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Our Sparkling Spotlight today turns to a recent engagement undertaken by King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands—and the spectacular heirloom diamonds that Maxima brought along on the trip.
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On Thursday, May 27, Willem-Alexander and Maxima made a regional visit to North-Limburg, with stops in Venlo and Bergen. They toured an open-air theater which puts on passion plays, took a nature walk at the Nationaal Park de Maasduinen, and visited Brightlands Campus Greenport, where students are doing innovative research on farming systems and the food economy.
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Maxima wore a brightly patterned coat for the day, with a green hat and green dress. For the university and theater stops, she wore coordinating green shoes…
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… and for the rainy nature walk, she sensibly changed into a pair of low-heeled loafers.
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She accessorized with a major pair of diamond stud earrings from the Dutch royal vaults. The earrings are set with large old mine-cut diamond brilliants.
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These earrings are the stud portion of Queen Wilhelmina’s Diamond Earrings, part of the cache of jewels she received from her father on her ninth birthday in 1889. In their full form, they feature a pendant section consisting of another small round diamond and a larger pear-shaped drop. In these photos, you can see the small bale at the base of the earring where the pendant section connects to the stud.
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As she stepped out of the car at the college campus, Maxima paused to retrieve a dropped object. (A lighter, perhaps?) The moment gave us a glimpse of some additional jewelry pieces, including a pair of bracelets and a diamond and emerald cluster ring.
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The celebrations of Maxima’s recent 50th birthday continued on the visit. She paused and momentarily lowered her mask to smell the bouquet of 50 roses presented to her to mark the milestone birthday.
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