Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World
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| The Diamond Vine Leaves Tiara (Photo: Guy Wolff/Grand-Ducal Court of Luxembourg via Getty Images) |
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| The Duchess of Cambridge wears the Diamond Maple Leaf Brooch (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images) |
This week, the Duchess of Cambridge has twice worn the Diamond Maple Leaf Brooch that belongs to the Queen, who loaned her the piece specifically for the Canadian royal tour. The brooch’s provenance has been fairly solid, but an article in this week’s Vancouver Sun offers a different take on its history.
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| Kate wears the brooch at the start of this week’s tour (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images) |
The Maple Leaf Brooch originally belonged to the late Queen Mother. In The Queen’s Diamonds, Hugh Roberts explains that the brooch was a gift from King George VI to his wife, Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother), in the spring of 1939. The occasion for the gift was an upcoming tour of Canada. The maple leaf is, of course, one of Canada’s most important national symbols. Elizabeth wore the brooch for the first time in May 1939 as they crossed the Atlantic.
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| Kate wears the brooch in 2011 (Photo: GEOFF ROBINS/AFP/Getty Images) |
The Vancouver Sun, however, has published an interview with Joe Hilsted, a Canadian jeweler who notes that his father, William Hilsted, was the maker of the piece. The Hilsted family was originally based in England, and William apparently worked for Shire and Olin, a smaller firm that reportedly constructed the piece, which was then sold at Asprey and Co.
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| The Queen Mother wears the brooch later in her life (Photo: STEFAN ROUSSEAU/AFP/Getty Images) |
Hilsted offers a rather strange alternative story behind the Queen Mother’s acquisition of the brooch. He states that the piece was originally “a double clip” owned by Mrs. George Weston, wife of a British businessman. According to Hilsted, the Queen Mum saw Mrs. Weston wearing the brooch at a garden party and admired it. And then, he says, “Mrs. Weston took it apart and gave half of it to her.” This was all, apparently, just before the 1939 tour of Canada.
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| The Queen wears the brooch (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images) |
I’m a little skeptical of this part of the origin story. For one thing, the Maple Leaf Brooch is a significant piece of jewelry, and if it were a double clip, it would be so large that I’d wonder if it would really be wearable as a double-clip brooch. (I’m also having trouble envisioning how a double-clip brooch mechanism would attach two similar “clips” together.) The story also seems like a twist on the old Queen Mary story about royals “admiring” objects and then expecting to be presented with them.
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| The Queen wears the brooch (Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images) |
There’s also the matter of two details from Roberts. He links the brooch (albeit speculatively) with a privy purse payment made to Asprey in April 1939. And then there’s the fact that the brooch is shaped like a maple leaf. It makes more sense to me that George VI selected the piece specifically to commemorate the Canadian tour. Why would a British businessman’s wife have Canadian-themed jewelry? Unless Mrs. Weston just happened, by coincidence, to be wearing a giant double clip featuring the symbol of a country where the king and queen were shortly due to visit…?
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| Claire Foy stars in Netflix’s upcoming The Crown (screencap) |
Yesterday, Netflix released another trailer for The Crown, their upcoming series about the life of Queen Elizabeth II. Starring Claire Foy as Elizabeth and Matt Smith as Prince Philip, the ten-part series premieres on Netflix on November 4. Let’s have another look at some of the jewelry included in this new preview, shall we?
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Scenes from Elizabeth and Philip’s wedding are included in this new trailer, with two separate looks at her jewels from the day. Above, as she’s arriving at Westminster Abbey, we see her wearing the production’s versions of Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara (which famously snapped during her pre-wedding preparations), the Queen Caroline and Queen Anne Pearl Necklaces, and the Duchess of Gloucester’s Pearl and Diamond Earrings.
For comparison’s sake: the Queen’s real jewels on her wedding day. Here’s the extensive post we did a few years ago on her wedding jewelry.
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| (screencap) |
And here’s one more look at the production’s version of the wedding jewels. General observation: it’s tough to make a fake tiara look real.
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We see Elizabeth in mourning (presumably for her father, King George VI), wearing her usual pearls-and-brooch combination. This doesn’t appear to be a facsimile of any of her real brooches, which I think is a smart move. (I also think it’s necessary, because I can’t recall seeing any photos that clearly show her brooch from the day.) Better to gently reference some of the jewels than to imitate them badly, perhaps?
Here’s the real Queen Elizabeth in mourning for her father at his funeral in February 1952.
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The new Queen tries on St. Edward’s Crown in this image. If it’s hard to make a faux tiara look real, it’s really hard, apparently, to make a fake crown look like a real one. The metal here is very plastic-y looking.
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| St. Edward’s Crown (Photo: JACK HILL/AFP/Getty Images) |
Here’s the real crown, pictured at a 2013 service at Westminster Abbey marking the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s coronation. The crown is one of the oldest pieces of the crown jewel collection, and it’s basically only used to crown the monarch. (It otherwise remains in the Tower of London.)
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Elizabeth wears the production’s versions of some very familiar jewels — the George IV Diadem, the City of London Fringe Necklace, and the Greville Chandelier Earrings — in the final image from the trailer. If the entire look feels familiar, actually, there’s a reason why…
The reference is clearly this portrait, taken in 1953. The production has replaced the brooch with Elizabeth’s family orders (those of George V and George VI).
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Here’s a look at Dame Eileen Atkins as Queen Mary, who strides so forcefully down this corridor that her earrings are blurry.
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| The Queen wears the Kensington Bow Brooch at her mother’s funeral in 2002 (Photo: TOBY MELVILLE/AFP/Getty Images) |
Dame Eileen’s version of Queen Mary is wearing a brooch that appears to share some features in common with the Kensington Bow Brooch, though it’s not an attempt at an exact copy.
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| (screencap) |
But here’s the biggest jewel puzzle of all from the new trailer: Princess Margaret (played by Vanessa Kirby) wearing a very, very familiar necklace…
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| The Queen wears Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace at the State Opening of Parliament in 2001 (Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images) |
Yep, you’re right — that’s Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace on Margaret. If you’re confused, you’re in good company: the necklace is an heirloom of the crown, which means it is worn by queens regnant and queens consort, not princesses. Maybe we should give The Crown the benefit of the doubt: perhaps there’s a storyline about Margaret sneaking pieces out of her sister’s jewelry box? I assumed that her anger in the trailer was about the Townsend affair, as it usually is in films about Margaret, but maybe she’s just being defensive about her obvious jewel theft???
Here’s a look at the trailer. What are your thoughts on the jewels?