Crown Tiara

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Our journey through the glittering world of the Greville Bequest continues with a pair of jewels handed over early on to the future Queen Elizabeth II: the Diamond Chandelier Earrings.

Royal Collection Trust

The remarkable earrings are a showcase of the different diamond cuts offered by skilled artisans in the first half of the 20th century, and they evolved over a period of several years before reaching their current and final form. Mrs. Greville ordered the first iteration of the earrings from Cartier in December 1918, just after the end of World War I. In The Queen’s Diamonds, Sir Hugh Roberts describes the original pair as “fancy-cut brilliant drop earrings.”

Almost four years later, in September 1922, Maggie returned to Cartier to have the earrings revised. Twelve more diamonds—six marquise-cut stones and six “baton brilliants,” according to Roberts—were used to lengthen the earrings. But that wasn’t the final stop for these earrings. Greville again took them back to Cartier in February 1929, and ten more diamonds were added, producing the chandelier-style earrings that you see pictured above. The ultimate effect, to quote the Royal Collection Trust, is “a lexicon of modern diamond cuts.” These include a trio of pair-shaped diamond pendants, plus diamonds in baguette, baton, emerald, half-moon, trapeze, and square cuts.

Grand Ladies Site, Wikimedia Commons

Mrs. Greville famously bequeathed her jewelry to Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) on her death in September 1942, and when the tin trunk containing the jewels arrived at Buckingham Palace the following year, the chandelier earrings were included in the glittering haul. We’ve previously discussed Elizabeth’s sensitivity regarding the unexpected jewelry windfall—mindful of public opinion, especially in a time of war, she endeavored to keep the details of the immense bequest as quiet as she possibly could.

Eventually, after the war’s end, Elizabeth began wearing some of the pieces from the bequest in public. But, as you might expect, it seems that some of the pieces left by Mrs. Greville weren’t to Elizabeth’s taste, or didn’t really suit her. With her husband, King George VI, she decided to pass some of the pieces along to their daughters to mark major celebrations and occasions. Procuring new jewelry pieces during that era of war and austerity was a challenge anyway. When Bertie was looking for a bejeweled birthday present for Princess Elizabeth in 1944, Queen Elizabeth wrote to Queen Mary about the difficulty of finding something suitable: “It is almost impossible to buy anything good, but he may find something secondhand.” (He did: the Aquamarine Clips, which had originally been purchased by his brother, the late Duke of Kent.)

The best and most fiscally-sound secondhand solution was to search within existing royal collections to find jewelry gifts. Queen Elizabeth often liked to pass along jewels that she’d worn in her younger years that no longer suited her. But when Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark in November 1947, something grander was called for. The Greville Bequest answered that call. The grand, impressive diamond chandelier earrings were among the jewels offered by the King and Queen to their daughter to celebrate her wedding. The earrings weren’t a style favored by the elder Elizabeth, but they would certainly look beautiful on a young, modern princess.

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There was one problem: the chandelier earrings were made to be worn by a woman with pierced ears, and Princess Elizabeth’s ears were not pierced. For the first few years after the royal wedding, the earrings were relegated to a place in Princess Elizabeth’s jewelry box. But shortly before her accession, in the summer of 1951, she made the decision to pierce her ears after all. In her early book on the Queen’s jewelry, Sheila Young noted, “Just before she visited Canada in 1951 Princess Elizabeth had her ears pierced.”

Once Elizabeth’s ears were pierced, the diamond chandelier earrings were quickly incorporated into her regular gala jewelry rotation. The opportunities to wear grand jewels increased exponentially a few months later, when she became Queen Elizabeth II. Here, she wears them with the Nizam of Hyderabad Suite for the first Royal Variety Performance of her reign in the autumn of 1952. The press took notice of the jewels, too. Early articles on her jewelry from the 1950s note that the Queen “frequently wears diamond chandelier earrings given to her by her parents.”

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In her younger years, the earrings were staples of her collection. She liked to pair them with other sleek, modern jewels, including Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik and the Diamond Festoon Necklace (worn her during a dinner at the White House in July 1976). As time went on, though, the Queen moved on to different (often shorter) earring styles.

Though HM wore the earrings less frequently, royal jewel historians remained interested in the unusual and striking chandelier earrings. Writers producing work in the 1980s and 1990s, however, didn’t have access to the full story behind their provenance. The Queen Mother and the Queen both kept the origins of the earrings quiet, and writers like Suzy Menkes and Leslie Field identified them simply as a wedding gift from King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. Field dubbed the jewels “the King George VI Chandelier Earrings.”

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At the dawn of the 21st century, the royals became more relaxed about discussing the Greville provenance of numerous royal jewels. Though they still have not made public a complete inventory of the bequest, numerous exhibitions and publications by the Royal Collection Trust have revealed the Greville origins of jewels like the chandelier earrings.

Around the time that they were being exhibited to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Wedding Anniversary (in 2007) and Diamond Jubilee (in 2012), the Queen unexpectedly wore the chandelier earrings in public once more. She paired them with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, Queen Alexandra’s Diamond Collet Necklace, and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Brooch during a royal tour of Canada in the summer of 2010. I’d love to see these earrings come out of the vaults again soon—wouldn’t they look fabulous on the Duchess of Cambridge?

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Today marks the 122nd anniversary of the birth of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, one of the most important royal figures of the 20th century. To celebrate, we’re devoting the month of August to a survey of her most important private jewelry collection: the Greville Bequest. But first, today we’re looking at the unlikely friendship between Dame Margaret Greville and the royal family, and the way that the jewels made their way from Polesden Lacey to Buckingham Palace.

In 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, a black tin trunk embossed with the initials MHG was dispatched from Polesden Lacey, a grand country house in Surrey, to Buckingham Palace. The Queen had been expecting the delivery. Inside the trunk lay a treasure trove of incredible jewels: more than sixty fabulous pieces made by famous jewelry firms like Cartier and Boucheron.

To this day, we only know details about a fraction of the jewel pieces that arrived inside that trunk. But how the jewels got to the palace—and the interesting royal friendship that led them there—is a crucial part of understanding why the Greville Bequest continues to fascinate royal jewelry lovers to this day.

Grand Ladies Site

Dame Margaret Greville, better known to many in London social circles as Mrs. Ronnie Greville, was one of the leading hostesses of her generation. Kings and queens, statesmen and celebrities, everyone who was anyone was on the guest list for parties at her Mayfair home on Charles Street and weekends away at her country home, Polesden Lacey. But Maggie’s story began somewhere much less posh, and in much more perilous circumstances.

Margaret Helen Anderson was born in Scotland in 1863. The parents listed on her birth record were William Anderson, a porter working for the Fountain Brewery in Edinburgh, and his wife, Helen, who worked as a cook. But it seems that William Anderson wasn’t Margaret’s father at all. Her mother had a longstanding relationship with William McEwan, owner of the brewery where William Anderson was employed. When Anderson died in 1885, William McEwan and Helen were married. After their wedding, Margaret was often referred to as McEwan’s “stepdaughter,” but it seems to have been an open secret that she was his biological daughter.

