denmark – Page 102

Empress Marie Feodorovna’s Sapphire Brooch

06.17.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Queen Elizabeth II opens a new children’s park at Pitten Crieff Park in Dunfermline, 1 July 2003 (ANDREW PARSONS/AFP/Getty Images)

One of my favorite things about pearls are their ability to coordinate so seamlessly in jewels featuring colorful gemstone. This lovely, classic brooch from the Queen’s collection, Empress Marie Feodorovna’s Sapphire Brooch, combines a beautiful sapphire and diamonds with a pearl drop.

Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, and Crown Princess Thyra of Hanover (with her back to the camera) play cards with their father, King Christian IX of Denmark in Copenhagen, 1905

The brooch still looks current today, but it’s more than a century and a half old. In 1866, the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) presented the brooch to Alexandra’s sister, Minnie, on her marriage to the future Emperor Alexander III of Russia. Leslie Field describes the jewel as a “cabochon sapphire brooch surrounded by two rows of diamonds with a pearl drop hanging from a collet diamond.”

Empress Marie Feodorovna, as she became known, apparently cherished the brooch. She took it with her during her regular trips to her childhood home of Copenhagen. Field notes that Minnie wears the brooch pinned to her bodice in the photograph above, which shows Alexandra, Minnie, and their sister Thyra playing cards with their father, King Christian IX of Denmark, in 1905.

Queen Mary arrives to open the new Albert Dock Hospital in London, 21 October 1938

By the second decade of the twentieth century, Minnie’s family was in tatters. Her son, Emperor Nicholas II, was murdered alongside his wife and children, and the Russian monarchy was abolished completely. Minnie managed to flee to Denmark, and this brooch was one of the jewels that remained in her possession after the revolution.

After she died in 1928, Minnie’s daughters, Olga and Xenia, were tasked with handling their mother’s extensive jewelry collection. They decided to sell numerous pieces at auction. The sale was handled by Hennell and Sons, an English firm. Appropriately, one of the auction’s interested buyers was Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, wife of Minnie’s nephew, King George V. Mary purchased the sapphire, diamond, and pearl brooch from the estate on October 3, 1930, paying £2,375 for the piece (which exceeded the brooch’s auction estimate, set between £1400 and £1900).

Queen Mary arrives to open the new Albert Dock Hospital in London, 21 October 1938

The brooch became a part of Mary’s own extensive royal jewelry collection. She liked to wear these types of brooches pinned at her throat, as she did during a visit to the new Albert Dock Hospital in London in October 1938. On that occasion, she emphasized the brooch’s pearl drop by pairing it with even more pearl jewels.

Queen Elizabeth II attends the Epsom Derby, 29 May 1963 (Fox Photos/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

In 1953, the present Queen inherited all of Queen Mary’s jewels, including the brooch. She began wearing the piece in the 1950s, choosing it for important state occasions abroad. But she has also worn the brooch to enjoy one of her very favorite activities: going to the races.

Queen Elizabeth II attends the Epsom Derby, 1964 (Stanley Sherman/Express/Getty Images)

The brooch was the Queen’s choice for the Epsom Derby in both 1963 and 1964. The second outing, for which she wore the brooch against a darker jacket, gives us an excellent opportunity to enjoy the details of the brooch’s construction.

Queen Elizabeth II visits the Chelsea Flower Show, 22 May 1973 (John Downing/Daily Express/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The brooch has also made multiple visits with the Queen to the Chelsea Flower Show, which opens in London each May.

Queen Elizabeth II celebrates her Silver Jubilee at Buckingham Palace, 20 April 1977 (Wood/Evening Standard/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

And in 1977, HM chose the brooch for one of the festivities celebrating a very important milestone: her Silver Jubilee, which marked twenty-five years on the throne.

Wearing a traditional Maori cloak, Queen Elizabeth II signs the final Tainui Settlement Bill at Government House in Wellington, New Zealand, 2 November 1995 (AFP/Getty Images)

The brooch has made occasional outings in the decades since, often accompanying the Queen on important occasions like royal tours. She wore it in 1995 for a landmark visit to New Zealand, during which she delivered a formal apology in person for the nineteenth-century Invasion of the Waikato.

Queen Elizabeth II inspects the Governor General’s Foot Guards in Ottawa during a ten-day tour of Canada, 30 June 1997 (DAVE CHAN/AFP/Getty Images)

The brooch also toured Canada with the Queen in 1997, making an appearance during a military review in Ottawa in June. The pairing of the brooch and a light blue coat on this occasion really allowed the cabochon sapphire to gleam.

Queen Elizabeth II attends a reception to recognize the UK technology sector at Buckingham Palace, 9 June 2014 (Steve Parsons-WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Today, you’ll still see the brooch out and about occasionally, often for events inside the palace, like investitures and audiences. Its most recent appearance came just a few days ago, when the Queen wore it for an investiture at Buckingham Palace on June 1, 2018.

Debunking Three Tiara Myths

06.12.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Crown Princess Victoria wears the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara at the Nobel Prize Banquet, 10 December 2004 (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Last month’s royal wedding brought out a crop of royal etiquette experts who had lots to say about the “rules” of tiaras: when and where they can be worn and (most importantly) who can wear them. Today, I’m debunking three of these oft-repeated “myths” about tiara-wearing. Don’t trust everything you read — tiaras are much more accessible pieces than you’d think!

