Queen Victoria’s Sapphire Coronet Goes on Display

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The V&A

The wait is over — museum-goers in London can now come face to face with one of Queen Victoria’s most famous jewels!

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The V&A

The Sapphire Coronet, designed for Victoria by Prince Albert, is now on permanent display in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. It is part of the museum’s large jewelry collection, on display in the William and Judith Bollinger Gallery.

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The V&A

Because the jewel is now the centerpiece of the museum’s permanent jewel display, there is no cost to visitors who want to see it in person. You can get up-close in personal with the teeny diadem, made in 1840 and famously worn by Victoria in a Winterhalter portrait.

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The V&A

As we discussed in our earlier post on the coronet, the diadem was also one of the rare pieces of jewelry set with colored stones that Victoria wore after Albert’s death in 1861. Most notably, she wore the piece for the State Opening of Parliament in 1866. (You can read my detailed history of the coronet over here!)

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for The V&A

The museum closed the Bollinger Gallery earlier this year for a three-month renovation ahead of the coronet’s debut. As you can see in the background above, the room is jam-packed with jewels, including a total of eighty new pieces. The jewelry gallery at the museum is one of the places that first inspired my love of fantastic jewelry, and if you haven’t visited yet, be sure to add it to your list!