Grand Ladies Site

William McEwan’s brewing enterprise made him immensely rich. That wealth translated to political power as well. He was elected as Edinburgh Central’s parliamentary representative in 1886, a seat he held until 1900. In 1907, King Edward VII appointed McEwan as a member of the Privy Council. His rise in the social world also allowed him to secure an aristocratic husband for his daughter. In April 1891, Maggie married the Hon. Ronald Greville, eldest son of the 2nd Baron Greville and officer in the Life Guards. The new Mrs. Greville received a haul of glittering wedding presents, including a diamond tiara gifted by her father, described in the Truth as “composed of three diamond rivières of single stones.”

Ronnie Greville would eventually retire from the army as a captain and seek his own political career. He was elected MP for Bradford East in 1896, though he was often laid low with various illnesses. Meanwhile, Maggie focused on shoring up her position in the social whirl of London. She and her mother were frequently invited to gala events, including state occasions attended by the royal family. Just a few months after Maggie’s wedding, for example, she wore her new diamond tiara to a state opera performance given in honor of the visiting Emperor and Empress of Germany.

Grand Ladies Site

Over the years, Maggie found herself drawn closer and closer to London’s most fashionable set. She was presented at court shortly after her wedding, and she began to host small parties at the London home in Charles Street that had been purchased by her father. After Queen Victoria’s death in 1901, Maggie became part of the social circle surrounding King Edward VII. She was a close friend of Alice Keppel, who had a well-documented relationship with the monarch. Maggie’s personality made her just the kind of woman that the king liked to have surrounding him at social events. In 1906, the Westminster Gazette noted, “Young, bright, a capital linguist, a good hand at bridge, and always one of the best-dressed women in Society, Mrs. Greville has speedily become a familiar figure in the little circle specially honoured with King Edward’s friendship.”

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For several years, the Grevilles leased Reigate Priory, a Tudor mansion in Surrey, and King Edward made visits there for several consecutive summers during his reign. In 1907, while documenting one of those royal visits, the Graphic called the Grevilles “très répandus in the best and most amusing social world.” The same year, William McEwan acquired Polesden Lacey, a country estate not far from Reigate, for his daughter and son-in-law. But sadly, Ronnie and Maggie’s partnership ended far too soon. In the spring of 1908, just before their seventeenth wedding anniversary, Ronnie was diagnosed with cancer. He underwent surgery to remove a tumor from his larynx that March, but soon afterward, he contracted pneumonia and died.

Maggie went into mourning for a year, escaping England to travel abroad. Devoted to travel as a pursuit, Maggie would traverse the globe during her long widowhood. But back at home, she was also able to maintain her place in royal society. King Edward VII and friends like Mrs. Keppel continued to visit her for weekends at Polesden Lacey. She was also a close friend of his sister, Princess Beatrice, and of Beatrice’s daughter, Queen Ena of Spain. Maggie maintained her connections to the royals after Edward VII’s death in 1910, developing enduring friendships with King George V and Queen Mary and their children. In January 1922, George V made her a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

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Mrs. Greville’s home near Berkeley Square was often crowded with members of the family for late parties and dances after palace functions. Following a state banquet during a visit from the King and Queen of Italy in 1924, the house’s ballroom was crowded with both Italian and British royals. “Mariegold in Society,” a gossip column published in the Sketch, recounted a humorous moment on the crowded staircase that led to the ballroom during that particular party: “The poor Prince of Wales, unnoticed and unrecognised in the crush, tried for about ten minutes to get up the staircase, but was stuck halfway, where he could neither go up nor down! A footman appeared saying, ‘Make way for the Duke and Duchess of York.’ ‘Don’t bother about me,’ said the Prince rather plaintively from his place in the crush.”

The Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, were particular favorites of Maggie’s. Because Bertie was the second son and never expected to inherit the throne, Maggie decided in 1914 that she would bequeath Polesden Lacey to him on her eventual death. (According to Pam Burbidge, the offer was reportedly made as a recognition of her gratitude toward the late Edward VII for his enduring friendship.) She loaned the house to the Yorks for their honeymoon in 1923, and they were frequent weekend visitors there, especially in the years before their unexpected accession in 1936. Maggie often referred to Elizabeth as the daughter she never had.

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Following the outbreak of World War II, Maggie took up residence in the Dorchester Hotel in London. In her waning years, she had flirted with support of the German cause before apparently coming to her senses and throwing her heart and resources behind her home country’s war effort. Her health declined, and she was confined to a wheelchair, but she continued to host parties whenever she could, still dripping in her famous jewels. She died in September 1942, not long after the shocking death of the Duke of Kent. Her visit to Balmoral not long after his death was her final visit with the Queen, who recorded in a letter to a friend that she was “very shocked and sad at the change” in Maggie. A few weeks later, after Maggie’s death, Elizabeth wrote, “I shall miss her very much indeed,” adding that “she was so shrewd, so kind, so amusingly unkind, so sharp, so fun, so naughty.”

In death, Maggie dealt a pair of surprises to the King and Queen. In an unexplained change of heart, she had altered her will and bequeathed Polesden Lacey not to George VI, as originally intended, but to the National Trust. Pam Burbidge notes that Maggie left no explanation behind to clarify her decision, but it seems possible that Bertie’s accession to the throne (and the properties that came with it) was a major factor. I don’t believe Bertie’s reaction to the change in plans has been recorded, but considering the moment in time, he was likely much more preoccupied by other matters. The Trust continues to own and maintain the estate today, and it’s open to visitors. The house is one of the most-visited properties in the Trust’s care.

The second surprise was a more pleasant one. Dame Maggie had bequeathed her famous collection of jewelry to Elizabeth. On September 30, 1942, Elizabeth wrote to Arthur Penn, her treasurer, thanking him for sending along details about the surprise legacy, adding that she “hope[d] to keep it quiet.” But she couldn’t resist sharing the news with the one person who would be most thrilled about the bequest: her mother-in-law, Queen Mary. “I must tell you that Mrs Greville has left me her jewels,” she wrote in October 1942. “She has left them to me ‘with her loving thoughts,’ dear old thing, and I feel very touched, I don’t suppose I shall see what they consist of for a long time, owing to the slowness of lawyers & death duties etc, but it is rather exciting to be left something, and I do admire beautiful stones with all my heart.” (Queen Mary replied a few days later: “I can understand your pleasure about the jewels.” She added, “I never had any such luck—but I am not really jealous.”)

National Archives

Elizabeth’s hopes to keep the bequest quiet in the midst of war were firmly dashed by January 1943, after the estate went through probate. Newspapers across the country revealed that Maggie “left:—’With my loving thoughts’ all jewels and jewellery to HM Queen Elizabeth.” They clarified, “Dame Margaret Greville, better known as Mrs ‘Ronnie’ Greville, had a jewel collection of considerable value, containing some magnificent pieces. These jewels will belong to the Queen as her private property and will be entirely distinct from the State jewels which she wears as Queen.” (They also revealed that Maggie had left lb20,000 to Princess Margaret and lb12,500 to Queen Ena of Spain.) But the royal family has still worked to maintain as much privacy as possible around the jewels, not discussing them extensively in public, especially during the years of war and austerity.

