The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

The Countess of Wessex’s Aquamarine Art Deco Brooch

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JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

The Countess of Wessex has made several appearances on the site already this month, which should come as no surprise — the woman loves an aquamarine! Today, we’ve got a closer look at one of her most beautiful aquamarine jewels, her Art Deco-style brooch.

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Sophie debuted the brooch almost a decade ago, wearing it for the wedding of Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco in July 2011.

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The brooch’s design is typical of Art Deco styles, including lots of facets and edges. That design also makes it tough to find an excellent close-up of the piece, as light tends to bounce and reflect off the piece. This shot from 2013 shows the deep blue-green color of the aquamarine nicely, as well as the diamond and enamel borders that surround it.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse

Here’s a slightly closer view, which gives you a good look at the borders surrounding the brooch. You’ll note that the outermost border is deep blue, while the innermost appears to be a rich green. I believe the blue and green sections are made of enamel, based on the Art Deco design of the piece.

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The greens and blues of the brooch pop nicely in this photograph, taken at an angle; it also shows the dimensionality of the piece.

Eamonn McCormack/Getty Images

The brooch has become one of Sophie’s go-to jewels for Royal Ascot. She wears the brooch here in June 2012…

Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images

…on a darker blue ensemble in June 2013…

Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse

…on pale ice blue in June 2014…

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

…and here in June 2016. On this occasion, she also wore another aquamarine jewel, her lovely aquamarine ring.

Queen Louise’s Diamond Tiara

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Princess Margaretha wears Queen Louise’s Diamond Tiara, May 1957 (Keystone Pictures USA/Alamy)

We’ve talked at length here on the blog about the magnificent gems owned and worn by the Bernadotte family in Sweden. But they have a few petite royal tiaras in their jewelry boxes, too, including the diamond scroll tiara worn by the king’s sisters.

Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy

The tiara, which is made of diamonds, originally belonged to another Swedish royal lady: Queen Louise. Born as Princess Louise of Battenberg, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria, she became Lady Louise Mountbatten when her family renounced their German titles in 1917. The renunciation didn’t affect her royal prospects. At St. James’s Palace in 1923, she married Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, the widower of her cousin, Princess Margaret of Connaught. When her husband ascended to the throne as King Gustaf VI Adolf, Louise became a queen.

Louise wears her diamond tiara, ca. 1920s (Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo/Alamy)

Specific provenance information about Louise’s diamond scroll tiara has proven tough to come by, but I’d wager that it was made around the time she was married, judging by the Art Deco-esque style of the tiara. During her lifetime, she wore the tiara both atop her head and across her forehead in ’20s bandeau style.

Margaretha (escorted by Prince Wilhelm) wears the tiara for a state banquet in Stockholm in honor of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, May 1957 (Keystone Pictures USA/Alamy)

Later in her life, Louise loaned the tiara to her husband’s four granddaughters. All four of the Haga Princesses — Margaretha, Birgitta, Desiree, and Christina — have been photographed wearing the tiara.

Desiree (with Nobel laureate Sir John Eccles) wears the tiara for the Nobel Prize Banquet, December 1963 (Keystone Pictures/Zuma Press)

But Desiree was ultimately the one who received the tiara as a personal gift. In 1964, the year before Louise died, Princess Desiree married Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld. It’s said that the tiara was a wedding gift to Desiree from her grandfather and step-grandmother.

Desiree (with Niclas) wears the tiara for the annual King’s Dinner in Stockholm, December 1991 (Roger Tillberg/Alamy)

Desiree has worn the tiara at major royal occasions, including the wedding of her cousin, Princess Benedikte of Denmark, in 1968, and the wedding of her sister, Princess Christina, in 1974. More recently, she chose the tiara for her brother’s 70th birthday celebrations in Stockholm in 2016.

Note: This is an expanded and updated version of a previous post.