The Bernadotte Emeralds

When Princess Sofia of Sweden arrived at her royal wedding wearing a tiara made of diamonds and emeralds, jewel watchers gasped over the fact that the Bernadotte collection finally includes an emerald tiara once more. But although the Swedish royals lost their major emerald parure decades ago, the collection does still include a number of emerald pieces.

The Bernadotte jewel foundation holds an important demi-parure of emerald and diamond jewelry. The three-piece suite once belonged to the first Bernadotte king, Carl XIV Johan. It consists of a large necklace that was originally worn as a belt, plus two brooches. The larger brooch was originally a belt buckle. Above, Princess Sibylla wears the necklace and the larger brooch with the Connaught Diamond Tiara.

Here’s another view of Sibylla wearing pieces from the emerald demi-parure, this time at the annual Riksdag opening. She’s wearing the old traditional Swedish royal court dress.

Queen Silvia had the necklace of the demi-parure shortened; you can see that it’s visibly closer to the throat when worn in 2007 (with Queen Sofia’s Tiara and the Vasa Earrings).

Crown Princess Victoria has also worn the Bernadotte emeralds; in 2012, she paired the necklace and the smaller brooch with the Diamond Four-Button Tiara at the Nobel Prize banquet. (She’s also wearing the same small diamond earrings worn by Princess Sofia on her wedding day.)

Victoria actually wore the complete demi-parure on that occasion; above, you can see that she placed the larger brooch from the set in her hair.

Queen Silvia’s own personal collection of jewels also includes other modern emerald pieces. Above, she wears one of the sets, which includes earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet, in Sydney.

Here’s another look at the same necklace, worn this time in Luxembourg for Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa’s silver wedding anniversary.

Silvia has also worn this necklace with a longer pair of diamond and emerald earrings.

Those earrings may be part of a coordinated set with the above diamond and emerald necklace.

I think it’s a safe bet that, at some point in the not-so-distant future, we’ll be seeing Princess Sofia wear her wedding tiara with some of the pieces depicted above. As the tiara was a gift from her parents-in-law, perhaps Queen Silvia intends to one day give some of her modern emerald pieces to her new daughter-in-law as well?