When the jewels were delivered to Queen Elizabeth in 1943, they arrived in the same black tin trunk that Maggie had used to store them at Polesden Lacey. The trunk still bore her initials, MHG. To this day, no full inventory of the jewels in that trunk has been published, likely because they are indeed private property, belonging first to Elizabeth and then to her daughter, the present Queen. This has naturally led to (unconfirmed) speculation, including rumors that jewels owned by Marie Antoinette and Empress Joséphine are among the cache. Over the years, the Royal Collection has shared the confirmed Greville provenance of several prominent royal jewels, and on several days over the course of the rest of the month, we’ll be focusing on each of those pieces individually. Stay tuned: there’s lots of Greville sparkle on the way!

For further reading about Dame Margaret Greville, I’d recommend Queen Bees: Six Brilliant and Extraordinary Society Hostesses Between the Wars by S^ian Evans. The Queen Mother’s excerpted letters, edited by William Shawcross, are found in Counting One’s Blessings. Huge thanks also must be offered to Pam Burbidge, a guide, researcher, and historian who volunteers with the National Trust at Polesden Lacey. She kindly sent me a copy of her new book on Dame Maggie, The Maggie Greville Story, which is clearly a labor of love and offers a wealth of information about the famous hostess. The book is currently available for purchase in the UK, but can be delivered internationally from various outlets.

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Today, the people of Belgium celebrate their National Day, so it seems like the perfect time to marvel at a sparkling survey of the royal family’s tiaras!

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The grandest and most important diadem in the Belgian royal collection is undoubtedly the Nine Provinces Tiara. Made in 1926 by Van Bever, the tiara was given to Queen Astrid as a wedding gift by the Belgian people. The piece can be worn in a variety of configurations and is even wearable as a necklace. Queen Mathilde is the current wearer of the tiara, and she’s pictured here in the full jewel at the 75th birthday celebrations for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark in April 2015.

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Queen Mathilde’s second major tiara, the Brabant Laurel Wreath Tiara, belongs to her personally. The jewel was presented to her as a wedding gift in 1999 by a group of Belgian aristocrats. But it’s much older than that: it’s an antique diamond tiara, made in 1912 by Hennel and Sons. It’s also convertible and can be worn as a necklace (as you’ll see below!). She’s wearing the tiara here at the princely wedding reception in Monaco in July 2011.

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Queen Mathilde is also the present wearer of a fantastic little sparkling jewel, the Wolfers Tiara, that comes from the collection of the late Queen Fabiola. She received the convertible necklace/tiara as a wedding gift on behalf of the diamond industry of Antwerp in 1960. More than 200 diamonds are packed into the petite piece, which Mathilde has worn in both its tiara and necklace configurations. She wears it here during an official visit to Poland in October 2015.

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Queen Paola of Belgium is the owner of another fantastic Belgian royal heirloom, Queen Elisabeth’s Art Deco Bandeau. That geometric sparkler, likely made in the early decades of the 20th century, originally belonged to Queen Elisabeth of Belgium. Queen Paola received the tiara from her father-in-law, King Leopold III, and it’s been her go-to jewel for more than six decades. Above, she wears it during the celebrations of the royal wedding in Luxembourg in October 2012. Today, though, she loans it to other family members. It’s been worn by Queen Mathilde, Princess Astrid, and Princess Elisabetta.

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It’s a little tough to see here, but Queen Paola also sometimes wore one of her diamond necklaces as a small tiara, especially in the 1960s. The piece is a delicate Y-shaped necklace of diamonds, which has a pointed peak when worn in tiara form. Queen Paola wears the tiara setting here at a royal reception in October 1967.

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The future Queen of the Belgians, the Duchess of Brabant, debuted a brand-new tiara at a gala in Norway this June. Princess Elisabeth’s Diamond Tiara is an antique jewel that was purchased for her by her parents, King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, as an 18th birthday present. Some have guessed that it may be a diamond tiara that originally belonged to a British aristocratic family (or an identical piece from the same jewelry firm).

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King Philippe’s sister, Princess Astrid, frequently wears a tiara that her husband, Prince Lorenz, inherited from his family. The Savoy-Aosta Tiara is a diamond floral sparkler that was probably made for Princess Anne, Duchess of Aosta. Lorenz inherited the tiara through his mother, Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este. Princess Astrid wears the tiara here in Brussels in October 2005.

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Princess Claire, King Philippe’s sister-in-law, has a pair of tiaras in her jewelry collection. This small diamond sparkler is her wedding tiara. The jewel was her wedding gift in 2003 from her new parents-in-law, King Albert II and Queen Paola. Here, she wears the tiara during a banquet in honor of the President of Portugal in October 2005.

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Princess Claire also often wears a diamond and pearl tiara, which has a touch of Art Deco style in its design. You’ll also spot fleur-de-lis elements in the piece. She wears the jewel here at the princely wedding reception in Monaco in July 2011.

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There are also a few tiara mysteries lingering in Belgium. Many are hoping that the Spanish Wedding Gift Tiara, Queen Fabiola’s 1960 wedding present from Francisco and Carmen Franco, is still in the royal vaults today. The convertible jewel can be worn in coronet, wreath, and necklace settings, and various colorful gems can be placed in the center of each leaf element. She wears the tiara here in its coronet form in 1963. It hasn’t been seen in public since Fabiola’s death in 2014.

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And then there’s the mystery of the Stockholm Tiara. The modern diamond and pearl jewel was Queen Astrid’s wedding present from the people of Stockholm in 1926. Above, she wears the tiara at the Vatican in January 1930. Its whereabouts remain unknown.

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When you start a series on the jewels of the Greville Bequest, there’s really nowhere else to begin but this sparkling signature jewel: the Greville Tiara.

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Earlier this week, we discussed the life of Dame Margaret Greville and her surprise decision in 1942 to bequeath her jewels to Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother). We still don’t know exactly how many jewels were in the black tin trunk that was delivered to Buckingham Palace after Mrs. Greville’s estate went through probate in 1943, but we know that one of the most majestic pieces inside was a grand diamond tiara with a distinctive honeycomb pattern.

The tiara had been designed for Mrs. Greville by Lucien Hirtz of Boucheron in Paris in 1921. It was a complete overhaul of another diamond tiara from her collection, which had been made by the same firm 20 years earlier. (You can see a picture of that original tiara, which had a palmette design, in Sir Hugh Roberts’s The Queen’s Diamonds.) Hirtz used the diamonds from that original tiara to fashion a new, modern diadem with an eye-catching geometric design. Roberts called the resulting tiara, which had a kokoshnik-style silhouette, “one of the most striking and unusual of the jewels inherited from Mrs. Greville by Queen Elizabeth.”

