The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Week in Royal Jewels: May 30-June 5

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May 30-June 5, 2014
Lots of glitter and pomp this week, with the opening of Parliament in Britain, an awards ceremony in Sweden, and an official visit in the Netherlands. Enjoy!

10. For a concert held on Sunday in honor of Prince Henrik of Denmark’s 80th birthday, Crown Princess Mary chose a modern pair of golden earrings.

9. At the same concert, Queen Margrethe wore a set of jewelry made of gold and pearls that appropriately was given to her by her husband. The necklace and earrings were a silver wedding gift from Henrik to Margrethe; they were created by Torben Hardenberg, who also made Margrethe’s modern turquoise jewelry.

8. On the heels of her husband’s surprise abdication, Queen Sofia of Spain wore layered necklaces and a pearl brooch on a visit to the United Nations in New York on Tuesday.

7. A number of royals attended the Bernadotte Art Awards in Stockholm on Monday, including two members of the former imperial family of Iran: Farah Pahlavi and her granddaughter, Princess Noor. The former empress wore pearls and large golden earrings, while her granddaughter chose earrings to coordinate with the gold trim on her dress.

6. Also at the Bernadotte Awards? Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, who paired dangling earrings and a bracelet with her gown.

5. One more from the awards in Sweden: Queen Silvia in modern gold jewelry (with earrings that appear to have a green stone set in the center) and Countess Marianne Bernadotte in pearls.

4. This week, the Dutch royals welcomed Prince Albert II of Monaco for the opening of an exhibition on the life of his mother, Grace Kelly. (Sadly, Princess Charlene had to cancel the trip because of her recently-announced pregnancy.) For a dinner at Het Loo Palace, Princess Beatrix wore sapphires and diamonds, including the Sapphire Necklace Tiara.

3. At the same official dinner, Queen Maxima wore jewels from the family’s emerald parure, which dates to the late nineteenth century and includes emeralds brought to the country by Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia a century earlier.

2. At the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday, the Duchess of Cornwall repeated the jewels she wore at last year’s opening: the Boucheron tiara from the Greville inheritance, her pearl necklace with the diamond clasp, and pearl earrings (plus the Royal Victorian Order and the Queen’s family order).

1. No other royal lady could compete this week with the glittering appearance of Queen Elizabeth II at the State Opening of Parliament, where she donned the Imperial State Crown to read her speech. On the way to and from the event, she wore George IV’s Diamond Diadem. The rest of her jewels included Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace, pearl earrings from Queen Victoria’s collection, a pearl bracelet and a pearl watch, and the Garter collar.

This Week in Royal Jewels: May 23-29

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May 23-29, 2014
Lots of sparkle this week, with Kate, Max, Stephanie, and Sonja showing off a bit of glitter. When you’re done enjoying the royal jewels worn this week, head over to The Royal Roundup for a rundown of the many major royal events taking place in June!


10. The Duchess of Cambridge — or, for the day, the Countess of Strathearn — spent the day with her husband in Scotland on Thursday. She debuted a new brooch for the occasion.

Royal reporters shared that the brooch, which features a Celtic knot design, was one of Kate’s wedding gifts, though the identity of the giver has been kept private.

9. The Dutch royal couple is on a visit to Germany, and on Tuesday, Queen Maxima once again demonstrated her innovative approach to the family’s jewel collection. All of the pink stones she wears are kunzites, but her brooch is a combination of two pieces of jewelry: the top is part of a set of diamond brooches, while the diamond and kunzite pendant can be worn suspended from either a brooch or a necklace. The upper portion of Max’s earrings were often worn by Queen Juliana. (As always, more on the Dutch royal jewels, especially these earrings, is available here.)

8. The kunzites weren’t Maxima’s only jewelry outing in Germany; she also wore diamonds and pearls to visit a research facility on Monday. The brooch she wears is an heirloom from the era of Queen Emma. The piece features a natural pearl surrounded by two circular rows of diamonds.

7. In Belgium, Queen Mathilde went for a color-coordinated look while attending a lunch for the judges of the Queen Elisabeth Voice Competition, pairing green pendant earrings with a bright green dress.

6. At the annual Grand Prix gala in Monaco, Princess Charlene debuted some new pieces of jewelry by Repossi (the same jewelers who made her engagement ring): a ruby ring and a rather enormous gold cuff bracelet. (More photos and information on the bracelet here.)

5. The closing mass of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg was held on Sunday, and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie brought out some lovely gold jewelry for the event. (Also, I agree with Sydney re: the hair!)

