Archives for 2017

Jewels in Motion: Queen Elizabeth II’s Wedding Gifts

10.01.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images

Next month, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and the Duke of Edinburgh will celebrate a remarkable milestone: their 70th wedding anniversary! Today, I’ve got a fun look at the display of their wedding gifts from the autumn of 1947 — in motion!

Jewels displayed here include the Nizam of Hyderabad Tiara, the Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace, the Swiss Federal Watch, and the City of London Fringe Necklace

This display features the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline Pearl Necklaces, the Greville Ruby Necklace, and the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara

This display includes the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, one of Queen Mary’s Indian Bangles, Queen Mary’s Diamond Stomacher, and the Dorset Bow Brooch

A closer look at the City of London Fringe Necklace, which is threaded on silk

(See a modern view of the necklace here!)

Another view of the Greville Ruby Necklace, recently worn by the Duchess of Cambridge

(Read more over here!)

And a close-up view of the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara (without its diamond base)

(Read a timeline of the tiara’s history here!)

The Japanese Honeysuckle Tiara

09.30.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

To wrap up our month-long celebration of the tiaras worn by the imperial ladies of Japan, we’ve got one of my personal favorites: the family’s diamond honeysuckle tiara.

Prince and Princess Chichibu at their wedding

The tiara has been in the family for at least two generations. Its first documented wearer was Setsuko Matsudaira, the English-born wife of Yasuhito, Prince Chichibu. Setsuko was the daughter of the Japanese ambassador to the United States and Great Britain, and she had major family ties to Japan’s pre-war aristocracy. When she married Yasuhito, the second son of Emperor Yoshihito, brother of Emperor Hirohito, and uncle of Emperor Akihito, in 1928, Setsuko wore the honeysuckle tiara and a coordinating diamond necklace for part of the wedding ceremonies. They represented the imperial family at numerous important occasions, including the 1937 coronation in Britain.

Pool/Getty Images

The Prince and Princess Chichibu had no children, so after her death in 1995, her jewels were returned to the imperial vaults. The tiara reappeared about a decade later on her nephew’s wife, Empress Michiko. She wore the tiara in a more open style, which suggests that it has an adjustable frame.

Pool/Getty Images

Michiko began favoring the honeysuckle tiara after she developed back and neck issues that made heavier tiaras painful to wear. Above, she wears the tiara during the Diamond Jubilee of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand in June 2006.

SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

And above, she wears the tiara (with a slight hair malfunction) during a visit to Sweden in May 2007. Michiko has stopped wearing tiaras altogether now, unfortunately, but it’s heartening to see jewels being reused and recycled in the family. It’s becoming more and more clear to me that Japan’s Imperial Household Agency runs a de facto jewelry foundation, which clearly includes jewels that are no longer worn because of the deaths or marriages of their previous wearers. (The IHA, of course, won’t be commenting on that either way.) I’m hopeful that we’ll continue to see many of these jewels reappear on other women of the imperial family in the years to come.

This Week in Royal Jewels: September 22-28

09.29.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

September 22-28, 2017

We’ve got a range of royal jewels on tap for you this week — don’t forget to vote for your favorites in the poll below!

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

10. Queen Letizia of Spain wore her freshwater pearl drop earrings from Tous for a visit to a vocational training school in Teruel on Wednesday.

ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images

9. Black beaded earrings and a stack of bracelets, including her wedding bracelet and diamond initial bracelet, were Queen Maxima’s choices for a health care conference on Thursday in The Hague.

Eduardo Parra/Getty Images

8. On Friday, Queen Letizia wore her Tous ruby and emerald earrings for a Cancer Research World Day event in Madrid.

MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP/Getty Images

7. The Princess Akishino chose multicolored pearls and pearl button earrings to meet citizens of Japanese descent during the first day of her visit to Chile. (More over here!)

CLAUDIO REYES/AFP/Getty Images

6. For a wreath-laying ceremony in Santiago on Wednesday, Kiko chose more traditional pearl jewels. (More over here!)

Christian Marquardt/Getty Images

5. Queen Silvia of Sweden wore pearls and a modern brooch to receive a humanitarian award in Berlin on Tuesday. (More over here!)

PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images

4. In Paris, Princess Sirivannavari of Thailand glittered in a traditional brooch at Tuesday’s Christian Dior show.

Duane Prokop/Getty Images for Muhammad Ali Center

3. Princess Nisreen El-Hashemite, granddaughter of King Faisal I of Iraq, wore golden floral jewelry to accept the 2017 Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Of The Year Award on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky.

Chema Moya-Pool/Getty Images

2. At a gala celebrating free enterprise on Sunday in Madrid, Queen Sofia of Spain layered on jewelry, including pearl drop earrings and a pearl necklace with the ruby and diamond pendant that belonged to her late mother, Queen Friederike of Greece.

Kungahuset

1. For this week’s Representation Dinner in Sweden, Queen Silvia sparkled in a new pearl necklace with a large amethyst clasp. (See this thread at the RJWMB for a close-up!)