birthday jewels – Page 14

Imperial Birthday Jewels in Tokyo

02.25.2020 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

screencapture

The Japanese imperial family gathered in Tokyo this weekend to celebrate the birthday of Emperor Naruhito. Here’s a look at the jewels they wore for a celebratory tea with foreign ambassadors.

screencapture

The ambassadors gathered to deliver formal birthday greetings to the emperor…

screencapture

…and Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako graciously received them. This is Naruhito’s first birthday as emperor; he turned 60 on Sunday. The public celebrations were scaled back a bit, due to the coronavirus threat, and the annual balcony appearance was canceled.

screencapture

For the event, Empress Masako wore pearl earrings with the lovely diamond and pearl brooch that she often wears with the tiara and necklace from the Pearl Sunburst Parure. (More on that set, plus a clearer look at the brooch, over here!)

screencapture

The Akishino family — Crown Prince Fumihito, Crown Princess Kiko, and their adult daughters — supported the imperial couple at the event.

screencapture

Kiko wore beautiful pearls with one of the most intriguing imperial brooches I’ve seen in quite a while. It looks like there’s a substantial sapphire drop suspended from that diamond design!

screencapture

Princess Mako wore simple pearls with an interesting geometric pearl and diamond brooch.

screencapture

We didn’t get a good look at the brooch worn by Princess Kako with her pearls, but it appears that there are definitely diamonds involved.

screencapture

Princess Tomohito of Mikasa wore a gorgeous four-stranded pearl choker necklace and a diamond and pearl floral brooch.

screencapture

Princess Akiko’s jewels were mostly hidden in the crowd, but we did get a look at her pearl drop earrings.

screencapture

Ditto Akiko’s sister, Princess Yoko — we mostly got a good look at her pearl earrings and the clasp of her single-stranded pearl necklace.

screencapture

One of my favorite imperial jewelry-wearers, Princess Takamado, nearly evaded the cameras altogether. That’s her in the center of the image, wearing the long champagne-colored gown and jacket, plus a matching hat.

screencapture

We did, however, get an excellent view of the jewels worn by her daughter, Princess Tsuguko. She’s one of the most inventive in the family when it comes to her jewelry, and there doesn’t appear to be a pearl anywhere here — just modern earrings, a coordinating choker necklace, and a leafy brooch.

Romantic Danish Royal Jewels

02.13.2020 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

SISSE STROYER/AFP via Getty Images

Since tomorrow is Valentine’s Day, I thought it was a perfect opportunity to highlight a rather romantic collection of royal jewels. The late Prince Henrik of Denmark loved to lavish inventive modern jewels on his wife, Queen Margrethe II. Here’s a look at some of the interesting pieces he gave her during their five decades of marriage.

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

In October 1966, when Margrethe accepted his proposal of marriage, Henrik (then Henri de Laborde de Monpezat) presented her with this incredible toi et moi engagement ring. The ring, made by Van Cleef and Arpels, features a pair of diamonds that reportedly weigh in at about six carats each. (!)

SISSE STROYER/AFP via Getty Images

For their silver wedding anniversary in 1992, Henrik gave Margrethe a suite of jewelry made of gold, pearls, and ruby beads. Made by one of the couple’s favorite jewelers, Torben Hardenberg, the set includes a pair of earrings and a necklace with a removable center section. Here, she wears the section as a brooch, plus the earrings, during the Icelandic state visit to Denmark in January 2017.

Embed from Getty Images

Here’s a look at Margrethe wearing the suite with the full necklace, worn in January 1998 during the 60th birthday celebrations for Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.

MJ Kim/Getty Images

For Margrethe’s own 60th birthday in 2000, Henrik gave her a striking brooch. The jewel has a mythological motif in its design, which includes an image of Diana, goddess of the hunt, and a deer. The piece is made of three large turquoises, gold, silver, and diamonds. Henrik bought the turquoises himself in Egypt, and he collaborated with Torben Hardenberg on the design. The brooch can be worn with or without its turquoise pendant section. Here, she wears the brooch for the Hans Christian Andersen Bicentenary Celebrations in April 2005.

Nigel Waldron/Getty Images

Ten years later, in 2010, Henrik offered her a pair of earrings to match the brooch. Also made by Torben Hardenberg, these turquoise earrings can be worn either as studs or with pendants of various lengths. Above, she wears the earrings with a single pendant, plus the brooch, for the celebration of the constitutional bicentenary in Norway in May 2014.