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Queen Elizabeth inherited the grand Greville jewels in the middle of World War II, so naturally she did not wear them in public until after the conflict’s end. Roberts suggests that she first wore the Greville Tiara, as it is known by the royal family, in public for a state ball during the family’s royal tour of South Africa in March 1947. Above, she wears the kokoshnik-style version of the honeycomb tiara for another gala event, held during a state visit by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands to Britain in 1950. On that occasion, she paired the tiara with another fabulous Greville inheritance, the Festoon Necklace. (Behind her, Princess Margaret wears Queen Mary’s Diamond Lozenge Tiara.)

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In 1953, Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother) decided to make her own alterations to the Greville Tiara. She turned to Cartier to add additional height to the tiara by reconfiguring some of the diamonds from the top line of the piece. Four round diamond brilliants and a marquise-cut diamond were added to the tiara as part of the slight redesign. (The newer diamonds can be distinguished from the original ones by their setting; the original diamonds are surrounded by a millegrain setting, while the newer diamonds are not.) Roberts notes that the round diamonds were sourced from a brooch from Elizabeth’s collection that had been dismantled by Cartier four years earlier. The changes somehow made the already-imposing tiara even more impressive.

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As we discussed earlier, the jewels that Elizabeth inherited from Mrs. Greville were her own private property, and she generally kept their provenance quiet. That meant that earlier jewelry historians often made erroneous claims about the source and creation of the jewel, largely because they had access to incomplete information. Both Suzy Menkes and Leslie Field, writing in the 1980s, argued that Elizabeth had had the entire tiara commissioned herself using a cache of South African diamonds given in 1901 to either King Edward VII or Queen Mary. Field wrote (incorrectly) that Elizabeth had chosen the tiara’s design herself. Menkes called the diadem “the last grand tiara made for the English royal family.”

Both Menkes and Field were incorrect in their understanding of the tiara’s provenance, partly because Elizabeth was so tight-lipped about the Greville bequest pieces in general. By the end of her very long life, though, she was more comfortable sharing some information about the tiara’s origins. In 1997, the Queen Mother began loaning some of her personal jewels, including the Strathmore Rose Tiara, to exhibitions curated by Geoffrey Munn, beginning a collaborative relationship with the jewelry historian. In his landmark book, Tiaras: A History of Splendour, Munn clarified some of the details about the Greville Tiara, correcting earlier misinformation. He wrote that the “openwork diamond tiara” did indeed come from the Greville bequest, adding the accurate information that the piece was constructed by Boucheron for Mrs. Greville and later altered by Cartier for the Queen Mother. About a decade later, Hugh Roberts’s book on The Queen’s Diamonds also offered a final, solid Greville provenance for the piece.

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After the tiara was returned from Cartier, the Queen Mother made it one of her most-worn tiaras for the rest of her life. (The only other diadem she wore in public during her long widowhood was Queen Victoria’s Indian Circlet.) Above, the Queen Mother wears the altered Greville Tiara for a Women’s Institute birthday celebration in November 1960. (She’s also wearing the Greville Peardrop Earrings, Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace, and her Silver Anniversary Flower Brooch.)

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The Queen Mother paired the tiara with the Greville Emeralds and Queen Victoria’s Diamond Fringe Brooch for a gala performance during the Belgian state visit in May 1963.

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In April 1972, for another state visit by Queen Juliana of the Netherlands to London, the Queen Mother again paired the tiara with the Greville Emeralds and the Fringe Brooch. (Juliana is resplendent here in sapphire and diamond jewels from the Dutch royal collection, including Queen Emma’s Sapphire Tiara and Necklace.)

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The Queen Mother often wore the tiara (which has a relatively lightweight platinum setting) for concerts and film premieres. Here, she wears the tiara with the Greville Peardrop Earrings, Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace, and Queen Mary’s Diamond Choker Bracelet for the premiere of A Passage to India in March 1985. Beside her, Princess Anne wears pearls, and Diana, Princess of Wales wears emeralds.

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Impressively, the Queen Mum kept wearing the tiara right up until the very end of her incredible life. Here, in December 1998, she wears the tiara with the Greville Peardrop Earrings and three strands of the Greville Festoon Necklace during the German state visit to Britain. She’s pictured here arriving for the state banquet at Windsor Castle with the then-Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey. Can you believe that she’s 98 years old here?!?

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When Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother passed away in March 2002, the Greville Tiara (and all of her jewels) were left to her daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. It’s perhaps no surprise that the present Queen has never worn her mother’s diamond tiara—the piece must have been so indelibly associated with the Queen Mum for her. But when another new member joined the family three years later, the Queen handed the tiara over to her.

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The Duchess of Cornwall, the Queen’s daughter-in-law, is the present wearer of the Greville Tiara. She doesn’t own the tiara personally—The Queen’s Diamonds revealed that the Queen has offered the piece to Camilla as a long-term loan. One of her earliest public appearances in the tiara came in March 2006 at a state banquet in honor of the President of Brazil. On that occasion, she paired the tiara with the earrings and necklace from her pear-shaped diamond demi-parure.

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There must be something about this tiara, as it is now also the Duchess’s most-worn gala jewel. The piece must be comfortable to wear, and we can see that it coordinates nicely with lots of different ensembles and accessories. Here, Camilla wears the tiara for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Banquet in Uganda in November 2007. She’s also wearing her pear-shaped diamond earrings, plus all five strands of the remarkable Greville Festoon Necklace.

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Here’s another view of Camilla wearing the tiara for another CHOGM Banquet, held in Sri Lanka in November 2013.

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Whenever Camilla attends a tiara event these days, whether it’s a state banquet or the State Opening of Parliament (pictured above, 2019), you can almost bet that she’ll be bringing the Greville Tiara along with her. Of all of the jewels from the Greville Bequest, this one so far is probably the piece with the most lasting royal legacy.

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The Queen traveled to almost each nation on the earth throughout her reign, however there have been some diplomatic moments that rise above all the remainder—together with her landmark state go to to Eire in 2011.

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Simply weeks after their grandson’s glittering royal marriage ceremony, the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh landed at Baldonnel Airport in Dublin to start a groundbreaking state go to to the Republic of Eire. The go to, which started on Could 17, 2011, was the primary by a British monarch because the coronation go to made by her grandparents, King George V and Queen Mary, in the summertime of 1911. At that time, Eire was nonetheless a part of the British Empire. Immediately, it’s an impartial republic.

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The Queen was greeted by her fellow head of state, President Mary McAleese, on the Aras an Uachtarain, the official residence of the President of Eire in Dublin.

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For her arrival, the Queen naturally wore inexperienced, accessorized with pearls and considered one of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Bow Brooches.

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After an outfit change, the Queen visited Dublin Memorial Backyard, the place she lay a wreath.

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She additionally toured Trinity School Dublin, the place she was proven pages from the well-known Guide of Kells.

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Her brooch for this a part of the go to was the Grima Ruby Brooch, a sentimental Nineteen Sixties present from the Duke of Edinburgh.

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On Could 18, the Queen met with Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny throughout a go to to Authorities Buildings on Merrion Road.

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She lay a wreath of poppies on the Irish Struggle Memorial Backyard in Islandbridge.

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And she or he and the Duke took a tour of the well-known Guinness Storehouse, the place they watched the professionals pour an ideal pint of Guinness.

