter
Princess Alexandra zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
wearing the tiara in 1998, and Queen Anne-Marie of
Greece's Alexia wearing it in 1999. The two remaining
unmarried female descendants of Queen Ingrid are
Princess Theodora of Greece and Princess Nathalie zu
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, so the tradition will
continue.

An engraving of the Khedive of Egypt tiara in the June 17,
1905 edition of the Illustrated London News. The tiara
could have also been worn as a corsage ornament, as shown
here.

Cock-A-Leekie!

2006-03-02T15:55:00.000-08:00

And no, I don't mean the Scottish chicken, leek and prune soup,
but rather a sighting of the Duchess of Cornwall wearing a "new"
brooch. Here she is wearing a rather large diamond and emerald
brooch with an emerald cabachon drop at the pre-opera reception
at the National Assembly of Wales in Cardiff on March 1, 2006.

It turns out to be the Ladies of North Wales Brooch, given to
the future Queen Alexandra and later inherited by the late
Queen Mother. Several sharp fans of royal jewelry sniffed
out the tantalizing photos and details on the GREMB.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother wore the brooch to
Prince Charles' investiture as the Prince of Wales in 1969.

A Feast of Fringes

2006-03-02T08:59:00.000-08:00

Of all the popular tiara designs the most prolific is the fringe.
Also known as the sunray, the fringe tiara probably had its roots
back in Ancient Greece where kings and priest wore gold crowns
shaped like the rays of the sun to denote their divinity or
special affinity with the solar deity.

The typical design for a fringe tiara consists of spiked
bars of graduate size, divided with bee-like barbs.
Examples of this design:

Left: Hanover fringe tiara (Great Britain)
Center: Princess Mary's fringe tiara
Right: Habsburg fringe tiara (Liechtenstein)

More fringes:
Left: Thai fringe tiara
Center: Greek fringe tiara
Right: Archduchess Gabrielle's fringe tiara

Besides being the most common, fringe tiaras are also versatile -
transforming from tiara to necklace to corsage ornament to belt.
Left: Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wearing the Baden fringe
Center: Princess Charlotte of Monaco wearing a diamond fringe
Right: Mecklenburg-Schwerin fringe tiara

It was customary for brides of the Russian Imperial Family
to receive a fringe tiara as a wedding gift. Known as a
kokoshnik, meaning a cockscomb, the design was adapted from
the costume of a Russian peasant girl.

Left: Empress Marie Feodorovna
Center: Queen Alexandrine of Denmark wearing a Russian fringe
Right: Queen Alexandra wearing her 25th wedding anniversary gift

Fringe derivatives:
Left: Queen Mary wearing the Surrey fringe
Center: Duchess of Kent
Right: Princess Madeleine of Sweden

More fringe derivatives:
Left: Queen Noor of Jordan
Center: Queen Rania of Jordan
Right: Empress Michiko of Japan

My favorite tiara

2005-12-18T21:28:00.000-08:00

The diamond and pearl tiara created by Musy for the Italian
queen Margherita is my favorite tiara. Probably the most
versatile of designs, it can be worn at least five or six
different ways. I've only seen images of Queen Margherita
wearing the tiara in its main form, which is quite grand.

When Princess Marie Jose of Belgium married Margherita's
grandson in 1930, she wore the tiara on her wedding day.
It is worn quite spread out here and must have been a
sight to behold. Later it gets worn conventionally
more towards the back of the crown.

Two further illustrations of the tiara's versatility.
During the 1930's and 1940's tiaras were worn low on
the forehead. To the left is the tiara with just the
inner "spikes" and to the right is the outer frame
without pearls. Since I don't have the book on the
Savoy jewels (and not being a reader of Italian) I
can't tell you much about the jewel itself.

Many of you royal jewels diehards will be mutually
gritting your teeth at the sight of Marina Doria
wearing the grand tiara (this was at the 2004
Danish royal wedding, BTW). Sunglasses with tiara?
Oh, please. Personally I'm happy to see it's
still around, not sold like other pieces of
the Savoy jewels or languishing in a Roman
bank vault.

Lost & Found - The Brunswick Tiara

2005-12-17T20:33:00.000-08:00

Revisiting my image cache I came across these two pictures.
One shows in old age, Princess Viktoria Luise, the dowager
Duchess of Brunswick and Princess of Prussia, wearing the
tiara that was given to her by the people of Brunswick
(or was it from her husband?) upon her marriage in 1913.

