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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Royal Jewels to Commemorate the 70th Anniversary of D-Day in France

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Queen Elizabeth II is pictured at the British War Cemetery in Bayeux during the 70th anniversary commemorations of D-Day on June 6, 2014 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Queen Elizabeth II is pictured at the British War Cemetery in Bayeux during the 70th anniversary commemorations of D-Day on June 6, 2014 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

At the end of this week, fresh off the State Opening of Parliament, Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, and several other members of the royal family headed to France for a state visit. The visit was planned to coincide with the commemorations of the 70th anniversary of D-Day on Friday, and much of the program was related to events related to the anniversary and to honoring veterans of World War II. Today, I’ve got a look at some of the royal jewels we saw in Normandy during the D-Day commemorations.

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This Week in Royal Jewels: May 23-29

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May 23-29, 2014
Lots of sparkle this week, with Kate, Max, Stephanie, and Sonja showing off a bit of glitter. When you’re done enjoying the royal jewels worn this week, head over to The Royal Roundup for a rundown of the many major royal events taking place in June!


10. The Duchess of Cambridge — or, for the day, the Countess of Strathearn — spent the day with her husband in Scotland on Thursday. She debuted a new brooch for the occasion.

Royal reporters shared that the brooch, which features a Celtic knot design, was one of Kate’s wedding gifts, though the identity of the giver has been kept private.

9. The Dutch royal couple is on a visit to Germany, and on Tuesday, Queen Maxima once again demonstrated her innovative approach to the family’s jewel collection. All of the pink stones she wears are kunzites, but her brooch is a combination of two pieces of jewelry: the top is part of a set of diamond brooches, while the diamond and kunzite pendant can be worn suspended from either a brooch or a necklace. The upper portion of Max’s earrings were often worn by Queen Juliana. (As always, more on the Dutch royal jewels, especially these earrings, is available here.)

8. The kunzites weren’t Maxima’s only jewelry outing in Germany; she also wore diamonds and pearls to visit a research facility on Monday. The brooch she wears is an heirloom from the era of Queen Emma. The piece features a natural pearl surrounded by two circular rows of diamonds.

7. In Belgium, Queen Mathilde went for a color-coordinated look while attending a lunch for the judges of the Queen Elisabeth Voice Competition, pairing green pendant earrings with a bright green dress.

6. At the annual Grand Prix gala in Monaco, Princess Charlene debuted some new pieces of jewelry by Repossi (the same jewelers who made her engagement ring): a ruby ring and a rather enormous gold cuff bracelet. (More photos and information on the bracelet here.)

5. The closing mass of the Octave of Our Lady of Luxembourg was held on Sunday, and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie brought out some lovely gold jewelry for the event. (Also, I agree with Sydney re: the hair!)

4. One more jewelry outing for Max this week — she really is one of our most bejeweled royal ladies these days, isn’t she? These golden pendant earrings, worn for an award ceremony on Saturday in Middelburg, are very typical of her style.

3. The garden parties at Buckingham Palace are in full swing, and on Wednesday, the Queen welcomed members of the Household Cavalry (including her grandson, Prince Harry) and their families to the palace. To honor them, she replaced her usual brooch with the badges of the Life Guards and the Blues and Royals.

2. The Scandinavian royals have continued commemorating the bicentenary of the Norwegian Constitution. At the end of last week, the celebrations moved to Denmark, where a gala was held at the opera house in Copenhagen. For the occasion, Queen Sonja sported a brooch that dates back more than a century: it was one of Queen Maud’s wedding presents.

1. A bit of a surprise for our top jewelry story of the week, but let’s face it, who wore more bling than Prince Henrik of Denmark did in the official portrait to commemorate his 80th birthday? Among other things, he’s wearing the collar of the Order of the Elephant, the highest order of Danish chivalry. (There are also two other people in the painting, but they’re both Henrik, too. He’s being stalked a bit by his younger selves, apparently.)