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP via Getty Images

In April 2015, Henrik added one final gift to round out Margrethe’s collection of modern gold and turquoise jewels. He presented her with a turquoise and gold necklace as a gift to celebrate her 75th birthday. Though it’s similar in design to the brooch and earrings, the necklace is not a Torben Hardenberg creation. However, like the other pieces, it does feature turquoises purchased by Henrik himself in Egypt. He wasn’t well enough to attend Margrethe’s birthday gala that year, but he made sure she had her present in time to wear it for the celebration at Fredensborg Palace. She paired the new necklace on that occasion with the brooch and the earrings with their long pendants.

The Cartier Pearl Drop Tiara

01.25.2020 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Earlier this week, Princess Caroline of Monaco celebrated her birthday. To mark the occasion, we’ve got a closer look at her favorite sparkler: the diamond and pearl tiara that belonged to her grandmother, the late Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois.

Princess Caroline wears the tiara in Luxembourg, October 2012 (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The intricate diamond, gold, and platinum tiara, which features large pearl drops suspended en tremblant from elaborate arches, was made by Cartier for Princess Charlotte of Monaco. It’s often said that the tiara was a wedding gift to the princess from her new husband, Count Pierre de Polignac. However, that’s not true. Although Charlotte and Pierre stuck it out long enough to have two children, Prince Rainier and Princess Antoinette, they divorced in 1933, years before the tiara was even made. Charlotte herself apparently ordered the tiara from Cartier in 1949, the same year that her son became the principality’s ruler.

Princess Charlotte stands beside her son, Prince Rainier III, during his enthronement ceremonies, April 1950 (CSU Archives/Everett Collection Historical/Alamy)

Charlotte really should have been the sovereign princess of Monaco in her own right. Although she was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II and an Algerian cabaret singer, Louis (who had no legitimate heirs) legally adopted her, which legitimized her and placed her directly in line to the Monegasque throne. But in 1944, when her son Rainier turned 21, Charlotte officially ceded her rights to the throne. When Louis II died five years later, it was Prince Rainier III who took over in Monaco, not his mother. (Instead, she got a college degree and then retired to an estate in France with her jewel-thief lover. I mean, who wouldn’t, right?)

Princess Charlotte wears the tiara at Prince Rainier and Princess Grace’s pre-wedding gala at the opera, 1956

Charlotte continued to wear the tiara throughout her life; she donned it during the celebrations for the wedding of her son, Prince Rainier, in 1956. Rainier’s wife, Grace Kelly, brought an incredible amount of glamour with her when she moved to the tiny principality, but she never wore her mother-in-law’s Cartier tiara in public. The only Grimaldi women who have been photographed in the tiara are Princess Charlotte and Princess Caroline, Charlotte’s granddaughter. Caroline has worn it for major white-tie events, and she even donned it for a series of Casiraghi family portraits taken shortly before the death of her husband, Stefano.

The pearl drop tiara is exhibited beside jewels from the collection of Princess Grace (including the Bains de Mer Tiara, the Diamond Festoon Necklace, and her diamond engagement ring) during the landmark Cartier exhibition in Canberra, 2018 (Photo generously shared by Javier)

Because she’s been the primary wearer of the piece for so many years, some have speculated that Caroline inherited the tiara from her grandmother. It seems more correct to say, however, that the piece is owned by the Grimaldis more generally, and that Caroline “borrows” it from the family’s collection. Catalogue notes from Cartier exhibitions have described the tiara as being owned by the “Palais Princier de Monaco collection,” suggesting that the Grimaldis have placed their jewels (and probably their art and other values) in a kind of family trust — but one that allows family members like Caroline to continue to use them. I really hope this is indeed the case. I am a major proponent of jewel foundations, especially those that allow various members of the family to borrow pieces from the collection, as they allow jewels to be seen and worn without the threat of sale that inevitably accompanies personal ownership.

Caroline wears the tiara in Luxembourg, October 2012 (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

The tiara was most recently worn by Caroline during the 2012 pre-wedding dinner for Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg. Since then, it has mostly often been seen as part of a traveling museum exhibition devoted Princess Grace. Confusingly, that exhibition describes the tiara as being one of Grace’s jewels, even though (to my knowledge) there are no photographs of her wearing it. But Cartier notes that after Charlotte ordered the tiara, it was worn by “several princesses of Monaco on various occasions,” so it’s possible that she wore it privately. Really, though, what I want to know is this: are we ever going to see the current Princess of Monaco take this gorgeous heirloom piece out for a spin?

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