The pair of diamond drop earrings from the Greville inheritance only include six individual diamonds: two triangle-esque studs, from which are suspended two emerald cut diamonds and two enormous pear-shaped drops. Those six diamonds, though, combine to pack a major, sparkling punch.
The earrings arrived in the Windsor collection in 1942, when they were bequeathed by the Hon. Mrs. Greville to the Queen Mother. They were some of the more recent additions to the Greville cache, having been made by Cartier in 1938.
The earrings are set in platinum, which surely helps to lighten the weight of the massive drop stones, which each weigh in at a little more than twenty carats.
The Queen Mother wore the earrings throughout her life, usually pairing them with the Boucheron tiara from the Greville inheritance. After her death in 2002, they were inherited by the Queen, who has worn them occasionally at formal events like state banquets.
Leave a Reply