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The Queen’s brooch alternative for the beginning of day two of the go to additionally had sentimental household ties. These diamond and aquamarine clip brooches had been an 18th birthday present from her father, King George VI.

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One of the crucial vital moments of the state go to was a cease at Croke Park, the headquarters of the Gaelic Athletic Affiliation (and the location of a bloodbath perpetrated by British troops in 1920). The go to was considered one of many alternatives taken by the Queen to make some amends for historic wrongs through the journey. GAA President Christy Cooney, pictured right here with the Queen and President McAleese, advised the monarch that her choice to go to the stadium would assist to advance the peace course of.

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For the Croke Park go to, the Queen wore pearls with the Australian Wattle Brooch. Australia is one other nation the place Gaelic sports activities are nonetheless performed often as we speak.

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That night, the Queen and the Duke had been visitors of honor at a state dinner hosted by President McAleese and Dr. Martin McAleese at Dublin Fort.

PETER MUHLY/AFP by way of Getty Photos

The Queen gave an vital and memorable speech through the dinner, addressing her visitors in Irish and referring to the deep hurts of the previous. “We will always remember those that have died or been injured, and their households,” she stated. “To all those that have suffered as a consequence of our troubled previous I prolong my honest ideas and deep sympathy. With the advantage of historic hindsight we will all see issues which we would want had been completed otherwise or in no way.”

Arthur Edwards – Pool/Getty Photos

For the dinner, the Queen wore diamonds, together with a number of items of bijou that belonged to Queen Mary, the final British queen consort to go to Eire. The jewels included the Women of Nice Britain & Eire Tiara, the Diamond Floret Earrings, and the Fashionable Fringe Necklace. Her robe additionally featured one other particular embellishment: a Celtic harp product of crystals, one other nod to her hosts.

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

There have been extra brooches over the subsequent two days as effectively. For a go to to the Irish Nationwide Stud in Kildare, an equestrian second that was certainly a private spotlight for the Queen, she wore Prince Albert’s Brooch.

Oli Scarff – Pool/Getty Photos

For a particular reception highlighting British and Irish tradition at Dublin’s Conference Middle on the night of day three, she wore pearls with a present she had obtained through the go to: the Newgrange Brooch, a present from President McAleese.

Chris Jackson – Pool/Getty Photos

And on the ultimate day of the go to, the Queen lastly introduced out a gleaming emerald. For a go to to Cork, she sported the Cambridge Emerald Cluster Brooch (with out its pendant).

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HANNAH MCKAY/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos

Because the world bids farewell to the late Queen Elizabeth II at the moment, I’m sharing a number of particulars about a number of the important jewellery items worn for her state funeral. The ladies of the British royal household paid tribute to the reminiscence of the late Queen by sporting applicable, stunning jewellery items, a number of of which had necessary symbolic resonance.

Geoff Pugh – WPA Pool/Getty Photos

The Queen Consort wore an important royal heirloom brooch for the service. That is the Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch, a present offered to Queen Victoria in 1897. The diamond and sapphire jewel was a gift from eight of Victoria’s grandchildren and their spouses: Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra of Russia, Grand Duke Ernest Louis and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita of Hesse, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, and Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg (later Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven). All had been family members of Victoria’s late daughter, Princess Alice. The principle diamond portion of the brooch types a coronary heart form, and inside the center is the quantity 60 (the variety of years in a Diamond Jubilee reign) in Cyrillic numerals.

HANNAH MCKAY/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos

Camilla additionally wore a pair of diamond and sapphire cluster earrings, in addition to her typical necklace with pendants and bracelets.

Joe Maher/Getty Photos

The Princess of Wales wore acquainted pearl items for the state funeral—all of that are believed to have been loaned to her by the late Queen.

Phil Noble – WPA Pool/Getty Photos

Kate wore the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings, made utilizing pearls acquired by the Queen as a marriage current in 1947, in addition to the Queen’s four-row pearl choker necklace, which has a particular fashionable diamond clasp. The necklace was reportedly made utilizing pearls gifted by the Japanese authorities, and it was additionally loaned to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. Kate wore each the necklace and the earrings for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral in 2021.

Geoff Pugh – WPA Pool/Getty Photos

Kate additionally wore a four-row pearl bracelet on her proper wrist, which we beforehand noticed her put on for the American state banquet in 2019. This bracelet can be believed to have been loaned by the Queen.

Phil Noble – WPA Pool/Getty Photos

Prince George and Prince Charlotte of Wales joined their mother and father for at the moment’s state funeral, and for the event, Princess Charlotte wore her first piece of serious jewellery in public. A small diamond horseshoe brooch was pinned to her jacket. Folks has confirmed that the brooch was given to Charlotte by the late Queen, her great-grandmother.

HANNAH MCKAY/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos

The Duchess of Sussex was elegant in a pair of easy pearl and diamond earrings. The scale of the jewels belies their significance: they got to Meghan by the Queen, together with a coordinating necklace, in 2018.

Christopher Furlong/Getty Photos

The Princess Royal was in uniform as a part of the procession at the moment, sporting solely a easy pair of gold stud earrings.

Hannah McKay – WPA Pool/Getty Photos

Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, selected a stunning pair of pearl drop earrings for the funeral service.

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

Each Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, as typical, stored their equipment minimal for the funeral. Eugenie wore a pair of gold hoop earrings and a fragile necklace for the service.

GEOFF PUGH/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos

The mom of the 2 princesses, Sarah, Duchess of York, was on the service with the remainder of the royal household. She wore diamond floral earrings with a diamond brooch within the form of a dove.

Geoff Pugh – WPA Pool/Getty Photos

The Countess of Wessex wore pavé-set diamond earrings along with her diamond berry brooch for the funeral. The brooch coordinated superbly with the delicate floral embroidery on her costume.

DOMINIC LIPINSKI/POOL/AFP through Getty Photos

Woman Louise Windsor, who shared a love for equestrian pursuits along with her grandparents, paid tribute to their reminiscence by sporting a necklace with a pendant formed like a horse’s head.

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

The always-elegant Woman Sarah Chatto, daughter of the late Princess Margaret, wore attractive jewels for the service. Together with her diamond starburst earrings and pearl bracelet, she wore one of many Snowdon Floral Brooches. The diamond brooch is a part of a set that can be worn on a tiara body (as Sarah did on her wedding ceremony day).

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

The prolonged royal household was additionally in attendance on the service, and I’ll share pictures of their jewels as they’re out there. Right here is the Duchess of Gloucester along with her son and daughter-in-law, the Earl and Countess of Ulster, and their kids, Lord Culloden and Woman Cosima Windsor.

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

Birgitte wore attractive diamonds and pearls for the service, together with a diamond floral brooch.

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

The Kents had been in attendance as effectively. Princess Michael of Kent was accompanied by her son, Lord Frederick Windsor, and his spouse, Sophie Winkleman. Each girls wore pearls.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Photos

Right here’s a more in-depth take a look at Marie-Christine’s pearls, together with diamond and pearl cluster earrings.

