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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

The Greville Ivy Leaf Clips

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Here in the United States, the leaves in my backyard are finally falling. What better time to discuss a very leafy set of royal brooches? Today, we’ve got a closer look at the Greville Ivy Leaf Clips.

Abbie Rowe/National Archives and Records Administration/Wikimedia Commons

As the name suggests, these twinned ivy leaf clips originally belonged to Dame Margaret Greville, who commissioned them from Cartier. One of the diamond and platinum clips dates to before 1930; the second clip was made to form a matching set in 1937. Mrs. Greville bequeathed them as part of a large collection of jewelry to Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) in 1942. Five years later, in April 1947 during the royal tour of South Africa, the Queen presented them to her daughter, Princess Elizabeth, as a twenty-first birthday gift. 
The young princess wore the clips fairly often in the ensuing years. One of her most notable early appearances in the ivy leaf brooches came in October 1951, when she wore them as she arrived at Washington’s National Airport for an official visit to the United States. She was photographed riding in a limousine on the way to Blair House with President Truman, wearing one ivy leaf clip on her lapel and the other on her hat.
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After Elizabeth became Queen, the clips still made occasional appearances. Here, she wears them for a visit to the regimental depot of the Dorset Regiment in Dorchester in 1952.
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More than seventy years after she received the clips, she’s still wearing them as part of her jewelry wardrobe. Above, she wears the clips during a royal tour of Jamaica in February 2002.
Fiona Hanson/PA Images/Alamy

In October 2004, she wore the clips as she toured the newly-refurbished main building at the Ministry of Defence in Whitehall.
Jeff Spicer – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Appropriately, the Queen often wears these leafy brooches for engagements in October. One of her most recent appearances in the ivy leaf clips came in October 2016, when she wore them for a reception and awards ceremony at the Royal Academy of the Arts.

Art Deco Peridot Jewels from Cartier

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Stefen Chow/Getty Images for Cartier

How about a little seasonal sparkle for your Friday? Today, we’re taking a closer look at a lovely suite of peridot and diamond jewels from Cartier.

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

This stunning necklace and bracelet set were made in 1936, and they’re excellent examples of design from the Art Deco period. Both pieces were made by Cartier in London. The date and location of their construction may give us a hint of the reason behind their creation: the upcoming coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth (originally scheduled as the coronation of King Edward VIII). There was a rush for jewelry at the time, and Cartier created numerous notable pieces for the event, many of which were set with semi-precious stones — peridot, of course, but also aquamarines and topazes.

Press image of the suite from Cartier

Today, the diamond and peridot suite has returned to its original home. It’s part of the Cartier Collection, a grouping of particularly fine examples of the firm’s work over the course of its history. The jewelry from the Collection is often displayed in various exhibitions.

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

The necklace is made of platinum and set with both round and baguette diamonds and emerald-cut peridot. Note the unique way that the diamond setting curls underneath the peridot stones, giving the necklace extra dimension. The large peridot pendant weighs in at 63.48 carats.

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

Here’s a closer look at the pendant. The diamond work above the pendant reminds me quite a bit of the arrangement of stones in the brooch that used to be part of Princess Anne’s Aquamarine Pineflower Tiara — which, of course, was also made by Cartier around the same time.

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

This image is a bit dark, but it gives you a fairly decent idea of the shape of the coordinating bracelet, which is also made of platinum and set with diamonds and peridot. Like the necklace, it features an enormous emerald-cut peridot in its center. This one measures at precisely 68.93 carats.

Stefen Chow/Getty Images for Cartier

The necklace is often showcased in various Cartier exhibitions. Over the past decade or so, it has been displayed in Beijing (2009), in Madrid (2012), and in Canberra (2018). PS: that tiara in the background of this case, photographed during the 2009 Chinese exhibition, is a turquoise example that was also made for the 1937 coronation!