The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

State Visit Jewels: The Queen Visits the UAE and Oman (2010)

by // Leave a Comment

Chris Jackson/Getty Images
One of the things I’ve been missing most of all lately is state visits — the pomp, the glamour, the banquets! Since this autumn won’t be bringing us our usual round of visits, let’s have a look back at some of the Queen’s most recent visits abroad. Today, we’re beginning with a look at the jewels she wore in the United Arab Emirates and Oman in November 2010.

WPA Pool – Arthur Edwards/Getty Images
The visit began in Abu Dhabi on November 24, 2010. The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh touched down at the Abu Dhabi International Airport and were greeted by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan as well as the British ambassador to the United Arab Emirates.
WPA Pool – Arthur Edwards/Getty Images
For her arrival in Abu Dhabi, the Queen wore a rarely-seen brooch, which features a pair of flowers set in bright yellow gold. The brooch has been seen so infrequently, and photographs so unusually, that it’s been difficult to nail down the piece’s provenance and design. However, it seems that she’s had the brooch since at least the 1960s.
MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP via Getty Images
Immediately after their arrival, the Queen and the Duke headed to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, where they paid their respects at Sheikh Zayed’s tomb before touring the mosque. For this event, the Queen followed the expected dress code, changing into a long coat and wrapping a scarf around her hat.
MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP via Getty Images
The coat from this ensemble features dazzling appliques, but this angle shows that the Queen also wore at least one piece of jewelry: her everyday pearls.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
On November 25, the Queen and the Duke participated in various engagements and audiences throughout Abu Dhabi. The Queen had a meeting with Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai. 
MARWAN NAAMANI/AFP via Getty Images
Later, he accompanied her to unveil the design of the Zayed National Museum, which has a partnership agreement with the British Museum. (Ten years later, the museum is still under construction, presently slated to open in 2021.)
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
For these daytime meetings and engagements, the Queen chose a brooch that she’s been wearing since 1947: the Flame Lily Brooch.
John Stillwell – Pool/Getty Images
The Queen and the Duke changed into formal attire for a meeting with Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, at the Mushrif Palace.
John Stillwell – Pool/Getty Images
The Queen wore diamonds for the occasion, including diamond girandole earrings and a diamond riviere. She secured the sash of the Order of the Garter with Queen Mary’s Diamond Bar Brooch. The collar of the Order of Zayed, which she received during this visit, is placed over the Garter sash.
John Stillwell – Pool/Getty Images
She also wore her diamond evening watch and the Diamond Baguette and Brilliant Bracelet. The bracelet, which features a distinctive twist in its design, was a gift to the then-Princess Elizabeth from her father, King George VI, in 1949.
AFP via Getty Images
After wrapping up engagements in Abu Dhabi, the Queen and the Duke flew on to Oman, arriving at the airport in Muscat on the evening of November 25. There they were greeted by the late Sultan of Oman, Qaboos bin Said, who died earlier this year after a reign of nearly fifty years.
AFP via Getty Images
For her arrival in Muscat, the Queen wore the sapphire and diamond cluster portion of Empress Marie Feodorovna’s Sapphire Brooch without its pearl pendant.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
On November 26, the royal couple began a busy schedule of engagements in Oman, meeting with local dignitaries and taking an official salute at Al-Alam Palace.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
The Queen chose pink for her outfit and accessories for this part of the visit. Her brooch is the diamond and pink gemstone cluster that belonged to her grandmother, Queen Mary.
John Stillwell – Pool/Getty Images
That evening, the Queen and the Duke were feted by the Sultan with a state banquet at Al Alam Palace. They exchanged official gifts beforehand; in the image above, the Sultan shows them the Faberge-style egg he offered them as a gift.
John Stillwell – Pool/Getty Images
The Queen wore diamonds and rubies for the state banquet — but no tiara. She wore the necklace and earrings from the Crown Ruby Suite, as well as one of her newer brooches, which features six diamond flowers with bright yellow centers. The Queen began wearing the brooch in 2009.
John Stillwell – Pool/Getty Images
She also wore her lovely and distinctive Art Deco-style ruby and diamond bracelet, which has been in her collection since at least the 1960s. (The golden vase in the photo was another official gift from the Sultan.)
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
On November 27, the Queen and the Duke attended a garden party reception at the home of the British ambassador to Oman.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
For the garden party, the Queen chose heirloom jewels with a natural theme: Queen Victoria’s Diamond Wheat Ear Brooches. The Queen also sometimes wears these as hair ornaments; Princess Eugenie also borrowed them to wear in her hair for her wedding reception in 2018.
MOHAMMED MAHJOUB/AFP via Getty Images
In the afternoon, the Queen and the Duke joined the Sultan for an equestrian show at Madinat al-Hidayat, which included demonstrations by the Omani Royal Cavalry. After the show, she offered the Sultan an important gift: she invested him with the Royal Victorian Chain.
MOHAMMED MAHJOUB/AFP via Getty Images
For the horse show, the Queen chose one of her longtime favorite jewels: the Golden Dahlia Brooch.
John Stillwell – WPA Pool/Getty Images
On November 28, the Queen and the Duke’s Middle Eastern visit came to an end. They said their farewells to the Sultan at the airport in Muscat before flying back to London.
John Stillwell – WPA Pool/Getty Images
For the official farewell, the Queen chose an important royal jewel: the Cullinan V Brooch. And then, it was back to London, where important royal things were happening — Prince William had announced his engagement to Kate Middleton on November 16, and there was a royal wedding to plan!

