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A Royal Romanov Souvenir: Queen Mary’s Faberge Amethyst Brooch

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Royal Collection

A few of our commenters have recently been chatting about a gorgeous amethyst brooch from Queen Mary’s collection, so I thought it was an especially appropriate time to fill in some of the piece’s backstory for everyone. Here’s the story of Queen Mary’s Fabergé Amethyst Brooch.

The Romanovs and the Windsors on board the Russian imperial yacht, August 1909

To begin, we’ll set our time machines to August 1909. The royal family is gathering on the Isle of Wight for Cowes Week, one of the most important sailing regatta events on the calendar, falling just after Glorious Goodwood. Since the 1820s, boats have been racing during the week-long event on the Solent, the strait that separates the Isle of Wight from England. The event began in part because of King George IV’s interest in yachting, and throughout the next century, it continued to be a popular social event attended by the royal family.
Cowes Week in 1909, though, was particularly special. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra had a special set of visitors that year: Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra of Russia, along with their five children. The Russian royals sailed into Spithead on Monday, August 2, aboard the imperial yacht, the Standart. The boat anchored near the British royal yacht, the Victoria and Albert, and the King and Queen sailed by barge to the Standart to greet their guests. Of course, the Russian imperial couple weren’t just foreign heads of state. Emperor Nicholas II was Queen Alexandra’s nephew (the son of her sister, Dagmar, who had become Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia), and Empress Alexandra was King Edward VII’s niece (the daughter of his late sister, Princess Alice, the Grand Duchess of Hesse).
The Isle of Wight County Press reported that the “two Monarchs embraced with much affection, and the King cordially saluted the Empress. Affectionate greetings were also exchanged between the Queen and the Emperor, and the Imperial children were presented and formed an interesting portion of a happy domestic picture.”
The Romanovs and the Windsors aboard the Russian imperial yacht, August 1909

The roster of royalty present on the Isle of Wight during the imperial visit is rather breathtaking, at least from a historical perspective. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra were accompanied by their daughter, Princess Victoria. The Prince and Princess of Wales (King George V and Queen Mary) were there with their eldest son, Prince Edward (King Edward VIII), and their daughter, Princess Mary (Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood). The King’s brother, the Duke of Connaught, was present with the Duchess and their three children, Prince Arthur, Princess Patricia, and Princess Margaret—who was now Crown Princess of Sweden, and was present with her husband, the Crown Prince (King Gustaf VI Adolf). The King’s sister, Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, was there with her Duke; so was another sister, Princess Henry of Battenberg, with her sons, Prince Alexander, Prince Leopold, and Prince Maurice. (Her daughter, Queen Ena of Spain, had been due to attend with King Alfonso XIII, but political matters kept them away.)
The royal list went on even further. Another of the king’s sisters, Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, was on the island with her daughter, Princess Helena Victoria. Prince and Princess Alexander of Teck (later Earl and Countess of Athlone) were there as well, as was Prince Louis of Battenberg (later Marquess of Milford Haven). And, to top it all off, the Russian tsarina wasn’t even the only empress in town. Empress Eugenie of France, who had been living in English exile for years, was there with her yacht, the Thistle, too.
Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden, with the Duchess of Connaught, greet the Russian grand duchesses, August 1909

The visit was full of racing and meals and family greetings, including luncheons and teas and banquets aboard the Victoria and Albert and the Standart. On Tuesday, which was King’s Cup day at the regatta, the newspapers reported that the boats sailed in “glorious conditions” on the Solent. The royals visited and ate and sailed aboard a pair of British royal yachts, the Britannia and the Alexandra, where Prime Minister Asquith also joined the party.
Meanwhile, the Princess of Wales (Queen Mary) spent the morning on the island at Osborne, accompanied by Princess Mary and all five of the imperial children. They frolicked on the beach, gathering seashells, and later went on a shopping expedition in Cowes, showing off their English and buying a whole collection of royal picture postcards. There, word slowly got out that the grand duchesses were in town. Crowds gathered, blocking the roads and even following the imperial children into shops. But, the local paper reported, the “children themselves had not apparently been in the least frightened by the excited and rather closely-pressing holiday crowd, and they behaved with complete self-possession, smiling when one or two enthusiasts raised a cheer for them; but some at least of their attendants were a little perturbed by the whole incident.”
The royals share a meal aboard the Russian imperial yacht, August 1909