Chris Jackson/Getty Photos

Prince and Princess Michael’s daughter, Woman Gabriella, was additionally on the service along with her husband, Thomas Kingston. She wore elegant pearl earrings as effectively.

I’ll be updating this put up as I can safe the rights to publish extra photos, and I’ll have a second put up in a while at the moment that includes the jewels worn by the overseas royals who attended at the moment’s state funeral.

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The present—in a modified type—went on in Denmark on Saturday night. Queen Margrethe II’s Golden Jubilee celebrations, delayed by a number of months due to the pandemic, started with a scaled-back gala live performance in Copenhagen.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Members of the Danish royal household and Scandinavian heads of state arrived on the Danish Royal Theatre in Copenhagen on Saturday evening for a particular gala live performance celebrating Queen Margrethe’s 50 years on the Danish throne.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Queen Margrethe wore a favourite pink night robe for the event, plus a number of decorations, together with the sash and star of the Order of the Elephant.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

She selected the Danish Floral Aigrette, a tiara from the gathering of Queen Ingrid, for the gala live performance. The tiara, made within the Nineteen Fifties, was given by Ingrid to Margrethe in 1985, and Margrethe subsequently had it transformed barely in order that the three sections might be worn extra flexibly.

Margrethe additionally wore further diamonds, together with items that are among the many oldest royal jewels in Denmark outdoors of the crown jewel assortment. The diamond rivière necklace, for instance, belonged to Princess Anne, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (1709-1759), daughter of King George II of Nice Britain. She’s considered one of Margrethe’s direct ancestors by Queen Lovisa of Denmark (who was the daughter of a Dutch princess).

The earrings worn right here function sections from two pairs of diamond jewels in Margrethe’s jewellery field. The studs and huge floral drops are additionally thought to have belonged to Princess Anne of Orange. Margrethe wears them with two diamond spacer parts from a second pair of earrings, which belonged to Hereditary Princess Caroline of Denmark (1793-1881). The massive brooch pinned to the Queen’s bodice additionally belonged to Hereditary Princess Caroline.

All the items worn right here—the tiara, necklace, earrings, and brooch—are a part of the Danish Royal Property Belief, which additionally holds the Pearl Poiré Tiara and its accompanying jewels.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary attended the gala with their two older kids, Prince Christian and Princess Isabella. Each Frederik and Mary wore a number of Danish decorations, together with the Order of the Elephant.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Crown Princess Mary wore a champagne-colored night robe embellished with beautiful beading.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

She accessorized together with her Edwardian Tiara and its matching earrings. Her different jewellery included a big cocktail ring set with a yellow gemstone, maybe a topaz or citrine. (We additionally noticed the ring lately in the course of the couple’s go to to the Netherlands.)

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Princess Isabella was elegant in a pink robe with an identical capelet. She wore a pair of recent gold and diamond earrings from Dulong, borrowed from her mom’s jewellery field.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Isabella additionally wore bracelets on each wrists.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Prince Joachim and Princess Marie attended the live performance along with his older sons, Prince Nikolai and Prince Felix.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Princess Marie was elegant in a darkish blue lace robe with the sash and star of the Order of the Elephant. She wore the Nuits Claires Tiara with a pair of glowing diamond earrings.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Prince Joachim’s first spouse, Countess Alexandra of Frederiksborg, attended the live performance as nicely, carrying a tweed and lace night robe with the insignia of the Order of the Elephant.

Ole Jensen/Getty Pictures

She paired the Alexandrine Diamond Drop Tiara, which was a marriage present from Queen Margrethe, with diamond stud earrings.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Each of Queen Margrethe’s sisters, Princess Benedikte and Queen Anne-Marie, have been additionally in attendance on the live performance. Anne-Marie wore a sublime pink night robe, whereas Benedikte selected a robe with a lace overlay. Their decorations included the Order of the Elephant.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Princess Benedikte wore the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Fringe Tiara, plus a really intriguing suite of jewels product of gold, pearls, and rubies. To me, the model of the necklace suggests a late Victorian or early Edwardian creation date.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Queen Anne-Marie wore the Greek royal rubies, together with the tiara, necklace, earrings, and brooch, plus a coordinating bracelet.

#TiaraAlert Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg wore the Ahlefeldt Floral Tiara for a gala efficiency celebrating Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s Golden Jubilee on the Royal Theater in Copenhagen on 10 September 2022. pic.twitter.com/kauznO520N

— Tiara Mania (@TiaraManiaBlog) September 11, 2022

Each of Princess Benedikte’s daughters attended the live performance as nicely. Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg wore a diamond floral tiara that belongs to the household of her husband, Depend Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille.

#TiaraAlert Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg wore Queen Sophia’s Star & Pearl Tiara for a gala efficiency celebrating Queen Margrethe II of Denmark’s Golden Jubilee on the Royal Theater in Copenhagen on 10 September 2022.https://t.co/Qg7uRPppwt pic.twitter.com/TkFbSAio5Y

— Tiara Mania (@TiaraManiaBlog) September 11, 2022

Her youthful sister, Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, borrowed Queen Sofia’s Star and Pearl Tiara from her mom for the event.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

4 of Queen Anne-Marie’s kids and their companions additionally attended the live performance. (Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana have been the one ones not in attendance.) Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark, pictured right here together with her husband, Carlos Morales Quintana, wore mint inexperienced for the night. She’s carrying the sash and star of the Order of the Redeemer, whereas he wears the insignia of the Order of Saints George and Constantine.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

It was pleasant to see Princess Alexia put on the Khedive of Egypt Tiara once more. She borrowed it from her mom for the event; beforehand, she wore it on her marriage ceremony day. She additionally wore diamond earrings and a number of other brooches, together with a diamond and pearl bow brooch and a small diamond and emerald brooch.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Crown Prince Pavlos and Crown Princess Marie-Chantal have been there in full gala costume. His decorations included the Order of the Elephant. Hers, worn on a silver night robe, have been the star and sash of the Order of Saints Olga and Sophia.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Crown Princess Marie-Chantal wore the Miller Fringe Tiara, plus diamond earrings and a small brooch formed like a coronet.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Princess Theodora, in electrical purple, attended the live performance together with her fiancé, Matthew Kumar. Like Marie-Chantal, she wore the insignia of the Order of Saints Olga and Sophia.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

She borrowed her sister’s diamond tiara for the event, pairing it with earrings that includes purple-red gems and a pearl butterfly brooch.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Prince Philippos and Princess Nina have been additionally there to have a good time his aunt’s jubilee. Nina wore a flowing lilac night robe. Each wore decorations as nicely. His included the insignia of the Order of the Redeemer, hers included the sash and star of the Order of Saints Olga and Sophia.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Princess Nina wore the Vintage Corsage Tiara, a mortgage from her mother-in-law, with its coordinating brooch. She additionally wore a really trendy diamond necklace and matching earrings. (I spot one other brooch at her shoulder, however I can’t make out the particular particulars of that piece.)