The Cambridge Sapphires

by // Leave a Comment

Queen Mary wears the Cambridge Sapphires (Wikimedia Commons)

Queen Mary’s jewelry collection included several complete parures featuring colorful gemstones. Today, we’re talking about the history of one of those sets — the Cambridge Sapphires — as well as their current royal status today.

Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, ca. 1830s (Wikimedia Commons)

The suite of sapphire and diamond jewelry takes its name from its first owner: Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, who became the Duchess of Cambridge when she married King George III’s seventh son, Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, in 1818. The Cambridges married as part of the race to produce an heir to the British throne after the untimely death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in 1817. Though they didn’t win that particular race — the Duke of Kent did, fathering the future Queen Victoria — the Cambridges did have three children: Prince George (who later succeeded his father as Duke of Cambridge), Princess Augusta, and Princess Mary Adelaide.
The Cambridges were important members of the royal family through the reigns of Adolphus’s brothers, King George IV and King William IV, and his niece, Queen Victoria. As an active member of the royal court, the Duchess of Cambridge needed plenty of glittering jewels. Her jewelry collection included not only the Cambridge Sapphires (including a tiara, brooches, necklace, and bracelets) but also the original Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara (which was later copied by Queen Mary). In May 1835, for example, the Morning Post reported that the Duchess of Cambridge wore her sapphires to a court function at St. James’s Palace: “Dress of white satin, richly embroidered in gold; the body and sleeves splendidly ornamented with sapphires and diamonds; train of white satin, with a handsome gold border, and lined with gros de Naples. (The whole of British manufacture.) Head-dress, feathers, sapphires, and diamonds.”
Miniature portrait of Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz wearing the Cambridge Sapphire Tiara by Hermann von Hanstein, ca. 1861 (Royal Collection/Wikimedia Commons)

In June 1843, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s elder daughter, Princess Augusta, married her first cousin, Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. To mark the occasion, the Duchess gave her daughter the family sapphires. Augusta wore them at Buckingham Palace on her wedding day. The Evening Standard reported: “The Princess wore on her head a wreath composed of orange flowers and myrtle, and a tiara of sapphires and diamonds,” adding that she also “wore a necklace of brilliants” and a “stomacher … of sapphires and diamonds, and ear-rings en suite.” Nearly two decades later, Grand Duchess Augusta posed for a miniature portrait, done by the German painter Hermann von Hanstein, wearing the sapphire and diamond tiara. That portrait now belongs to the Royal Collection.
Queen Mary wears the Cambridge Sapphires in a portrait, ca. 1920s (Bain News Service/Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons)

