Infanta Elena’s Glittering Diamond Jewels

On July 1, 2006, Infanta Elena and her then-husband, Jaime de Marichalar, arrived at Berg Castle in Luxembourg for a special dinner party. The occasion was a silver wedding anniversary celebration for Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg. (Their actual wedding anniversary is on Valentine’s Day, but they saved their big anniversary celebrations for the summer.) Royals from across Europe attended the weekend festivities, which included this black-tie dinner at the castle in Colmar-Berg. Elena and Jaime represented the Spanish royal family at the event.

For the dinner, Elena wore a gorgeous red evening gown that was richly decorated with gold floral embroidery. Elena loves a full-skirted ball gown in a bright color, often decorated with embroidery or beading. This is perhaps my favorite of all the gowns she’s worn for royal dinners.

Elena accessorized with diamonds and rubies for the dinner. She wore an interesting modern necklace of diamonds set in gold, which also features gold accents. (It reminds me of a similarly-shaped necklace worn by her mother, Queen Sofia of Spain.) The necklace has a pear-shaped diamond pendant. The diamond drop earrings she wore appear to have pendants that match that of the necklace. She has worn this diamond suite for multiple formal events over the years, including the gala held the night before King Felipe and Queen Letizia’s royal wedding in 2004.

On her right wrist, Elena also wore a watch that perfectly matched the red color of her gown and a ruby tennis bracelet. But the real piece of interest is on her right wrist: an enormous diamond bracelet that looks to have a chain-link pattern in its design. (It reminds me a bit of Queen Mary’s Chain-Link Bracelets.) The Countess of Barcelona, Elena’s grandmother, was sometimes pictured wearing a chain-link bracelet, but I don’t know if the two pieces are the same.

Here’s one more look at the entire ensemble. I love that Elena also always carries a coordinating fan!