On Wednesday, the day began with more racing, plus a special Te Deum service in the chapel of the Standart to mark the birthday of the Emperor’s mother (and Queen Alexandra’s sister), Empress Marie Feodorovna. That afternoon, the imperial couple went ashore on the island for the first time. The couple motored with the King and Queen to the naval college at Osborne, where they were proudly shown around by Prince Edward (King Edward VIII), who had spent time at the college before moving on to Dartmouth.
Next, the royals headed to Osborne House, the beloved home of the late Queen Victoria. While they toured both the state apartments and the private rooms, including the bedroom where Queen Victoria died, the royal children larked about on the grounds outside. The papers reported that “Princess Henry of Battenberg, Princess Victoria, and Princess Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein” accompanied the younger members of the party and found themselves “joining in the games” outdoors.
The families pose for a formal portrait outside Barton Manor, August 1909

The party then moved on to Barton Manor, a farmhouse near Osborne House that had been purchased as a guesthouse by Queen Victoria, and which had been modernized and extended by King Edward VII. They took tea at the house with the Prince and Princess of Wales, and posed for a series of famous photographs taken by Arthur William Debenham. I’ll give you a quick ID of the royals in the image above. Standing, from left to right, are: Prince Edward (King Edward VIII), Queen Alexandra, Princess Mary (Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood), Princess Victoria, Grand Duchess Olga, and Grand Duchess Tatiana. Seated in chairs, from left to right, are: the Princess of Wales (Queen Mary), Emperor Nicholas II, King Edward VII, Empress Alexandra, the Prince of Wales (King George V), and Grand Duchess Maria. Seated on the ground are Tsesarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Anastasia.
Prince Edward, Emperor Nicholas II, Tsesarevich Alexei, and the Prince of Wales, August 1909

During the photo session, Nicholas and George posed together in a famous photograph that’s often used to demonstrate the physical resemblance between the cousins. They also posed with their sons, Edward and Alexei—an attempt to show off a continuation of power between present and future, which in historical retrospect, is pretty fascinating and eyebrow-raising.
Royal Collection

The imperial family left Cowes on Thursday, August 5, after an impressive farewell luncheon. They left behind memories of a stellar family and diplomatic visit, as well as some physical souvenirs. The imperial couple had presented the Princess of Wales (Queen Mary) with a gorgeous brooch made of diamonds and amethysts set in silver. The incredible violet gemstone is placed in an open setting and suspended from a diamond-set ribbon. The piece, which is attributed to Fabergé, is also described as a “pendant jewel” by the Royal Collection, and indeed, you’ll be able to spot a bale fitting that would allow it to be worn as a pendant.
Sotheby’s

I’m particularly intrigued by the similarities between Queen Mary’s brooch and a diamond and amethyst necklace owned by her mother-in-law, Queen Alexandra. The necklace features hexagonal amethysts in a belle epoque setting; it was reportedly made for Alexandra around 1900. The necklace and the brooch, though they share similar design features, were never part of the same collection. The necklace was inherited by Queen Alexandra’s granddaughter, Princess Maud, Countess of Southesk, and later sold at auction. It comes up for sale again from time to time, including a recent 2007 auction at Sotheby’s in New York.
A young Mary of Teck wears other amethyst jewels from her collection

But, anyway, I digress. Mary’s own jewelry collection included other amethyst pieces, including the suite of amethyst jewels worn in the portrait above. This set, which you can read more about here, was also eventually sold.
Royal Collection

Intriguingly, I’ve never seen a photograph or portrait of Mary wearing the Fabergé Amethyst Brooch, either as a brooch or a pendant. (If you have seen one, please let me know where! It’s quite a tiny piece, measuring in at around 4×2.5 centimeters.) Sadly, the brooch turned out to be a souvenir of one of the last meetings between the Windsors and the Romanovs. Given what we now know about the futures of each royal house, perhaps the brooch reminded Mary a bit too much of the Russian side of the family?

Museum Week: The Leuchtenberg Faberge Tiara

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Wikimedia Commons

One of the things I’ve missed most over the past year is traveling to new cities and strolling through their local museums to look for jewelry treasures. I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling that way, so I thought it would be fun to devote several posts to some of the most glittering royal tiaras found in museums around the world—so we can all feel like we’re traveling again, right from our own homes. Today, we’re kicking things off with a sparkling tiara that has roots in France, Germany, and Russia, and now resides in Houston, Texas: the Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara.

FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

The small diamond sparkler features diamonds set in silver and gold, made of pointed arches from which large diamond drops are suspended. More large diamonds, mounted on knife-edge settings, rise between the arches, which rest on a base that features diamond leaves in its design. The delicate tiara was made by August Holmström, the Finnish-born head jeweler for Fabergé, around 1890. But while the entire jewel is certainly worthy of admiration, it’s the briolette-cut diamond drops which really make the piece important.
Napoleon and Alexander depicted at the time of the Treaty of Tilsit, ca. 1807 (Wikimedia Commons)

The diamond briolettes are a souvenir of an unusual and complicated royal friendship. At the start of the nineteenth century, a pair of emperors—Napoleon I of France and Alexander I of Russia—had a chaotic, changeable diplomatic relationship. The young Russian tsar couldn’t seem to decide whether he admired Napoleon or hated him. Alexander (who was a grandson and protégé of Catherine the Great) joined a coalition with Britain to fight against France in 1805, but then, two years later, he changed sides, forming an alliance with France and Prussia. 
It seemed as if Alexander and Napoleon might form a genuine friendship for a time, but then the friendly and diplomatic relationships between them cooled. Territorial disagreements, especially where Poland was concerned, were a major flashpoint. And then, after divorcing Empress Josephine in 1810, Napoleon asked Alexander for the hand of his younger sister, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlvona. Alexander declined. (Anna Pavlovna went on to become Queen of the Netherlands instead, and Napoleon married Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria.) The Franco-Russian alliance collapsed. Alexander’s forces defeated Napoleon’s troops during their attempted Russian invasion in 1812, and they joined the rest of the European coalition to defeat Napoleon again in 1814.
Hector Viger’s painting of Alexander meeting Josephine, Eugène, Hortense, and Hortense’s sons at Malmaison in 1814, painted in the 1860s (Wikimedia Commons)

Napoleon abdicated in April 1814 and was exiled to Elba. Meanwhile, Alexander (who had led Russian troops into Paris) decided to pay a call to Napoleon’s ex-wife. After the end of fighting, Josephine had returned to Malmaison, her chateau near Paris. Many of the political leaders who had been fighting in France, for various reasons, asked to see her after her former husband’s abdication. Alexander in particular was apparently curious to meet the woman who had so strongly captured Napoleon’s heart and imagination. 
Alexander visited Malmaison several times in the spring of 1814, meeting not only Josephine but also her children, Hortense and Eugène, and Hortense’s sons, Napoléon-Louis and Charles-Louis (who later became Napoleon III). The Hector Viger painting above, completed in the 1860s and currently part of the collection at Malmaison, imagines what one of these visits must have looked like. During one of his stops at the chateau, Alexander presented Josephine with a cache of briolette-cut diamonds—the same ones currently set in the Fabergé tiara. They’re a compelling legacy of the Russian emperor’s deep fascination with Napoleon and his extended family.
Portraits of Prince Maxmilian, 3rd Duke of Leuchtenberg, and his wife, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna of Russia (Wikimedia Commons)

Only days after hosting a grand dinner at Malmaison for Alexander and his relatives, during which she took a walk with Alexander in the gardens of the chateau, Josephine became ill and suddenly died. (Alexander had originally planned to attend her funeral in person, but he ended up sending a representative instead; he did, however, go in person to Hortense’s chateau at Saint‑Leu, where he conveyed his condolences to her and to her brother Eugène.)
It seems that the diamonds that Alexander gave to Josephine were inherited by her son, Prince Eugène. He had married Princess Augusta of Bavaria, the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria, in 1806. In 1817, three years after Josephine’s death, Eugène’s father-in-law granted him the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg. The title was later inherited by both his sons. The elder, Prince August, held the title of Duke of Leuchtenberg from Eugène’s death in 1824 until his own passing eleven years later. Next, the title was inherited by Eugène’s younger son, Prince Maximilian, who had been born just weeks after the Leuchtenberg title had been bestowed on the family.
With Maxmilian, the Leuchtenberg branch of the family found itself relocating, interestingly enough, to Russia. In 1839, Maximilian married Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaevna, the daughter of Tsar Alexander’s brother and successor, Tsar Nicholas I. The emperor had stipulated that, in order to marry Maria, Maximilian would have to relocate to Russia. He complied, bringing his German ducal title, as well as Josephine’s briolette diamonds, with him to St. Petersburg. In return, Tsar Nicholas upgraded him to the style of “Imperial Highness,” something that was necessary to make the marriage equal in the eyes of Romanov dynastic rules. With the marriage, Empress Josephine’s grandson had wed Tsar Alexander’s niece, bringing together the two imperial lines and reuniting the diamonds with the Romanovs.
Nicholas Maximilianovich, 4th Duke of Leuchtenberg (Wikimedia Commons)

