The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Jewels in Motion: The Upcoming Bourbon-Parma Auction

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A model wears Maria Teresa of Savoy’s diamond girandole earrings and Marie Antoinette’s diamond and pearl pendant in London, 12 June 2018 (Michael Bowles/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)
This spring, we learned that Sotheby’s will offer an important collection of royal jewels from the Bourbon-Parma family at auction this November. Today, I’ve got a treat for you — a look at some of these historical pieces glittering in motion!

The suite of diamond jewels was made for Princess Louise, Duchess of Parma. The auction press notes claim that five of the diamonds set in the jewels belonged to Marie Antoinette (Louise was a niece of Marie Antoinette’s daughter, the Duchess of Angoulême). The suite includes three pieces: a necklace, a pair of earrings, and a floral brooch, and Sotheby’s estimates that it will fetch between $300,000-500,000 USD.
This nineteenth-century pair of diamond girandole earrings belonged to Princess Maria Teresa of Savoy, the Italian-born mother-in-law of Princess Louise, Duchess of Parma. They were inherited by Princess Louise’s son (and Princess Maria Teresa’s grandson), Prince Robert, Duke of Parma; Sotheby’s expects them to sell for between $150,000-250,000 USD.
This triple-stranded pearl necklace with an elaborate diamond clasp is advertised as having a connection to Marie Antoinette, but I’m hoping that Sotheby’s will provide more information clarifying that link. The press information currently available notes that the “fabulous” necklace is a “testament to the splendour and opulence of the French court,” noting that it features “331 natural pearls.” (The diamond clasp features a millegrain technique that was developed long after Marie Antoinette’s death.) Sotheby’s expects the piece to sell for between $200,000-300,000 USD.
Sotheby’s also states that this diamond and pearl pendant belonged to Marie Antoinette, calling it one of “the star lots of the collection.” They expect the pendant, which features a natural pearl, to fetch between $1-2 million USD.
This large diamond and ruby bow brooch was a gift from Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen to his daughter, Archduchess Maria Anna (the wife of Prince Elias, Duke of Parma). Sotheby’s expects this jewel to bring between $200,000-300,000 USD.
Multiple preview exhibitions are planned ahead of the November auction, including stops in Milan, Munich, Cologne, London, Hong Kong, and New York. The auction itself will take place in Geneva on November 12, 2018.
A model wears a necklace strung with natural pearls from the collection of Marie Antoinette in London, 12 June 2018 (Michael Bowles/Getty Images for Sotheby’s)
I’ve got much more on the sale, including more photographs and information about additional pieces, in my article on the initial sale announcement, which you can read here!

Jewels in Motion: The Fife Tiara

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© Historic Royal Palaces
The magnificent Fife Tiara, which has a new home at Kensington Palace, is impressive enough in photographs, but when you see it in motion, it really comes alive. Today, we’ve got some excellent views of the tiara’s movement, as well as the way that parts of the jewel are designed. Enjoy!

The tiara was a wedding gift to Princess Louise, Duchess of Fife, one of Queen Victoria’s granddaughters. Her grandson, the 3rd Duke of Fife, owned the tiara until his death in 2015. Last year, the family gave the tiara to the government in lieu of taxes, and it has been permanently allocated to Historic Royal Palaces. It is now on display at Kensington Palace with additional jewels on loan from the late 3rd Duke’s estate. (Read more on the exhibition over here!)
This moving image offers an idea of the incredible sparkle of the diamond tiara, which was worn by several generations of family brides
The largest, central diamonds in the tiara are removable pendants; here you can see what the tiara looks like with the pendants removed
The tiara features a series of pear-shaped diamond pendants in graduated sizes
The pendants are hung on the tiara frame, much as the emeralds and pearls are suspended from the frame of the Queen’s Vladimir Tiara
Here’s a view of the back of the tiara, showing the intricate metalwork in its design
The tiara was almost certainly designed by Oscar Massin, based on similarities to another tiara displayed in Paris in 1878, though I don’t believe we know who constructed the piece — Massin or another jeweler. (Many of Massin’s designs were apparently executed by other jewelry firms)
The movement of the pendant diamonds is especially apparent in these images. Can you imagine how much it would tremble and sparkle when worn by a person?

