Archives for 2016

The Savoy-Aosta Emerald Necklace

05.30.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Princess Astrid wears the diamond and emerald necklace (Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

Princess Astrid of Belgium will never be queen, but she has worn several pieces of jewelry that are absolutely fit for a monarch. Today we’re looking at one of the grandest: the diamond and emerald necklace that belongs to her mother-in-law, Margherita.

Helene wears the necklace (Photo: Grand Ladies Site)

Margherita was born a Savoyard princess with an extensive French and Italian royal lineage, and her jewelry box is a testament to those royal roots. This particular necklace was made in France in the nineteenth century. Appropriately, the first person to be photographed wearing it was a French princess: Helene of Orleans, Margherita’s grandmother. Exactly how Helene acquired the piece isn’t clear; some argue that it was given to her when she married Prince Emanuele Filiberto, 2nd Duke of Aosta in 1895, while others believe that the piece was an heirloom from the Aosta line.

Helene wearing a different necklace with a tiara featuring similar emerald drops (Image courtesy of Christie’s)

I don’t have any firm proof for this speculation, but I believe that the emerald drops suspended from the necklace are detachable. In the photograph above (which shows Helene wearing a different emerald necklace, auctioned last year at Christie’s), the upright emeralds on Helene’s tiara appear to match the shape and size of the emerald drops from the necklace.

In 1927, Helene’s elder son, Amedeo, married Anne of Orleans (Helene’s niece and, therefore, Amedeo’s first cousin). Helene offered the diamond and emerald necklace to Anne as a wedding present. Amedeo and Anne were Margherita’s parents, and she eventually inherited the necklace from her mother. She also wore it during her mother’s lifetime; she was even featured wearing the necklace on the cover of Paris Match.

Photo: ATTILA KISBENEDEK/AFP/Getty Images

Margherita still presumably owns the necklace, as well as the diamond tiara she inherited from the Savoy line. But both pieces are now worn almost exclusively by her daughter-in-law, Princess Astrid. Some believe that Astrid may own the Savoy jewels herself now, but even if she doesn’t, she has a long-term jewelry loan from her mother-in-law that many women would die for.

Kate’s Jewelry Box: The Sapphire and Diamond Engagement Ring

05.29.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Duchess of Cambridge wears her engagement ring (Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

When Prince William announced his engagement to Kate Middleton in November 2010, his new bride-to-be emerged wearing a very familiar piece of jewelry: the sapphire and diamond cluster engagement ring that had belonged to his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales.

Photo: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

The ring’s central feature is the faceted oval Ceylon sapphire that dominates the piece. Estimates of the sapphire’s carat size range from 9 to 12 carats. It is surrounded by 14 round diamonds. The ring is made of white gold.

Photo: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

When Prince Charles proposed to Diana in 1981, he presented her with a selection of engagement rings from Garrard (then the crown jeweler) and let her choose her favorite from among them. Because the ring was a stock item, not a special order, we know how much it cost: £28,500.

Photo: JOHNNY EGGITT/AFP/Getty Images

Diana wore the ring throughout her marriage; above, she wears it in 1995. After her death, William and Harry retained a few of her possessions, including the ring. They reportedly made a deal: whichever brother got engaged first would give the ring to his fiancée.

Photo: SAEED KHAN/AFP/Getty Images

During his engagement interview, William discussed the ring: “It’s very special to me. As Kate’s very special to me now, it was right to put the two together. It was my way of making sure my mother didn’t miss out on today, and the excitement, and the fact that we’re going to spend the rest of our lives together.” Kate has worn the ring regularly since the engagement, supplementing it first with her Welsh gold wedding ring and then with a diamond eternity band.

Queen Sofia’s Star and Pearl Tiara

05.28.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Princess Benedikte wears the Star and Pearl Tiara (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The famous trio of Danish royal sisters — Queen Margrethe II, Princess Benedikte, and Queen Anne-Marie — have an amazing collective stash of tiaras. Today’s tiara, the elaborate and unusual Star and Pearl Tiara, belongs to the middle sister of the family, Princess Benedikte.

Queen Sofia of Sweden wears the tiara

The first owner of the tiara was Queen Sofia of Sweden, who was born a princess of Nassau. When she married Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden (later King Oscar II) in 1857, she received this tiara as a wedding present. The giver was her brother Adolphe, who would later become the grand duke of Luxembourg. The tiara, which features alternating diamond stars and upright pear-shaped pearls set on diamond spikes, was apparently made about the same time, dating it to the middle of the nineteenth century. Diamond stars were incredible popular in this era, popularized by Empress Elisabeth (“Sisi”) of Austria-Hungary.

In his book on Danish royal jewels, Bjarne Steen Jensen notes that the tiara was altered slightly at some point after Sofia received it. In the portrait of Sofia wearing the tiara above (which Jensen dates to the late nineteenth century), the center star is noticeably taller than the rest of the elements of the tiara. In photographs of the tiara on all of its other wearers, that middle star has been lowered so that it sits evenly with the other stars.

When she died in 1913, Sofia left the tiara to another Swedish queen: her daughter-in-law, Victoria of Baden. And when Victoria died in 1930, she was specific about who she wanted to inherit the piece: her granddaughter, Princess Ingrid. When Ingrid married Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (later King Frederik IX) five years later, she took the tiara with her to her new country. In the photograph above, Crown Princess Ingrid wears the tiara during the 1938 celebrations for the 80th birthday of her grandfather, King Gustaf V of Sweden. (Eagle-eyed tiara spotters will also note that Ingrid’s necklace was later turned into the Antique Corsage Tiara, Anne-Marie’s 18th birthday tiara.)

During Ingrid’s lifetime, she was generous in lending this tiara to other members of the family. Her younger daughters, Anne-Marie of Greece and Benedikte of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, both borrowed the tiara from Ingrid; so did Benedikte’s daughters. In 1964, Ingrid lent the tiara to her cousin, Princess Margaretha of Denmark, to wear at Anne-Marie’s royal wedding in Athens. Jensen posits that Ingrid chose to lend Margaretha this particular tiara because it was originally owned by Margaretha’s grandmother, Queen Sofia of Sweden.

Princess Benedikte wears the tiara (Photo: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)

When Queen Ingrid died in 2000, the tiara was left to Princess Benedikte. Today, Benedikte wears the tiara frequently, often pairing it with another set of star elements (from the collection of Victoria of Baden) that can be worn as brooches, earrings, hair ornaments, or even suspended on a necklace. (Unlike other star tiaras, the stars on this piece are fixed and apparently are not removed.) She also follows her mother’s example and often lends the tiara to the other women in her family. Both of Benedikte’s daughters, Alexandra and Nathalie, have been photographed in the tiara, as has her son’s partner, Carina Axelsson.

Note: This is an updated version of an older post with new text and images.