The Top Ten: Maddest Tiaras

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Time for another new feature category here at The Court Jeweller: The Top Ten, in which we count down the best (and worst) of royal jewelry. Today, we’re celebrating my recent relaunch of classic posts from the Mad Hattery! blog with a rundown of my votes for the top ten Maddest Tiaras in modern royal collections. Have a glance at my picks, and then weigh in with your top ten list in the comments below!

10. Princess Madeleine’s Aquamarine Bandeau: The hunt for the maddest tiaras makes its first stop in the Bernadotte family vaults in Sweden, where this simple yet strange bandeau resides. It’s the tiara given to Princess Madeleine for her eighteenth birthday; for many years, it was one of the only tiaras she wore. The piece is actually an heirloom, but that hasn’t stopped many royal watchers from affectionately (or not?) dubbing this one “the Cyclops.”

9. Queen Fabiola’s Spanish Wedding Gift Tiara: Here’s a case where a transformable tiara can go from lovely to completely mad with a few flicks of the jeweler’s tiny screwdriver. The tiara given by General Franco to Queen Fabiola of Belgium as a wedding gift is perfectly lovely when it’s arranged as a floral wreath tiara. But when its floral elements are propped up atop a coronet, it goes from elegant quite quickly to something … else. Let’s put it this way — would anyone have been surprised if this coronet had shown up during one of Lord Snowdon’s over-the-top ’60s royal spectaculars? Nope, me neither.

8. The Aquamarine Pineflower Tiara: It’s a bit hard to see in the photo above, but Princess Anne is wearing the absolute maddest of her own tiaras at the recent Irish state banquet. This Cartier-made tiara, which includes pinecone elements mixed with large rectangular aquamarines, was once owned by the Queen Mum. Not surprisingly, it’s not been high on the “most-worn tiaras” list for either the QM or her granddaughter.

7. The Norwegian Emerald Parure Tiara: This mad tiara just goes to show that royal provenance can’t totally overcome wackiness. This emerald tiara was once owned by the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, daughter-in-law to Empress Josephine of France. It’s been worn by lots of Scandinavian royals, including the current Queen of Norway, but that still doesn’t trump the fact that the geometric stones in this one look a bit more Willy Wonka than white-tie.

6. The Burmese Ruby Tiara: A relic of the design vacuum that was the 1970s, the Tudor roses in this modern tiara unfortunately read “big red blob” far too often for this one to be anything but a mad diamond and ruby experiment gone wrong.

5. The Swedish Four-Button Tiara: Beep, beep, everybody — it’s the Jeep! I don’t care if the lights are actually antique diamond buttons (and, okay, they are), this one’s just loony.

4. Queen Sonja’s Modern Gold Tiara: It’s just never good when a queen consort’s tiara would look right at home on the set of a 20th century sci-fi flick.

3. The Chaumet Emerald Tiara: The grand ducal family of Luxembourg has some stunning pieces of jewelry tucked away in their palace vaults … and then they also have this tiara, suitable for Wonder Woman’s fanciest gala appearances.

2. Princess Astrid’s Aigrette: According to Astrid herself, she’s pretty sure she can pick up radio signals from across Europe with this puppy, and based on the appearance of these diamond antenna, I believe her.

1. Queen Margrethe’s Golden Poppies: Not so much a tiara, really, as an experience — and by “experience,” I mean a giant creepy gold headdress made of flowers and bugs. It’s another relic of the 1970s, when tiara makers appear to have been as much under the influence of various things as the rest of the population was. Above, at one of the poppies’ more recent public outings (a decade ago (!), at Frederik and Mary’s engagement dinner), Margrethe only wore a couple of the flowers strewn in her hair. But the full madness isn’t apparent until you see the whole thing. I don’t know, though — it’s Daisy the Great Dane, after all. If she’s not going to wear a truly mad tiara, who will?

So, readers, it’s your turn now to offer up your roster of the ten maddest royal tiaras out there. And when you’re done, don’t forget to drop by The Royal Roundup for some classic mad royal hattery!