4. One more jewelry outing for Max this week — she really is one of our most bejeweled royal ladies these days, isn’t she? These golden pendant earrings, worn for an award ceremony on Saturday in Middelburg, are very typical of her style.

3. The garden parties at Buckingham Palace are in full swing, and on Wednesday, the Queen welcomed members of the Household Cavalry (including her grandson, Prince Harry) and their families to the palace. To honor them, she replaced her usual brooch with the badges of the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals.

2. The Scandinavian royals have continued commemorating the bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution. At the end of last week, the celebrations moved to Denmark, where a gala was held at the opera house in Copenhagen. For the occasion, Queen Sonja sported a brooch that dates back more than a century: it was one of Queen Maud’s wedding presents.

1. A bit of a surprise for our top jewelry story of the week, but let’s face it, who wore more bling than Prince Henrik of Denmark did in the official portrait to commemorate his 80th birthday? Among other things, he’s wearing the collar of the Order of the Elephant, the highest order of Danish chivalry. (There are also two other people in the painting, but they’re both Henrik, too. He’s being stalked a bit by his younger selves, apparently.)

This Week in Royal Jewels: May 16-22

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May 16-22, 2014
This week’s roundup of royal jewel news includes an anniversary gift, an heirloom brooch, and a set of regalia back from the grave…

10. Although the super-packed June schedule for the Windsors (Garter Day, Trooping the Colour, Ascot, D-Day Celebrations) is still a week or so away, Queen Elizabeth II has been busy with engagements already. For a visit to the HMS Lancaster in Portsmouth on Tuesday, she sported one of Queen Victoria’s bow brooches.

9. Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands has been visiting Sint Maarten in the Caribbean this week. While visiting the Royal Youth Parliament on Tuesday, she wore a lovely set of lapis lazuli jewels, plus a floral brooch.

8. Royals from Denmark and Sweden were on hand to help the Norwegian royal family celebrate the country’s constitutional anniversary this weekend. Once again, Queen Margrethe turned to her trusty modern turquoise set for the celebrations in Eidsvoll on Saturday. She also added a golden ornament to her hair.

7. We talked quite a bit here last week about the tenth wedding anniversary of the Danish crown princely couple; the pair also marked the anniversary with gifts. Mary received a new piece of jewelry from Frederik: a new bracelet, commissioned from Ragnar R. Jørgensen, that features silhouette portraits of their four children. The bracelet, which is made of gold and black enamel, resembles early nineteenth-century cameo jewelry (like the set owned today by the Bernadottes). Here’s the best image I could find so far.

6. She’s already something of a mini royal superstar, but Princess Estelle of Sweden didn’t carry out her first formal engagement until Saturday, when she opened the Fairytale Path in Mjolby, accompanied by her parents. Both Estelle and her mother chose simple jewelry: a gold necklace for Estelle and diamond stud earrings for Victoria.

5. Some royal jewels aren’t intended to be seen again by the public after a monarch is buried. That was surely the case for Emperor Henry VII of the Holy Roman Empire, who was laid to rest in 1315 in the Duomo in Pisa, Italy. Recently, the grave was exhumed, and a simple crown, plus an orb and scepter, were found with the emperor’s remains. Here’s more (in Italian).

4. Royal tours by members of the British royal family not named William, Kate, or George get comparatively little fanfare, but the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall have been in Canada this week, visiting a number of provinces and stirring up the occasional controversy. Not controversial to me, however, was Camilla’s choice of brooch for a visit to the Winnipeg Ballet on Wednesday: her gold Van Cleef & Arpels ballerina brooch, which is set with sapphires, diamonds, and rubies. (Psst: stay tuned for a bigger overview of Camilla’s tour jewelry this weekend!)

3. Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, president of the Red Cross of Luxembourg, honored the grand duchy’s blood donors on Sunday. She wore a striking set of blue and tortoiseshell costume jewelry, including earrings and a necklace. She’ll almost certainly be breaking out more jewels in the coming days, as the grand ducal family will be attending both Prince Gabriel’s first communion on Saturday and the Closing of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg on Sunday.

2. Once again, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands had an awfully sparkling week. My favorite of her glittering appearances was Thursday’s appearance at an anniversary symphony concert, where she wore blue jewels to contrast with her white gown.

1. We celebrated the wedding anniversary of the Prince and Princess of Asturias in style this week (looking at her bridal tiara and at the Mad Hattery that the guests sported!). The couple celebrated with a visit to Toledo to see an El Greco exhibition, where Letizia wore low-key jewelry. But earlier in the week, she sported a rather lovely pair of pendant earrings (that look to me to be set with diamonds and rubies) at a dinner honoring the business community in Seville. Love seeing Letizia wear a bit more bling!