The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Fortnight in Royal Jewels: March 2-15

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March 2-15, 2018
Time for a supersized look at the best of the royal jewels worn over the last two weeks! Don’t forget to vote for your favorites in the poll below…
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20. Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies wore a major star brooch for the International Women’s Day United Nations Awards Luncheon in New York on March 8.

FREDRIK SANDBERG/AFP/Getty Images
19. For a Te Deum service on March 12 in honor of her newest grandchild, Princess Adrienne, Queen Silvia of Sweden wore pearls with her modern rock crystal brooch. (More over here!)
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18. For her first official engagement after the death of Prince Henrik, a military parade at the Rosenborg Barracks on March 14, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark wore mixed-metal jewels, including earrings featuring comedy and tragedy masks.
SHIZUO KAMBAYASHI/AFP/Getty Images
17. The Princess Akishino wore pearls and a lovely leaf brooch for the seventh national memorial service for victims of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster in Tokyo on March 11.
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16. Golden jewels, including a large maple leaf brooch, were the choice of Queen Mathilde of the Belgians on March 12 during the state visit to Canada.
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15. For the Ireland v Scotland Six Nations championship rugby match in Dublin on March 10, the Princess Royal wore a lovely brooch decorated with a thistle, one of Scotland’s national symbols.
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14. The Duchess of Cambridge debuted a new floral brooch at the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey on March 12. (More over here!)
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13. Princess Lalla Joumala Alaoui, cousin of the King of Morocco and the current Moroccan ambassador to the United States, wore lovely golden pearls in New York on March 8 for the International Women’s Day United Nations Awards Luncheon.
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12. Pearl drop earrings were Infanta Elena of Spain’s accessory of choice on March 7 for the San Isidro 2018 Bullfights Fair presentation in Madrid.
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11. On March 6, Queen Sofia of Spain wore a beautiful multicolored pearl station necklace for a Concert Tribute for Victims of Terrorism at the National Auditorium in Madrid.
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10. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom chose her gold and diamond trellis brooch for audiences at Buckingham Palace on March 15.
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9. The Women of Hampshire Brooch accompanied Queen Elizabeth II for a private meeting with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia at Buckingham Palace on March 7.
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8. Queen Elizabeth II paid tribute to Australia, wearing her mother’s Australian Hibiscus Brooch for the annual Commonwealth Day Service on March 12. (More over here!)
PATRICK VAN KATWIJK/AFP/Getty Images
7. For a film premiere in Amsterdam on March 5, Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands wore gorgeous pieces from her collection of diamond and sapphire jewels.
PATRICK VAN KATWIJK/AFP/Getty Images
6. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands wore diamond and gray pearl jewels on March 15 for the opening of a new expertise centre for endometriosis in The Hague.
PATRICK VAN KATWIJK/AFP/Getty Images
5. Queen Maxima wore diamond jewels, including one of the family’s elaborate bow brooches, for the opening of the World Horti Center on March 7.
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4. The Duchess of Cornwall wore a gorgeous heirloom ribbon brooch on March 13 for the Commonwealth Big Lunch event in Walthamstow; she’s been wearing this brooch since the weeks right after her wedding in 2005.
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3. Camilla wore her gorgeous pear-shaped diamond suite for the private celebrations of the Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubilee at Windsor Castle on March 8. (More over here!)

2. Queen Mathilde wore the Brabant Laurel Wreath Tiara with Queen Fabiola’s diamond and pearl drop earrings for the gala dinner in Canada on March 13.
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1. My top vote of the week goes to the diamonds donned by Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the Aga Khan’s Diamond Jubilee, including the stunning King Khalid Necklace. (More over here!)

The Antique Pearl Tiara

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The glamorous Queen Maxima of the Netherlands has sported an array of tiaras from the Dutch royal family’s vast jewel collection, but back in 2001, she selected her very first tiara from the family’s stash: the base of the Antique Pearl Tiara.

Anna Pavlovna wears her pearl tiara in an 1849 portrait (Grand Ladies Site)

The tiara, which is owned by the Dutch royal family, is sometimes called the Pavlovnik pearl tiara — that’s because Anna Pavlovna, the queen consort of Willem II of the Netherlands, once had a tiara quite a lot like it. Exactly what happened to that older tiara is unclear. (Anna Pavlovna’s pearl tiara is the one worn in the portrait above.)

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The current Antique Pearl Tiara, which was made in 1900, was designed to mimic the shape of the original Pavlovnik tiara. The large, pear-shaped pearls that sit upright in the tiara are even older than the piece itself. They belonged to Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, a seventeenth-century Dutch princess who shares her name with Maxima’s eldest daughter, Catharina-Amalia, the current Princess of Orange.

Princess Irene wears the tiara in 2013 (ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images)

Queen Wilhelmina was the first wearer of this pearl tiara, and it has been worn by all Dutch queens since then. Queen Juliana inherited the piece from her mother in 1962. She placed the tiara in the family’s jewel foundation, ensuring that all future queens of the Netherlands will also be able to wear it. Since then, Princess Beatrix and two of her sisters, Princess Margriet and Princess Irene, have also donned the tiara.

Anthony Harvey/Getty Images

Although the tiara is almost always worn with Amalia’s pearls, Queen Maxima first wore the tiara without them. Her very first tiara outing happened before she was even a princess: she wore the pearl tiara (sans pearls) to the wedding of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway in 2001. She also wore the base of the tiara solo during a 2003 visit from the Italian president. The base of the tiara has also been worn without its pearls by Princess Viktoria, the wife of the king’s cousin, Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma.

Today, Maxima wears the complete piece; notably, she chose it for the striking portrait released to mark her fortieth birthday in 2011, and she’s continued to wear it since becoming the nation’s queen consort in 2013.

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