Grand Duchess Augusta kept the Cambridge Sapphires throughout her lifetime. When she died in December 1916, she decided to pass them on to her beloved niece, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom. (The jewel that Mary had truly admired from Grand Duchess Augusta’s collection was the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara; she had previously commissioned her own copy of the tiara, which is now worn by the current Duchess of Cambridge.) Queen Mary posed in the sapphire parure for a fantastic photographic portrait in the 1920s.
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent wears the Cambridge Sapphires in a portrait, ca. 1930s (Wikimedia Commons)

But Queen Mary didn’t keep the sapphires in her own jewelry box for long. When her fourth son, Prince George, Duke of Kent, married Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark in November 1934, Queen Mary offered the sapphires to Marina as a wedding present. Contemporary newspaper reports marveled at the gift, with one reporter enthusing, “Of regal splendour is a diamond and sapphire set which is the gift of Queen Mary to the bride. It consists of a tiara, a necklace, two bracelets, ear-rings, and three brooches in these lovely gems.” The new Duchess of Kent wore her sapphires early and often, posing for a portrait wearing the jewels shortly after her wedding. Like her mother-in-law before her, Marina liked to play around with the configuration of the set, wearing the necklace in both short and long settings, and adding supplementary elements to the sides of the tiara.
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent wears the sapphires, 1956 (screencapture)

Though the Duke of Kent died in an air crash during World War II, Princess Marina remained an active working member of the royal family during her widowhood. For decades, the sapphires were among the jewels she wore regularly for state functions at home and abroad. In the image above, Marina wears the sapphires for a dinner honoring the army in the Great Hall of the Royal Hospital Chelsea in 1956.
Princess Alexandra, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, April 1960

She also wore the sapphires during a pair of state visits in 1960. In April 1960, she wore the suite at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden during a state visit from President de Gaulle of France. (Beside her is Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, wearing the Teck Turquoises.)
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent wears the Cambridge Sapphires during the French state visit, April 1960

Here’s a close-up of Marina wearing the sapphires in newsreel footage from that glittering occasion.
Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent wears the sapphires during the Nepalese state visit, October 1960

And in October 1960, she wore the sapphires at Covent Garden again during a state visit from King Mahendra and Queen Ratna of Nepal.
Embed from Getty Images
Marina also sometimes wore the set without the tiara, as you can see in this image, taken at Grosvenor House in London in April 1961. This color photograph shows the light blue hue of the sapphires quite nicely.
Embed from Getty Images
But more often, we saw Princess Marina wearing the sapphires as part of her full gala glamour, as in this photograph, taken before the Liberian state banquet at Buckingham Palace in July 1962.
Princess Marina wears the sapphires for a pre-wedding ball in honor of her daughter, Princess Alexandra, April 1963 (Keystone/Getty Images)

Princess Marina also wore the sapphires for a ball held the night before the wedding of her daughter, Princess Alexandra, in April 1963. This side view from her arrival at the event shows how she’s used an extra piece to lengthen the side of the tiara.
The Duchess of Kent wears the Cambridge Sapphires during the Japanese state visit of October 1971 (PA Images/Alamy)

When Princess Marina died in 1968, the sapphires were passed on to her son and daughter-in-law, the current Duke and Duchess of Kent. Katharine wore the set occasionally during her time as a working royal. Above, she wears the suite for a state banquet in honor of the Emperor and Empress of Japan in October 1971.
Embed from Getty Images
But at some point, the Kents decided to sell the original tiara from the parure. In its place, they had a new button-style tiara constructed using diamond and sapphire clusters from other parts of the set. Above, the Duchess of Kent wears the new tiara for a banquet at the Guildhall during a state visit from the Emir of Bahrain in April 1984.
Embed from Getty Images
Here’s another look at the new sapphire tiara from the same occasion. It’s been a very long time since we’ve seen the Cambridge Sapphires in public. The Duchess of Kent retired from life as a working royal around twenty years ago, and the sapphires haven’t been seen since on her or any other members of the family. Here’s hoping these historic gems are still waiting in a safe for another Kent to take them out for a spin.

