The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Week in Royal Jewels: January 31-February 6

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January 31-February 6, 2014
As the royals begin to start amping up their engagements following the holidays, here are ten of the sparkliest royal stories of the week!
10. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, who celebrated her birthday this week, wore a distinctive gold and pale pink pendant necklace to present awards to Danish scientists on Thursday in Copenhagen.
9. Queen Mathilde of the Belgians chose pearls and diamonds for the first day of an official visit to President Hollande in Paris.
8. At a concert held to give thanks for the years of service of Princess Beatrix to the Dutch people, Princess Carolina of Bourbon-Parma wore an impressive statement necklace; the event also served as an announcement of her pregnancy. (There’s a mini baby boom happening in the Dutch branch of the Bourbon-Parma family; Princess Viktoria, the wife of Prince Jaime, is also expecting.)
7. Shortly after stories circulated that Queen Elizabeth II had ordered the Duchess of Cambridge to wear more heirloom jewelry, the palace announced that the two will attend a reception for the dramatic arts at Buckingham Palace on February 17. Other members of the royal family (not yet announced) will also be in attendance.
6. There’s been some serious jewel detective work happening over at Luxarazzi. They’ve determined that nearly all of the pieces from the controversial cancelled auction of Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte’s jewels were sold anonymously in later auctions — some for only a few euros a piece. See their discussion of auctions from 2007, 2008, and 2009 for more.
5. Tiara lovers in New York City recently had the rare opportunity to see one of the diadems designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria in person. Her sapphire and diamond tiara was displayed at the annual Winter Antiques Show as a part of a special exhibit.
4. Queen Sofia chose a piece from her family’s archives — a pearl necklace with a diamond and cabochon ruby pendant — for a diplomatic reception in Madrid. She inherited the pendant from her mother, Queen Friederike of the Hellenes.
3. At a church service in King’s Lynn, Queen Elizabeth II debuted the diamond and tourmaline brooch presented to her last year by the Lieutenant Governor of Saskatchewan.
2. For the concert celebrating her mother-in-law, Queen Maxima wore for the first time the large sapphire and diamond bow brooch made for Queen Wilhelmina. See John’s excellent site about the Dutch royal jewels for much more information about the piece.
1. Shocking royal watchers all over the world, Tatiana Santo Domingo wore a diamond fringe tiara to marry Andrea Casiraghi, the elder son of Princess Caroline of Monaco, in a Catholic ceremony in Gstaad. You can read more about the diamond fringes worn by Grimaldi princesses here.

This Week in Royal Jewels: January 23-30

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January 23-30, 2014
It’s time again for our top ten royal jewel stories of the week!
10. Queen Sofia of Spain brought out her workhorse strand of multicolored pearls again this week, this time donning them to attend a performance of Tristan and Isolde at the Royal Theatre in Madrid.
9. Pearls were also the bauble of choice for the Duchess of Cornwall, who wore a pair of large pearl earrings for a visit to an Essex pub with Prince Charles.
8. The most fabulously bejeweled woman in the principality of Monaco, Princess Caroline, celebrated her 57th birthday on January 23. Here’s to many sparkling years to come!
7. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden (still on crutches following a minor skiing accident) wore a statement necklace during a visit to Dusseldorf with her husband, Prince Daniel; the two traveled to Germany to promote trade relations.
6. Delicate gold jewelry and a whopper of a cake hat were on the menu for Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands during a visit to the University of Utrecht.
5. A series of rare photographic prints that belonged to Queen Victoria will go on display at the Getty Center in Los Angeles on February 4th. If you’re in southern California, be sure to stop in and see some of the portraits that include Victorian-era royal jewels!
4. Another day of her official visit to Germany, another statement necklace for Crown Princess Victoria. This one, which features enormous dark stones, was worn in Hamburg.
3. Here’s hoping for some jewelry surprises coming up from the Duchess of Cambridge; it was announced this week that she’ll be attending a gala event for the National Portrait Gallery on February 11.
2. This weekend might provide us with one of the best opportunities for Grimaldi jewel-spotting for some time. It’s been widely reported that Andrea Casiraghi, elder son of Princess Caroline, will marry Tatiana Santo Domingo in a Catholic ceremony in Switzerland over the weekend. It’s been announced that Valentino designed Tatiana’s wedding gown — here’s hoping that she pairs it with bridal jewelry, too!

