Amethysts are the special birthstones of February babies, but they’re also frequently employed as a stone for occasions of memorial or remembrance. With a big royal memorial in honor of the late King Constantine II coming up later this week, we’ve got a look today at an heirloom amethyst pendant worn by his wife and daughters.
The story of this particular amethyst and diamond jewel begins in the spring of 1905. Princess Margaret of Connaught, granddaughter of Queen Victoria and niece of King Edward VII, married the future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden in a sparkling ceremony in Windsor that June. The marriage of a British princess is always a particularly glittering occasion, even more so when she’s expected to become a crown princess and then maybe even a queen one day.
Wedding gifts poured in for Princess Margaret, including pieces from both royal relatives and members of the British aristocracy. The Saturday, June 17, 1905 issue of the Illustrated London News featured a fantastic illustrated graphic showcasing several of the jewelry pieces given to the princess. Among them was a lovely diamond and amethyst jewel, presented to Margaret by the Duke and Duchess of Portland. The piece features four amethysts surrounded by diamonds, plus a pendant with more diamonds and an additional amethyst drop. It’s a versatile jewel, able to be worn as a brooch or a pendant on a necklace.
The Portlands were close to the royal family, with both the Duke and the Duchess serving as courtiers during the reign of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. William Cavendish-Bentinck, the 6th Duke of Portland, served as Master of the Horse to both Edward VII and his mother, Queen Victoria. Later, he would carry the crown of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother at her coronation in 1937. They were cousins through her mother, who was born Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck.
William’s duchess, Winifred Dallas-Yorke, was one of Queen Alexandra’s canopy bearers at the 1902 coronation. A year later, William and Winifred traveled to India with Princess Margaret’s parents, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, to attend the Delhi Durbar. Later, during Alexandra’s widowhood, Winifred also served as her Mistress of the Robes. And the Portlands also had another passion in common with the royals of the Edwardian era, too: thoroughbred racing. The Duke won the Derby twice during his career.
Sadly, Princess Margaret of Connaught did not live to become Sweden’s queen consort. She passed away in 1920 at the age of 38, leaving behind a widower and five children. Her truncated royal life also meant that she was only able to enjoy her fabulous collection of royal jewels for a short time, and perhaps it’s not surprising then that I’ve never been able to track down a photograph of Margaret wearing her amethyst pendant.
After Margaret’s death, the pendant was inherited by her only daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Ingrid received a treasury of royal jewelry from her late mother, and she took numerous tiaras, necklaces, earrings, and brooches from Margaret’s collection with her to Copenhagen when she married the future King Frederik IX of Denmark. Above, in a portrait taken after her marriage, Ingrid wears another of her mother’s wedding gifts, the Khedive of Egypt Tiara, as well as some of her mother’s pearls. Just like her mother, though, Queen Ingrid seems not to have worn the amethyst pendant frequently, and I haven’t found a photograph of her wearing it either.
That changed in the family’s next generation. All three of Queen Ingrid’s daughters–Margrethe, Benedikte, and Anne-Marie of Denmark—have been photographed wearing their grandmother’s amethyst pendant. Above, a young Princess Margrethe wears the pendant on a pearl necklace for a state banquet honoring President Kekkonen of Finland. In her hair, 17-year-old Margrethe wears more Swedish royal jewelry borrowed from her mother: a set of diamond stars that belonged to Queen Ingrid’s paternal grandmother, Queen Victoria of Sweden.
When Queen Ingrid passed away in 2000, she left the amethyst and diamond pendant to her youngest daughter, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece. Anne-Marie has worn the pendant occasionally in the years since. Above, in 2004, she wears it as a brooch during the 70th birthday celebrations for her brother-in-law, Prince Henrik of Denmark.
Queen Anne-Marie has also loaned the pendant to both of her daughters. Princess Alexia of Greece and Denmark wore the jewel as a brooch for the wedding of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway in Oslo in August 2001, pairing it with her diamond tiara.
And more recently, Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark wore the jewels as a pendant on a diamond necklace for the 50th birthday celebrations for Crown Prince Frederik (now King Frederik X) of Denmark in May 2018. She also borrowed another legacy Scandinavian royal jewel from her mother for the occasion: the Antique Corsage Tiara.
Tomorrow, members of the former royal family of Greece with gather in London with their extended family, including members of the Spanish, Danish, and British royal families, for a memorial service in honor of the late King Constantine at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. The amethyst and diamond pendant would be the perfect piece for the occasion—a jewel suitable for a service of remembrance, worn in the same chapel where its first owner was married more than a century ago. Here’s hoping we’ll see it on Queen Anne-Marie, Princess Alexia, or Princess Theodora.
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