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

The one international royals in attendance on the live performance have been Queen Margrethe’s fellow Scandinavian heads of state. King Harald V and Queen Sonja represented Norway. Sonja wore royal blue for the night, and each wore decorations that included the Order of the Elephant.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Queen Sonja accessorized with diamond and pearl jewellery, together with Queen Maud’s Pearl Tiara and the Drapers’ Firm Brooch.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden additionally traveled to Denmark for the festivities. She wore a light-weight purple night robe, and each of them additionally included the Order of the Elephant of their decorations.

IDA MARIE ODGAARD/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Queen Silvia emphasised the purple tones of her costume by carrying jewels from the Napoleonic Amethyst Parure, together with the tiara, earrings, necklace, and brooch.

Our protection of the occasions of the jubilee will proceed with further articles for the subsequent a number of afternoons, interspersed with our memorial protection of the lifetime of the late Queen Elizabeth II.

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Toby Melville – Pool/Getty Pictures

I’ve gotten a number of questions not too long ago a couple of sure ornament worn by the women of the Home of Windsor: the little miniature portraits, surrounded by gems, that hold from colourful ribbons. So at this time, let’s look just a little extra carefully on the Royal Household Orders worn by the British royals, we could?

Royal Assortment Belief

The primary Royal Household Order instituted by a member of the British royal household was that of King George IV. Girls of the household had worn miniature portraits of the monarch previous to the institution of the order, however George standardized the follow. The miniature portrait on the badge of the order, painted by Henry Bone, relies on a well-known portray of the king by Sir Thomas Lawrence. The portrait, surrounded by jewels and topped by a crown, hangs from an ivory-colored ribbon. The respect was solely bestowed on feminine members of the royal household.

This specific badge, held within the Royal Assortment, was bestowed by King George IV on his sister, Queen Charlotte of Württemberg (1756-1828). When she died, she bequeathed the badge and ribbon to her niece, the younger Princess Victoria of Kent. She, in fact, later grew to become Queen Victoria, and she or he left the badge to the crown assortment on her loss of life.

Hulton Archive/Getty Pictures

Most likely the longest-lived wearer of King George IV’s Royal Household Order was one other niece, Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She’s pictured right here sporting the order (with different badges, together with the Order of the Crown of India) in a portrait taken on the time of the coronation of King Edward VII in 1902. (She’s additionally sporting a really acquainted jewel: the unique Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara, which was later copied for her niece, Queen Mary.)

Royal Assortment Belief

King William IV didn’t get round to issuing a Royal Household Order throughout his reign, however Queen Victoria did, placing her personal spin on the glory. She created the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert in 1862, after the loss of life of the late Prince Consort, issuing it to feminine family members and to some feminine courtiers. (There have been a number of courses of the order.) As a substitute of a miniature portrait, the badge of the order featured a twin cameo silhouette portrait (made in Rome by Tommaso Saulini) of Victoria and Albert. Just like the George IV order, the badge was encrusted with jewels, topped by a crown, and suspended from an ivory-colored ribbon.

This specific badge and ribbon belonged to Victoria and Albert’s third daughter, Princess Helena. It was returned to her nephew, King George V, on her loss of life in 1923.

Wikimedia Commons

Right here’s Queen Alexandra, then Princess of Wales, sporting the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert in a proper portrait taken on the marriage ceremony of her daughter, Princess Louise, in 1889. She’s pinned one other brooch, a diamond horseshoe, to the order’s ribbon as properly. Her tiara is a convertible diamond diadem worn with sapphires given to her by her brother-in-law, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, as a silver marriage ceremony anniversary current in 1887. The tiara, which is also worn in an amethyst setting, was later bequeathed to Louise and offered by her descendants.

Wikimedia Commons

On this portrait, Queen Mary (then the Duchess of Cornwall and York) wears the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (and the Order of the Crown of India) whereas in mourning for Queen Victoria in 1901. Her different jewels embody the County of Surrey Tiara (which was later dismantled, with the diamonds used to make the Honeysuckle Tiara and to complement the Ladies of Nice Britain & Eire Tiara), her eleven-row pearl choker necklace (now with the Gloucesters), and the Karpurthala Stomacher (which was later redesigned and given to Queen Elizabeth II).

Royal Assortment Belief

Queen Victoria’s son, King Edward VII, instituted his personal Royal Household Order throughout his reign (1901-1910). It was as soon as once more bestowed on feminine members of the royal household. The portrait of the monarch is attributed to Robert Henderson, a miniaturist who labored for Dickinson & Foster. The portrait is surrounded by gems and topped with a gem-encrusted crown. The badge hangs from a crimson and blue striped ribbon with yellow accents. (The colours of the ribbon are similar to the king’s racing colours.)

This specific badge, now a part of the Royal Assortment, belonged to the monarch’s second daughter, Princess Victoria.

Grand Girls Website

And right here’s Princess Victoria sporting her father’s Royal Household Order (in addition to the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert) on the marriage ceremony of Princess Margaret of Connaught and Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor in June 1905. She’s additionally sporting her personal diamond floral tiara, and like her mom earlier than her, she has pinned a diamond horseshoe brooch close to her order badges and ribbons.

Royal Assortment Belief

By now, the creation of a Royal Household Order was an everyday a part of the accession of a brand new monarch. King George V’s Royal Household Order, suspended from a pale blue ribbon, featured a miniature portrait of the monarch in his naval uniform.

Grand Girls Website

Right here’s {a photograph} of Queen Mary sporting King George V’s Royal Household Order in her later years. (You’ll additionally spot the Cullinan III & IV Brooch peeking out from beneath her floral corsage.)

Wikimedia Commons

And right here, in a portrait taken on the finish of 1936, the brand new Queen Elizabeth wears her late father-in-law’s Royal Household Order (plus the Order of the Crown of India). She’s additionally sporting pearls and Queen Mary’s Diamond Fringe Tiara.

Royal Assortment Belief

Elizabeth isn’t sporting King George VI’s Royal Household Order in that portrait above, as a result of it hadn’t but been made. His brother, Edward VIII, hadn’t had sufficient time to fee his personal Royal Household Order, and Bertie’s took a bit to be made as properly. He labored with Garrard on the design of the badge, which was suspended from a pale pink ribbon. It was distributed to a number of feminine members of the royal household in time for the coronation in Might 1937.

AFP by way of Getty Pictures

On this portrait, taken in 1987, Queen Elizabeth II wears each the Royal Household Orders of her father, King George VI, and her grandfather, King George V. Her different jewels embody the Diamond Diadem and the Greville Ruby Necklace.

MICHAEL DUNLEA/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

And right here, she wears each Royal Household Orders with the Brazilian Aquamarines in March 2006. These sorts of orders are cumulative; you don’t should cease sporting one simply since you are given one other. Queen Elizabeth II was the final residing holder of George V’s Royal Household Order. Following her loss of life just a few weeks in the past, that order won’t ever be worn in public once more. (There’s only one remaining wearer of George VI’s Royal Household Order: Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Girl Ogilvy.)