1. While many of the Windsors are on vacation, Princess Eugenie wore a silver Fabergé Treillage egg pendant while attending the jeweler’s Big Egg Hunt Cocktail Countdown party in New York. Let’s hope this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship between princess and jewelry house!

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Banner image: detail of The Marriage of George, Duke of York to Princess Mary of Teck (1894) by Laurits Tuxen. Image in the public domain; source here.

This Week in Royal Jewels: January 17-22

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January 17-22, 2014
This week, I’m doing the royal jewel news roundup in a new format. Here are my choices for the top ten pieces of jewel news of the past week!
10. To welcome the Colombian president and first lady to Zarzuela Palace, Queen Sofia doubled up on necklaces, wearing both a golden pendant necklace and a longer golden chain. 
Princess Ingrid Alexandra [2]
9. The future queen of Norway, Princess Ingrid Alexandra, celebrated her tenth birthday this week. The new official portraits released by the royal court show the young princess wearing some delicate, age-appropriate jewels (and posing with a truly impressive bouquet of golden balloons!).
8. At Sotheby’s in London, an objet d’art from the collection of the late Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg fetched more than 150,000 pounds at auction; a coral demi-parure that may also have belonged to her failed to sell.
7. The ladies over at Luxarazzi have also done some more detective work on the jewels of the Luxembourg collection; be sure to have a look at their research on an emerald bracelet that once belonged to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna!
6. Willem-Alexander and Máxima continued their introductory visits this week, traveling to Rome to meet with the Italian president. The queen wore jewels of gray pearls and diamonds for the event, including a striking brooch and a large bracelet. (And, of course, a hat that would make Peter Pan all kinds of envious.)
5. For a visit to King’s College Hospital, the Duchess of Cornwall donned a pair of clover brooches. She’s apparently a fan of paired brooches; she’s also been seen in a similar pair of turquoise flower brooches, as well as a pair of gorgeous pansy brooches.
4. Queen Elizabeth II satisfied the media by collecting flowers after church on Sunday; she also satisfied jewel watchers by wearing her Pearl Quatrefoil Brooch, which apparently arrived in her jewelry box some time in the 1980s. The monarch also celebrated another milestone this week: the birth of her fourth great-grandchild, Mia Grace Tindall.
3. For the second time in as many weeks, Queen Máxima wore a large diamond and aquamarine brooch, this time during a visit from French president Francois Hollande to the palace in The Hague. She wore the same brooch last week for a new year’s reception in Amsterdam.
2. Princess Beatrix chose diamond, amethyst, and pearl jewelry for a ballet gala in Amsterdam; the amethyst flower brooch is apparently a new piece for the former queen.
1. A rare blue diamond has been discovered in the same South African diamond mine that also yielded one of the most famous royal diamonds of all time: the Cullinan diamond. The blue diamond weighs nearly thirty carats — the Telegraph notes that it’s about the size of an acorn — and could be worth tens of millions of pounds. (It’s worth noting that the Telegraph article mistakenly states that the Cullinan was only cut into two stones, when nine major diamonds were yielded from the stone, along with numerous brilliants.)
NOTES, PHOTO SOURCES, AND LINKS

1. Banner image: detail of The Marriage of George, Duke of York to Princess Mary of Teck (1894) by Laurits Tuxen. Image in the public domain; source here.

2. Photo source: Sølve Sundsbø/the Norwegian Royal Court. Additional photographs are available here on the Norwegian royal family’s website.