The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Week in Royal Jewels: March 7-13

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March 7 – March 13, 2014
The Windsors dominated this week’s jewel news — with the exception of one very sparkly surprise from Denmark. Enjoy this week’s jewel news, now with more photos!


10. Queen Sofia of Spain chose pearls and a gold brooch for an “In Memoriam” tribute concert in Madrid on Wednesday.
9. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden celebrated her name day on Wednesday with a pair of modern silver earrings and an especially adorable guest: Princess Estelle.
8. On Wednesday, Queen Elizabeth II chose her ruby and gold floral brooch for a visit to the Royal Commonwealth Society. The brooch may have been one of her wedding gifts, possibly from the people of Monaco.
7. Crown Princess Mary of Denmark wore low-key jewels on Sunday during a visit to New York, where she attended a dinner hosted by the Consul General of Denmark.
6. The Duchess of Cornwall wore her four-strand pearl necklace, reportedly a Parker-Bowles family heirloom, at a service at Westminster Abbey honoring the late Sir David Frost. (Other royals and royals-adjacent also attended, including the Countess of Wessex, Princess Beatrice, Lady Sarah Chatto, Viscountess Linley, Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia, Pippa Middleton, and Sarah, Duchess of York, who ably channeled the Flying Nun for the occasion.) Camilla wore the same jewels at the Abbey earlier in the week for the Commonwealth Observance Service.
5. On a visit to Peru on Friday, Queen Maxima fancified a casual daytime look by adding a brooch from the Mellerio ruby parure.
4. Queen Mathilde of the Belgians was welcomed to Buckingham Palace by various members of the Windsor family on Thursday; she wore sparkling pearl and diamond earrings for the occasion.
3. At the Commonwealth Observance Service, the Queen wore one of her most frequently-sported brooches: the Frosted Sunflower, made for her in the 1970s by Garrard.
2. Continuing her celebration of Commonwealth Day, the Queen sparked a bit of a jewel mystery when she wore this unidentified brooch to a reception at Marlborough House.
1. And, last but not least: Princess Marie of Denmark finally debuted the Flora Danica Tiara this week! (At the same event, a government dinner, Queen Margrethe wore the floral aigrette, Crown Princess Mary wore her wedding tiara, and Princess Benedikte wore her floral birthday tiara.)

This Week in Royal Jewels: February 28-March 6

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February 28-March 6, 2014
10. At the launch of the Christ Church Cathedral Music Trust at St. James’s Palace, Queen Elizabeth II wore her Pearl Triangle Brooch, which features a yellow diamond alongside two rather large pearls.
9. She may normally eschew major jewelry, but the Princess of Asturias selected some delightfully sparkly hoop earrings and a coordinating bracelet for a tribute to Enrique V. Iglesias — the economist, not the singer! — in Madrid.
8. Crown Princess Victoria chose a suitably dramatic pair of earrings for a visit to the Opera Garnier in Paris on Thursday.
7. It has been long said that the Cartier Pearl Drop Tiara owned by the Monegasque princely family was given to Princess Charlotte (the grandmother of the current sovereign prince) by her new husband, Prince Pierre, as a wedding gift in 1920. Cartier recently confirmed, however, that the piece was actually made in 1949, nearly thirty years later.
6. The Swedish royal family has officially launched a YouTube channel; with the announcement, they also released a new formal portrait of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Crown Princess Victoria, who is wearing the large Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara.
5. Queen Elizabeth II chose one of her most frequently worn brooches, the Pearl Trefoil, for a visit to Reed’s School in Cobham on Thursday.
4. This week, members of the extended former royal family of Greece (including the Spanish royal branch of the family and Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia) have gathered in Athens to honor the memory of the late King Paul of the Hellenes, who died fifty years ago yesterday. At the premiere of a documentary about him, Queen Anne-Marie showed off a bit of national pride by wearing a small brooch featuring what appears to be the Greek flag.
3. The always-elegant Princess Marie-Chantal wore a statement necklace to the film premiere. (She’s also been posting some snaps of the family attending the events in Athens on her Instagram account.)
2. For the same event, Queen Sofia of Spain (the elder daughter of King Paul) sparkled in a number of multi-stranded necklaces.
1. At the mass at Tatoi on Thursday commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of King Paul’s death, Queen Sofia donned a sentimental piece of heirloom jewelry: a pearl necklace worn with a diamond and ruby pendant, which she inherited from her late mother, Queen Friederike of the Hellenes. She also wore a second necklace with a charm that appears to feature a portrait of her late father.

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: February 21-27

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February 21-27, 2014
As we wrap up February, here are the top jewel stories of the week!

10. The simple jewels that Queen Maxima wore to welcome home the Dutch Olympic team on Tuesday was overshadowed just a bit by all the hardware that the athletes brought back from Sochi. (Seriously, does everyone in the Netherlands skate that fast???)

9. During a visit to the Spanish National Ballet on Monday, Queen Sofia let her spangled jacket take center stage, pairing it with simple gold jewelry.
8. Royal photographers got a close-up view of Queen Mathilde’s bracelet and watch during a seminar on cyber-bullying on Thursday — wonderful to get to see even simple royal jewels so clearly!
7. Courtesy the Luxarazzi blog, here’s a rare look at a piece of jewelry that once belonged to the princely family of Liechtenstein: the ruby and diamond tiara of Archduchess Elisabeth of Austria.
6. The Bourbon-Parma branch of the Dutch royal family grew a bit this week, with the birth of Princess Zita, the first child of Prince Jaime and Princess Viktoria. As she is a descendant of Queen Juliana, I think we can expect to see this little princess (who was named after her father’s great-aunt, the last empress of Austria) wearing pieces from the family’s jewel foundation one day.
5. For a rather windy visit to Portsmouth on Wednesday, the Duchess of Cornwall wore her Nelson diamond brooch, which she generally dons at events related to the Royal Navy.
4. To welcome German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Buckingham Palace on Thursday, Queen Elizabeth II chose a diamond and pearl brooch from the collection of one of her own German ancestors: Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, the wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge (and grandmother of Queen Mary). The Queen inherited the Duchess of Cambridge’s brooch from Queen Mary in 1953.
3. Also on Thursday, the Queen wore her Cartier aquamarine clips for the presentation of the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Higher and Further Education. The clips were given to her by her parents in 1944 as an eighteenth birthday gift.
2. A poster at the Royal Jewels of the World Message Board has posted a complete inventory of the jewels that belonged to the late Princess Lilian of Sweden, including their assessed value. As you may expect, two pieces from the collection of Crown Princess Margareta — the diamond laurel wreath tiara and the scarab necklace — were among the most valuable.
1. And finally, this week the Swedish royal family welcomed a new member: Princess Leonore, the newborn daughter of Princess Madeleine. Some were surprised that the baby was given a title, but I, for one, am thrilled — Queen Estelle is going to need a buddy to help show off the Bernadotte jewel collection in a few years!

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.