The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

A New Year of Bejeweled Royal Events

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(Danny Martindale/Getty Images, ALASTAIR GRANT/AFP/Getty Images, Michael Campanella/Getty Images)
Happy 2017, everyone! I hope your new year is full of health, wealth, and happiness. Here’s a look at some of the events we’ll be covering here this year. Which jewels are you hoping to see this year?

JANUARY 2017
— New Year’s Levee #1 in Denmark, attended by Queen Margrethe II, Prince Henrik, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, Prince Joachim, and Princess Marie (Jan 1)
— New Year’s Levees #2 and #3 in Denmark, attended by Queen Margrethe II, Crown Prince Frederik, and Crown Princess Mary (Jan 3)
— New Year’s Levee #4 in Denmark, attended by Queen Margrethe II, Crown Prince Frederik, and Crown Princess Mary (Jan 4)
— State visit from the President of Iceland to Denmark (Jan 24-26)


FEBRUARY 2017
— King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands make a working visit to Germany (Feb 7-10)
— 80th Birthday of King Harald V of Norway (Feb 18)
— Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark visit the Middle East (Feb 28-Mar 3)

MARCH 2017
— State visit from the President of Argentina to the Netherlands
— Commonwealth Day in the UK (Mar 13)
— Rose Ball in Monaco (Mar 19)

APRIL 2017
— State visit from the President of Mexico to Norway
— Royal Maundy Service in the UK (Apr 13)
— Easter Sunday (Apr 16)
— 50th Birthday of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands (Apr 27)

MAY 2017
— State Opening of Parliament in the UK
— Constitution Day in Norway (May 17)

JUNE 2017
— Wedding of Ernst August of Hanover (Summer 2017)
— National Day in Sweden (Jun 6)
— 50th Wedding Anniversary of Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark (Jun 10; will be celebrated privately)
— Trooping the Colour (Jun 17)
— Garter Day (Jun 19)
— Royal Ascot (Jun 20-24)
— National Day in Luxembourg (Jun 23)

JULY 2017
— 80th Birthday of Queen Sonja of Norway (Jul 4)
— 40th Birthday of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden (Jul 14)
— 70th Birthday of the Duchess of Cornwall (Jul 17)
— National Day in Belgium (Jul 21)
— 65th Birthday of the King of Thailand (Jul 28)
— 50th Wedding Anniversary of Prince Hans-Adam II and Princess Marie of Liechtenstein (Jul 30)

AUGUST 2017
— 85th Birthday of Queen Sirikit of Thailand (Aug 12)
— National Day in Liechtenstein (Aug 15)
— 20th Anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales (Aug 31)

SEPTEMBER 2017
— 80th Birthday of Queen Paola of Belgium (Sep 11)
— Prinsjesdag in the Netherlands (Sep 19)

OCTOBER 2017
— National Day in Spain (Oct 12)
— 50th Birthday of Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein (Oct 28)

NOVEMBER 2017
— Remembrance Sunday in the UK (Nov 12)
— National Day in Monaco (Nov 19)
— 70th Wedding Anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the Duke of Edinburgh (Nov 20)

DECEMBER 2017
— Nobel Prize Ceremonies in Sweden and Norway (Dec 10)
— Nobel King’s Dinner in Stockholm (Dec 11)
— 25th Wedding Anniversary of the Princess Royal and Sir Timothy Laurence (Dec 12)
— Emperor’s Birthday in Japan (Dec 23)

PS: Today is also The Court Jeweller’s birthday! The blog was officially launched on New Year’s Day in 2014. Thank you all for reading for the past three years!

The Top Ten: The Best Royal Jewels of 2016

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We’ve chosen the ten best royal jewel moments of 2016 — here’s our complete list!

Which royal jewel moments were your favorite in 2016?

The Dutch Star Tiara

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Queen (then Princess) Maxima of the Netherlands wears the star tiara (Sion Touhig/Getty Images)

The year is 2002, and Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti is preparing to marry the heir to the Dutch throne. If you’re a royal bride, you can play the wedding tiara game a few ways: you can opt for a safe choice (like the Duchess of Cambridge), you can wear an heirloom tiara (like Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden), you can go for no tiara at all (never something I’d personally advise), or you can go big. Máxima, being Máxima, went for major sparkle.

(Michel Porro/Getty Images)

Máxima chose something of a frankentiara — a piece that features elements of two different items of jewelry mixed together to make a new tiara — for her wedding day. First, she selected the base of one of the Dutch royal family’s existing tiaras: the Pearl Button Tiara (worn above by Princess Margriet). There’s a debate about the actual age of the Pearl Button: some think that it was made in the twentieth century, while others argue that its base was a part of a coronet worn by Queen Sophie of the Netherlands, which would make it an earlier creation.

(OLAF KRAAK/AFP/Getty Images)

Rather than wearing the tiara with the pearl buttons (like Princess Margriet did at her wedding), Queen Máxima chose to wear it on her wedding day with five of the diamond stars that belonged to Queen Emma. Emma had been given two sets of diamond star brooches when she married King Willem III in 1879. One set has stars with ten points; the other has stars with twelve.

(Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Máxima chose the ten-pointed stars for her wedding tiara. On occasion, she also wears the twelve-pointed stars in other ways, including as pins on order sashes. Above, she wears the tiara at the wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark in 2004.

(JERRY LAMPEN/AFP/Getty Images)

Máxima wore the tiara frequently in the early years of her marriage, but in more recent years, she’s only worn it for one public outing: a dinner during the 2013 Israeli state visit.

So far, only three members of the Dutch royal family have worn the star version of this tiara: Máxima, Princess Beatrix (who wears it above at a diplomatic reception in 2015), and Princess Margriet. It’s not a tiara that every princess could pull off — you need an element of pizzazz about you to make the stars work. But it’s practically perfect for Máxima, who absolutely oozes joie de vivre.

Note: This is an updated version of an earlier post, with new text/images.