Photo generously shared by Marion. DO NOT REPRODUCE.

I’ve heard from many of you who have attended the exhibition so far, and one lovely reader, Marion, sent along some photos and thoughts about the display: “One can get up really close to the glass and the tiaras are only a few inches away. There weren’t many people today so one could hang around taking as many photos as one wanted. The reflections in the glass allowed people to take pictures of friends and family on the other side of the case and if they positioned themselves right, it looked like the reflected tiara was sitting on the person’s head! I was by myself, so I couldn’t indulge in that fantasy! You can probably see the reflection of other people to get the idea. The larger Fife tiara is astounding! Such big diamonds and they are constantly moving from the people just walking around shaking the case.” And, maybe my favorite detail of all: “There were nose prints on the glass!” Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Marion!

Jewels in Motion: The Norwegian Royal Wedding (1929)

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Crown Prince Olav of Norway and Princess Martha of Sweden marry in Oslo, 1929 (Wikimedia Commons)
89 years ago today, Norway celebrated the wedding of its future king, Crown Prince Olav. The bride was a Swedish princess, Martha, bringing together the new Norwegian royal family with its former royal dynasty. Today, we’ve got a look at the wedding in still photographs, plus moving images to help it come to life!

The wedding celebrations included multiple events, and newsreel footage from the festivities show the couple in various outfits and locations. Here, they wave to the crowd during a procession in daytime attire, part of Martha’s official arrival to Oslo.
Martha and Olav’s relationship was a love match, but it also had the added benefit of linking together two important strands of Norwegian royal history. Crown Prince Olav was the second generation of a new dynasty, which had been elected to reign over an independent Norway in 1905. Martha was a Bernadotte princess from Sweden; until the union between Norway and Sweden was dissolved in 1905, the Bernadottes had ruled over Norway, too.
The couple were also first cousins. Olav’s father, Haakon, was an elder brother of Martha’s mother, Princess Ingeborg; Haakon and Ingeborg’s parents were King Frederik VIII and Queen Lovisa of Denmark. Olav and Martha’s marriage, therefore, was a true union of the Scandinavian monarchies.
The people of Norway enthusiastically welcomed their new crown princess during the wedding festivities. A royal wedding was a novelty in Oslo; there hadn’t been one in Norway for 340 years. (The couple who married in Norway in 1589 probably isn’t one you might suspect: it was King James VI of Scotland and Princess Anne of Denmark! After a wedding by proxy in Denmark, Anne tried to sail to Scotland to meet up with her new royal husband, but various problems meant she couldn’t get any further than Norway. James hopped on a boat and went over to fetch his princess himself. They married in Oslo on November 23, 1589.)
Olav and Martha’s religious wedding ceremony at Oslo Cathedral went a bit more smoothly than James and Anne’s hurried wedding three centuries earlier. Footage from the wedding ceremony itself is a bit limited, but here’s a glimpse inside.
Afterward, the bride and groom hopped in a carriage for yet another royal procession. Oslo had plenty of royal wedding time to make up for, after all.
Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha on their wedding day, 1929 (Wikimedia Commons)
Here’s a look at what the couple wore on their wedding day. Note that Martha chose not to wear a tiara with her bridal veil. Instead, she’s wearing a wreath of orange blossoms and a traditional Swedish bridal crown made of myrtle. Martha did receive several pieces of jewelry as wedding presents, including the lovely Vasa Tiara.
Crown Prince Olav and Princess Martha marry in Oslo, 1929 (Wikimedia Commons)
Here’s a bit of fun: a very hi-res version of a photograph from inside the royal wedding. Clicking here should bring up a much larger version, where you’ll be able to pick out a few interesting details, including Crown Princess Louise of Sweden wearing Queen Sofia’s Tiara and Queen Maud of Norway wearing the Maltese Circlet.