Chris Jackson/Getty Pictures

Queen Elizabeth II created her personal Royal Household Order within the run-up to her coronation as properly. The order includes a miniature portrait of the monarch surrounded by diamonds. The portrait is topped by a jeweled crown and suspended from a pale yellow ribbon. The orders made earlier than 2017 featured portraits hand-painted on ivory; since 2017, they’ve been painted on glass (reportedly on the request of the then-Duke of Cambridge). Within the portrait, the younger monarch wears the Diamond Diadem, the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings, and the Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace. The miniature relies on a Dorothy Wilding {photograph} taken of the brand new monarch in April 1952.

This order badge is the one bestowed in 2007 on the Duchess of Cornwall, now the Queen Consort. She wears it right here throughout the Commonwealth Heads of Authorities Assembly in Sri Lanka in 2013.

Wikimedia Commons

On this portrait of the Queen Mom, painted in 1986 by Richard Stone, she wears each the Royal Household Orders of George VI (her husband) and Elizabeth II (her daughter). As you noticed above, she additionally had the Royal Household Order of George V, however later in life she usually wore simply these two. Within the portrait, she’s additionally sporting the Greville Tiara, the Greville Peardrop Earrings, and Queen Alexandra’s Wedding ceremony Necklace.

JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

Right here, the Countess of Wessex wears Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Household Order (and the Wessex Aquamarine Necklace Tiara) for the marriage of Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia of Sweden in 2015.

Victoria Jones – WPA Pool/Getty Pictures

And right here, on the Diplomatic Reception in December 2019, the Duchess of Cambridge (now the Princess of Wales) wears Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Household Order pinned to her night robe. Curiously, she’s sporting the identical necklace—the Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace—that the younger Queen wears within the miniature portrait (in addition to Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara and the Queen’s Pear-Formed Diamond Drop Cluster Earrings).

Markus Schreiber – WPA Pool/Getty Pictures

We’ve not but heard any information in regards to the attainable designs for King Charles III’s Royal Household Order. (It’s VERY early for something like that to have been severely mentioned!) However only for enjoyable, let’s do some speculating. I feel we will firmly state that the usage of ivory in these miniature portraits is completed for good, and all the higher, actually. However what in regards to the shade of the ribbon? Maybe pale inexperienced this time?

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We’re all trying ahead to this weekend’s Belgian royal marriage ceremony, however final weekend, the royals attended one other household marriage ceremony in France. And there have been main jewels on show!

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde headed to Pont-l’’Evêque in northern France on Saturday for the marriage of her youthful brother, Rely Charles-Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz, to Caroline Philippe. They had been accompanied by three of their kids: Princess Elisabeth, Prince Emmanuel, and Princess Eleonore. (The fourth, Prince Gabriel, is away on army coaching.)

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

Queen Mathilde wore a inexperienced robe and headpiece with some actually luscious emerald jewels. Her earrings characteristic cabochon emerald drops suspended from fashionable diamond settings. She additionally wore a hoop on her left hand with a big emerald stone and a pavé-set diamond band.

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

The Duchess of Brabant wore an ensemble we’ve seen earlier than. She beforehand wore this floral gown and coordinating headpiece for the Nationwide Day celebrations in July 2020.

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

We’ve additionally seen these earrings beforehand—simply not on Elisabeth. She borrowed the fashionable gold (plated) and (fake) pearl drop earrings from her mom, Queen Mathilde.

ERIC LALMAND/BELGA MAG/AFP through Getty Photographs

Queen Mathilde wore the earrings this April to go to an artwork exhibition in Liege. In keeping with UFO No Extra, the earrings had been made by Carolina Herrera.

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

The groom on the marriage ceremony is Queen Mathilde’s solely brother, Rely Charles-Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz. He’s a lawyer who lives and works in Brussels.

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

His bride, Caroline Philippe, is an funding banker who additionally resides in Brussels. She wore fashionable diamond earrings with heart-shaped designs for the marriage ceremony, which was held on the ‘Eglise Saint-Michel de Pont-l’’Evêque.

Albert Nieboer/DPA Image Alliance/Alamy

Caroline wore an heirloom lace veil that belongs to the d’Udekem d’Acoz household. She didn’t put on a tiara for her marriage ceremony ceremony, however she did put on some beautiful diamond floral brooches with the veil!

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Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

One of the vital great components of the group we’ve shaped right here at The Courtroom Jeweller is our geographic variety—we come from actually all around the world! And so lots of you’re beneficiant sufficient to indicate us among the treasures which can be situated near your properties. Right this moment, one among our pretty readers takes us on just a little tour of some unbelievable Indian royal jewels displayed in Qatar.

Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

Joey, one among our type readers, resides in Qatar, and not too long ago made a go to to the nation’s nationwide museum in Doha. He generously despatched alongside some pictures of among the jewels on show in order that I may share them with all of you. As you’ll be aware, lots of the jewels initially come from India, maybe the property of maharajahs or different princes. (Be aware the diamond and emerald sarpech, a conventional decoration worn on a turban, on the precise within the {photograph} above.) The jewels are at present show within the Nationwide Museum of Qatar, however Joey reviews that they’re often proven on the Museum of Islamic Arts in Doha, which is at present underneath renovation.

Why does Qatar have such vital holdings of bijou from India? A part of the reply will be discovered inside the royal household that guidelines the nation, the Al Thanis. Yesterday, we mentioned Sheikh Hamad, a primary cousin of the current Emir of Qatar. He’s an avid artwork collector, and he has a specific curiosity in Indian jewels. In 2009, Hamad attended a particular exhibition of Indian jewels on the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, and from then on, he started buying related items himself—so many, actually, that he bought quite a few objects from the gathering at Christie’s in New York in 2019, netting practically $110 million from the public sale. The proceeds had been reportedly used to assist fund the development of the galleries housing the Al Thani assortment in Paris.

Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

The jewels at present on show on the Nationwide Museum of Qatar showcase the unbelievable gemstone carvings which can be a trademark of royal jewellery from India. This hexagonal piece options an intricately-carved emerald surrounded by a border of diamonds. It jogs my memory a number of an analogous brooch from the British royal assortment, which was a present to Queen Mary from a number of Indian royal girls in the course of the Delhi Durbar of 1911.

Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

This brooch options one other beautifully-carved emerald surrounded by diamonds, with a faceted emerald and diamond pendant.

Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

This exceptional necklace dates to the seventeenth century. It options pearls, diamonds, and spinels in its design.

Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

Additionally on show are a pair of magnificent diamond and emerald drop earrings. The cabochon emeralds once more characteristic intricate carvings.

Photograph generously shared by Joey; don’t reproduce

I believe my favourite piece shared by Joey from his go to is that this sudden little jeweled objet d’artwork. It meshes the skillful carving of Indian artisans with the craftsmanship of one among my favourite historic jewellery corporations, Fabergé. The gold, diamond, pearl, and enamel field was made within the agency’s Russian workshops in the course of the nineteenth-century, with one among their well-known artisans, Mikhail Perkhin, signing the piece. The highest of the field, nevertheless, is far older. It’s one other carved emerald from India, courting to the seventeenth century. Such a wonderful merging of bijou skills from two completely different components of the world!

Please be part of me in thanking Joey for sharing these great jewels with all of us!

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