A Flower Basket Brooch Mystery!

by // Leave a Comment

The Queen wears the Flower Basket Brooch (Rebecca Naden – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

If you’re like me — and if you’re here, you probably are! — there are few things you love more than new and exciting provenance information about a piece of royal jewelry. So I’ve got a big treat for you today: a new jewelry mystery, this time about one of the Queen’s most sentimental jewels, the Flower Basket Brooch.

The Flower Basket Brooch (DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Much of the provenance information we have had up to now about the Flower Basket Brooch comes from Leslie Field’s The Queen’s Jewels. In her book, Field describes the brooch as “naturalistic” in design, with a “simple garden-basket shape and spray of ruby, diamond and sapphire flowers.”

The Queen wears the Flower Basket Brooch in Prince Charles’s first official photograph, 1948 (Wikimedia Commons)

Field also writes that the Flower Basket Brooch “was given to the Queen in November 1948 by her parents to mark the birth of Prince Charles,” adding that “she wore it a month later for his first official photograph.” That image is the portrait above, with the brooch clearly visible.

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth, and Princess Margaret arrive at Waterloo Station, May 1939

But I received an email recently from one of our lovely readers, Aquamarine, that casts doubt on that provenance — or at least on the accepted timeline. While watching a new television documentary about the Windsors, she noticed something odd in newsreel footage included in one episode. I tracked down the footage, and she’s right: there’s something unusual here. The film documents the departure of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their official tour of Canada on May 6, 1939. It shows the royal couple traveling in a carriage with their daughters, thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth and eight-year-old Princess Margaret, from Buckingham Palace to Waterloo Station.

Princess Elizabeth wears the Flower Basket Brooch at Waterloo Station, May 1939

As the King and Queen prepare to board a train that will take them to Portsmouth, the camera shows various members of the royal family saying their farewells. And when the camera rests on Princess Elizabeth, we can see something unexpected pinned to her jacket: the Flower Basket Brooch.

Princess Elizabeth wears the Flower Basket Brooch at Waterloo Station, May 1939

Here’s a still image taken from the footage. The shape of the brooch is distinctive, especially the looping handle at the top of the diamond basket. All of this, then, raises one serious question: if Elizabeth didn’t receive the brooch until November 1948, why was she wearing it in public in May 1939, almost a full decade earlier?

Princess Elizabeth wears the Flower Basket Brooch at Waterloo Station, May 1939

There are, of course, various possibilities. The brooch could have originally belonged to the Queen Mother, who loaned it to her daughter for this 1939 occasion, and then gave it to her outright in 1948. Another possible answer is that Field is simply wrong about the date/celebration, and Elizabeth received the brooch at some point before May 1939. (The intrepid Aquamarine suggested the possibility of a thirteenth-birthday present, in April 1939, in our correspondence.) I’m not yet aware of other photographs of the Queen wearing the brooch between 1939 and 1948 — but, as World War II broke out only a few months after these images were captured, it’s perhaps not surprising that she wouldn’t have had many opportunities to wear it in public anyway during part of that period.

The Queen wears the brooch for her Christmas Message in December 2013 (JOHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty Images)

One thing is for certain: the brooch remains an important and sentimental piece to the Queen, regardless of its provenance or origin. But it’s fascinating to learn that the previously-established history of the brooch may be at least partly incorrect. I’m so grateful to Aquamarine for sharing her discovery with all of us! Don’t you just love a royal jewel mystery?!?