I had read somewhere that this particular tiara went AWOL
under the possession of her son, also named Ernst August.
It wasn't seen on the head of Chantal, the first wife of
Viktoria Luise's grandson, Ernst August. But, the tiara
made a startling reappearance at the Danish royal wedding
in 2004 on the head of Caroline of Monaco. Was it ever
missing or just misplaced? Or is this tiara a duplicate?

Surprise(s) of the year?

2005-12-17T19:55:00.000-08:00

With 2005 coming to an end royal jewelry fans have been
treated to several surprises, namely from the House of
Windsor. The biggest surprise was the re-appearance,
after over half a century, of the Delhi Durbar Tiara on
the head of none other than Camilla, the Duchess of
Cornwall. during the Norwegian state visit to England.

It was last worn by the late Queen Mother on a State
visit to South Africa, only to be mothballed away,
leading to speculations of dismantling. During the
2001 exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum it
reappeared, with the provenance of the Queen Mother.
We were rapturious because a beautiful piece still
existed in the British Royal Family.

Another pleasant surprise was the appearance of the
Indian Ruby Tiara on the head of Her Majesty. For
a long time it was worn by the Queen Mother instead
of being turned over to her daughter, being one of
her three favorite tiaras. There are several royal
jewelry fans who feel that this tiara is prettier
in design than the Burmese Ruby Tiara.

Nobel Gala 2005 - 1st Evening, Pt. 1

2005-12-17T17:47:00.000-08:00

As usual the royal ladies of the House of Bernadotte did not
disappoint fans of royal jewelry. For the first evening of
the Nobel 2005 gala, Queen Silvia wore the full cameo parure
of the Empress Josephine. It consists of a tiara, necklace,
earrings, a brooch and a pair of bracelets.

The tiara is of cameos and pearls, set in yellow gold, whereas
the rest of the set have cameos set in diamonds. Perhaps the
parure was never complete in the first place?

Princess Lillian sparkled magnificiently wearing the tiara of
six diamond buttons, large diamond pendant earrings, a necklace
of collet diamonds with a pendant similar to the buttons, and
diamond brooch securing her sash.

It should be noted that a sharp-eyed royal jewelry fan discovered
that the six buttons, as well as the other four diamond buttons,
are not identical. Rather the four central buttons are the same,
while the side buttons are round in shape.

Photos by way of Tamara

Nobel Gala 2005 - 1st Evening, Pt. 2

2005-12-17T17:35:00.000-08:00

A radiant Crown Princess Victoria wore the Baden Fringe Tiara,
along with pearl pendant earrings, a diamond rose brooch and
the lovely antique sapphire and pearl necklace. I love the
gorgeous color of the sapphires and the overall design of
the necklace, which is appropriate for a young woman.

Princess Madeleine also turned heads, wearing her mother's
diamond fringe tiara, diamond pendant earrings and the
hanging drops from the Connaught Diamond Tiara as
pendants on a chain.

Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson, wore the tiara of four
diamond buttons.

Photos by way of Tamara

Nobel Gala 2005 - 2nd Evening, Pt. 1

2005-12-17T17:24:00.000-08:00

For the second evening of the Nobel Gala, Queen Silvia
wore the Nine-Prong Diamond Tiara, a pair of diamond
pendant earrings, a collet diamond necklace with
a drop pendant and a pearl pendant brooch.

Princess Lillian had on the same diamond brooch from
the previous night, but this time wore as a tiara her
diamond leaf necklace, a pair of diamond and pearl
pendant earrings and a necklace of pearls and carved
gemstone scarabs.

Photos by way of Tamara

Nobel Gala 2005 - 2nd Evening, Pt. 2

2005-12-17T16:56:00.000-08:00

Crown Princess Victoria was more subdued on the second night,
wearing the tiara of gold and cut-steel, along with diamond
pendant earrings, a small diamond brooch and a diamond
bracelet.

Princess Madeleine looked beautiful with the Six Button Tiara
and the diamond necklace and pendant worn the previous night
by Princess Lillian, along with large diamond stud earrings
and a little bow brooch.

Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson, was also present for the
second evening, this time wearing the diamond fringe tiara
she had inherited from her godmother, Mrs Elsa Cedegren.

Photos by way of Tamara