Maximilian and Maria Nikolaevna had seven children together, six of whom survived to adulthood, before his death in 1852. The Leuchtenberg dukedom was inherited by Maximilian and Maria’s eldest son, Nicholas Maximilianovich. After serving with distinction in the Russian war against Turkey in the 1870s, he settled in France. Before the war, he had married a divorced woman, Nadezhda Sergeievna Annenkova, in a union that wasn’t approved by the emperor. This morganatic marriage produced a pair of sons, Nicholas and George. Though the relationship violated the house laws of the Romanovs, Nicholas’s cousin, Tsar Alexander III, issued a special edict in November 1890 that clarified the status of Nicholas’s sons. Alexander III established a new Russian creation of the Leuchtenberg dukedom (with the style serene highness) for Nicholas and George.
Wedding of Princess Anastasia of Montenegro and George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg, 1889 (Wikimedia Commons)

When Nicholas died of cancer in 1891, the Bavarian title of Duke of Leuchtenberg passed to his younger brother, Eugene, while the newer Russian Leuchtenberg title passed to his son, Nicholas. Like his elder brother, the new 5th Duke of Leuchtenberg had married morganatically. Eugene’s first wife, Daria, had died giving birth to their daughter; he had subsequently married Zinaida Skobeleva, who had a long and quite public affair with Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich, one of her husband’s cousins. (Even though everyone knew about the affair, Zina was made Countess de Beauharnais by Alexander II, and then raised to Duchess of Leuchtenberg by Alexander III.)
The 5th Duke’s morganatic marriages meant that, when he died in 1901, the title passed again to a younger brother. George Maximilianovich, 6th Duke of Leuchtenberg had also married twice, but both times with imperial approval. His first wife was Duchess Therese Petrovna of Oldenburg; after her death, he married Princess Anastasia of Montenegro. That marriage took place in 1889, amid much imperial celebration. I have often wondered whether the creation of the Fabergé tiara was tied to this particular Leuchtenberg wedding. (If so, it’s not necessarily a particularly good omen. Not only was the marriage a rather spectacular failure, Anastasia and her sister were the ones who introduced Rasputin to Empress Alexandra several years later.)
MEHDI FEDOUACH/AFP/Getty Images

Exactly which one of the 3rd Duke’s sons ended up with the diamond briolettes has never been clear to me, but we know that the diamonds (and the tiara they are set in) stayed in the Leuchtenberg family until World War I. By that time, the title belonged to Alexander Georgievich, 7th Duke of Leuchtenberg (son of the 6th Duke and his first wife, Duchess Therese), who, like the other surviving Romanovs, went into exile. At this point, many members of the family were selling pieces of jewelry to raise money to live on. The Leuchtenbergs, it seems, were no different. The 4th Duke’s son, George Nikolaevich, for example, sold a diamond riviere in Switzerland after the war.
King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians with the Duke of Brabant during World War I (Wikimedia Commons)

In the war’s wake, the tiny Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara was also sold—but to another Beauharnais descendant. King Albert I of the Belgians, who bought the tiara in Switzerland, was a great-grandson of Stéphanie de Beauharnais. She was a first cousin once removed of Alexandre de Beauharnais, the first husband of Empress Josephine (and father of Eugene and Hortense). Napoleon adopted Stéphanie and raised her to the status of a princess; she had subsequently married the Grand Duke of Baden. Albert was a grandson of Stéphanie’s second daughter, Princess Josephine of Baden.
FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Albert’s wife, Queen Elisabeth, was an enthusiastic and inventive jewelry-wearer, but sadly we don’t seem to have any surviving photographs of her wearing the tiny Leuchtenberg tiara. The piece was inherited by the couple’s second son, Prince Charles of Belgium. When he died in 1983 without issue, he bequeathed the tiara to his sister, Queen Marie José of Italy. She died in 2001, and six years later, her daughter, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, decided to sell the Leuchtenberg tiara at auction.
MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images

The sale of the tiara was handled by Christie’s in London. Their auction notes for the piece describe the tiara as “designed as a series of graduated old-cut diamond arches with knife edge collet spacers, the central pear-shaped diamond flanked by three briolette and one old-cut diamond, each with diamond collet and leaf surmount to the foliate band, on gold wire frame, mounted in silver and gold, circa 1890, 13.2 cm. wide, with Russian assay marks for gold. Maker’s mark for August Holmström on frame.” When the final bids were in on June 12, 2007, the tiara had far exceeded its auction estimate. Expected to sell for between 400,000 and 600,000 pounds, the tiara sold for an impressive £1,050,400.
Wikimedia Commons

We don’t always know who buys these grand royal jewels at auction, but in this case, we do. The tiara was purchased by a pair of American Fabergé collectors, Artie and Dorothy McFerrin. The McFerrins have amassed an amazing collection of Fabergé pieces, which they have generously decided to share with the public. Much of their collection is on display at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, with the tiara in pride of place beside two other Fabergé sparklers. Next time you’re in Houston, don’t forget to stop by to marvel at the tiny tiara—and the briolette diamonds that were part of a world-changing royal dynamic more than 200 years ago.
Have you been one of the lucky ones to see this tiara in person?

