Queen Ena’s Impressive Emerald Pendant Hits the Auction Block

Next week, Christie’s will be auctioning a gorgeous piece of heirloom royal jewelry as part of their latest Magnificent Jewels sale in Geneva: an emerald brooch from the collection of Queen Ena of Spain.

The jewel is described by Christie’s as an “early 20th century emerald and diamond pendant brooch.” They describe the piece as set with “sugarloaf and oval-shaped cabochon emeralds, old, rose, and calibré-cut diamonds” in platinum. In the lot advertisement, the auction house features a photograph of the brooch laying atop a photograph of Queen Victoria Eugenie wearing the jewel as a pendant on a pearl necklace.

Victoria Eugenie, who was often called by her fourth name, “Ena,” was the great-grandmother of King Felipe VI of Spain. Born in Britain, she was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria and a niece of King Edward VII. When she was eighteen, Ena married King Alfonso XIII of Spain. They rejoiced at the birth of their first son and heir, but they sadly soon realized that he had hemophilia, inherited from the same British royal genes that had passed to the Russian heir.

Alfonso and Ena ended up having seven children together, six of whom survived to adulthood. In 1931, after the Second Spanish Republic was proclaimed, the family went into exile in France. Eventually, the couple separated. They never divorced, but Ena lived independently in Switzerland for the rest of her life. She died before the Spanish monarchy was restored in 1975 with her grandson, King Juan Carlos, on the throne.

Ena’s grand personal collection of jewelry forms the cornerstone for the Spanish royal jewelry collection today. She earmarked several of her most important jewels to be joyas de pasar, pieces that passed from monarch to monarch to be worn by the Queen of Spain. But Ena also had numerous other important jewels, including pieces that were inherited by her daughters. Among those personal pieces was a large collection of emerald and diamond jewelry.

Many of Ena’s grand emeralds came from an illustrious royal source: Empress Eugénie of France, who was born Eugénie de Montijo. Eugénie came from a family of Spanish aristocrats, and she married Emperor Napoleon III in 1853. After he was dethroned, she spent much of her time in exile in England. There, she became close to the British royal family, especially Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice. When Beatrice gave birth to a daughter in 1887, she was named Victoria Eugenie in honor of her grandmother, Queen Victoria, and her godmother, Empress Eugénie.

When Empress Eugenie died in 1920, she left a box containing a fan to Queen Victoria Eugenie. After carefully inspecting the box, Ena realized that there were also nine rectangular emeralds inside. The jewels once adorned Empress Eugenie’s coronet-style tiara. Ena commissioned a Spanish jeweler to set them in a new necklace. She wears that emerald and diamond necklace in the glittering gala portrait pictured above.

She also sometimes used the necklace as a bandeau-style tiara. She wears it in this setting in a portrait by Bernhard Österman, finished in 1924. You’ll note other emerald pieces on Ena in the painting, including a pair of earrings and a ring.

After settling in exile in Switzerland, Ena decided to sell her godmother’s royal emeralds. Harry Winston bought some of them and used them to make an emerald parure for Farah Pahlavi, wife of the last Shah of Iran. Other emeralds from Empress Eugenie/Queen Victoria Eugenie’s collection have also come up at auction again in recent years. Two of the emeralds were sold separately without any mountings, for example, by Christie’s back in May 2011.

Here’s another look at the emerald jewel that will be sold soon by Christie’s in Geneva. Unlike other pieces of emerald jewelry in Ena’s collection, this brooch/pendant does not appear to have any clear connections to Empress Eugenie. The lot notes state that the jewel was made around 1915, when Ena’s husband still reigned in Spain, five years before Eugenie bequeathed her emeralds to Ena. The lot notes don’t tell us when Ena acquired the pendant or how.

Here’s a look at the back of the jewel. The pin fastener is a later addition to the piece, allowing it to be worn as a brooch.

The lot notes also include this photo of the brooch on a model for scale. (Pretty sure the brooch is digitally imposed on an existing photograph, but it does give an idea of the size.) The emerald and diamond jewel will be auctioned in Geneva on May 15. It’s expected to sell for a large amount of money–the current estimate is set between 150,000-200,000 Swiss francs, or around $165,000-$220,000 USD. As usual, the Magnificent Jewels sale also includes a whole range of other interesting pieces, which you can see on the Christie’s website here.