Royal Faberge Egg Heads for Auction

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Bruun Rasmussen

Fabergé lovers rejoice: a royal Easter egg pendant has resurfaced, and it will be sold at auction in June! Here are all the details on this unusual nautical egg.

Bruun Rasmussen

The egg pendant will be sold by Danish auction house Bruun Rasmussen. Their notes describe it as “a Russian Easter egg pendant with blue translucent enamel on guilloched ground, set with anchor formed 14k gold cagework.” The bauble was made in St. Petersburg at the end of the nineteenth century.

Bruun Rasmussen

The pendant was made by August Holmström, the Finnish-born craftsman who served as Fabergé’s head jeweler at the end of the nineteenth century. His son, daughter, and granddaughter were also talented jewelers who produced notable work for the firm.

MEHDI FEDOUACH/AFP/Getty Images

Holmström’s name may be familiar to you because he also crafted some other interesting royal jewels. He produced the Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara around 1890…

Christie’s

…and this spectacular star sapphire and diamond pendant brooch, made ca. 1900 for Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who is better known to us as Grand Duchess Vladimir.

Bruun Rasmussen

Here’s a closer look at the egg pendant, with its bright golden anchors and its luminous enamel and Guilloché work, which reminds me a little of fish scales or even tiny waves. There’s a strong emphasis here on the word “tiny,” as the entire pendant, including its loop, measures in at a petite 2.5 centimeters.

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

You can get a better sense of the scale of these pendants in this photo of Queen Sofia of Spain, who often wears a necklace full of egg pendants for Easter Sunday services in Palma de Mallorca. Many think at least some of her pendants could be Fabergé pieces.

Wikimedia Commons

The first known royal owner of the nautical egg pendant was, appropriately enough, a Romanov. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna was a granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I. In 1879, she married Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was a fascinating and sometimes scandalous royal woman, with an affinity for gambling and beautiful jewelry. Like many members of her family, she was also a major admirer of Fabergé.

Christie’s

In fact, Anastasia loved Fabergé so much that she helped engineer the creations of two magnificent tiaras from the firm at the start of the twentieth century. This diamond and aquamarine stunner was made by the jeweler as a wedding present for her new daughter-in-law, Princess Alexandra of Hanover, in 1904. Anastasia had encouraged her son, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV, to secure a Fabergé tiara to offer his new wife as her wedding present, and this piece was the result.

Sotheby’s

A year later, Anastasia was again involved in the creation of another sparkler. This diamond tiara was a wedding gift to Anastasia’s younger daughter, Cecilie, on her marriage to Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany in 1905. The piece was given to Cecilie by a group of her Russian imperial relatives, and correspondence about the tiara between the jewelry firm and Anastasia herself reportedly exists.

Wikimedia Commons

The nautical egg pendant ended up with Anastasia’s elder daughter, Alexandrine. In 1898, Alexandrine married the future King Christian IX of Denmark. When Anastasia gifted or bequeathed the pendant to Queen Alexandrine, the piece became a part of the Danish royal family’s collection.

Wikimedia Commons, Sean Gallup/Getty Images

From Queen Alexandrine, the pendant passed to her younger son, Hereditary Prince Knud. And then, from him, the pendant moved into the collection of his only daughter, Princess Elisabeth of Denmark. She inherited several pieces of grand jewelry from Anastasia and Alexandrine.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Along with the egg pendant, Elisabeth was also the proud owner of the diamond brooch that Anastasia received when she attended the coronation of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra in 1896. The new imperial couple commissioned brooches in the shape of the Russian imperial crown as gifts for each of the grand duchesses attending the festivities. Like the egg, the brooch is also the work of Fabergé. When Elisabeth died in 2018, she bequeathed the brooch to the Danish Royal Collection, to be housed at the Amalienborg Museum.

Bruun Rasmussen

The egg pendant is currently owned by a Danish private citizen, and Bruun Rasmussen will sell it in their auction of Russian items on June 10. It can be yours for an estimated 30,000-50,000 Danish krone (or about $4400-$7400 USD)! (See the whole auction catalogue here!)