Princess Anne wears the Halo Tiara in New Zealand, 16 March 1970 (William Lovelace/Daily Express/Getty Images)

Myth #1: Only Married Women Can Wear Tiaras

This one is just flat out false. You do not have to be married to wear a tiara! Single women have been sporting tiaras since they regained popularity in the nineteenth century, and they continue to do so today.

Queen Victoria wears an artist’s depiction of Queen Adelaide’s Diamond Fringe in a portrait by Edward Parris, ca. 1837

It’s true that tiaras should be worn by adults, not by children. Marriage used to be seen as the marker of the transition from childhood to adulthood for women, but many women marry later in life, and many never marry at all. Any adult women who attends an appropriate function can wear a tiara, regardless of her marital status, and it’s been that way for a very long time. For example: after ascending to the throne, Queen Victoria was often depicted wearing her aunt Adelaide’s diamond fringe tiara, years before she married Prince Albert.

Princess Margaret wears the Halo Tiara in London in the 1950s (AFP/Getty Images)

In the twentieth century, Princess Margaret began wearing tiaras in public in the late 1940s, more than a decade before her marriage to Antony Armstrong-Jones. She even wore a familiar sparkler, the Cartier Halo Tiara, at one of the most important royal events of the 1950s: her sister’s coronation in 1953. Her niece, Princess Anne, later wore the same tiara before her marriage to Mark Phillips in 1973. (She also wore Princess Andrew’s Meander Tiara when she was a teenager.)

Princess Helena Victoria wears the Schleswig-Holstein Honeysuckle Tiara (Image licensed to The Court Jeweller)

Several British princesses, including King Edward VII’s daughter, Princess Victoria, and Princess Helena’s daughter, Princess Helena Victoria, never married at all. They each wore tiaras at appropriate events throughout their adult lives.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden wears her aquamarine bandeau at the wedding of Princess Martha Louise of Norway, 24 May 2002 (Sion Touhig/Getty Images)

In some countries, it’s even traditional to present a young (unmarried) woman with her first tiara on her eighteenth birthday, underscoring the fact that the ornaments are generally only worn by adults. Here’s Princess Madeleine of Sweden wearing her eighteenth-birthday gift, the aquamarine bandeau, in May 2002, a full eleven years before she married Chris O’Neill.

Princess Mako of Akishino wears her diamond tiara at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on her 20th birthday, 23 October 2011 (TORU YAMANAKA/AFP/Getty Images)

Japanese imperial ladies receive their first tiaras when they reach the age of majority, which is twenty in that country. Interestingly, these Japanese princesses wear their tiaras throughout their single adult lives — and if they marry commoners (which is true of virtually every imperial princess who weds), their tiaras are taken back and placed in the imperial vaults.

Elizabeth Taylor wears the Mike Todd Tiara at a party, 4 May 1957 (Express/Getty Images)

Myth #2: Only Royal Women Can Wear Tiaras

This is another one that is just totally untrue. These days, royal and noble women tend to be the primary wearers of tiaras, mostly because they’re more likely to participate in the kinds of events where tiaras are worn. But any woman who has access to a tiara can wear one. Elizabeth Taylor even had one of her very own, which she wore for major events like the Academy Awards and various film premieres.

Elizabeth Hurley wears a tiara as she departs for the White Tie and Tiara Ball, 26 June 2008 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Elton John even hosted an event, the White Tie and Tiara Ball, designed to encourage his female guests, most of whom were not royal at all, to don tiaras. One frequent attendee of this ball was Elizabeth Hurley, shown here wearing a tiara on her way to the party in 2008.

Victoria and Albert Museum

Myth #3: Only Wealthy Women Can Wear Tiaras

Thanks to innovative jewelers, this rule is also untrue: tiaras can be worn by anyone who has access to them, whether they are expensive pieces set with priceless gems or mass-manufactured items. The Victoria and Albert Museum is the home of a nineteenth-century tiara made of stamped gold set with chrysoprase. The diadem would have been a much cheaper alternative to tiaras set with diamonds and made of more substantial precious metals.

The Bjorkbom Diadem (Wikimedia Commons)

We also recently discussed a lovely tiara made of gilded metal set with artificial pearls and “gems” made of glass. There’s no rule that says that a tiara must be made of costly materials, so there’s no reason that only wealthy women should wear them.

A young Princess Ingrid of Sweden wears her mother’s Cartier tiara before her marriage (Wikimedia Commons)

Some real rules about tiaras that should be followed:

1. They should generally only be worn for events later in the day, usually in the evening.

2. They should only be worn when the dress code for an event is white tie (or, occasionally, black tie).

…and that’s about it! If you’ve got a tiara, you can wear a tiara — whether you’re married or single, royal or a commoner, wealthy or not. Go for it!

Queen Margrethe’s Mirrored Turquoise Brooch

06.10.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark absolutely loves turquoise and diamond jewelry — her collection is filled with heirloom jewels she has inherited as well as modern pieces she and her late husband, Prince Henrik, acquired themselves. Today’s piece, a lovely turquoise and diamond brooch with a mirrored design, is one of the lovely antique examples from her jewelry box.

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

The brooch, set with diamonds and small round turquoises, originally belonged to Margrethe’s grandmother, Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden. She was born a British princess, and her wedding gifts included numerous turquoises. For example, she also owned the striking Turquoise Daisy Bandeau, which bears some resemblance to this brooch in its construction.

HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/Getty Images

Margrethe has worn the brooch, which resembles a stylized butterfly or a pair of hearts, for many years, using it for various occasions. Above, she wears it with a brightly patterned floral dress and bright red accessories during her official visit to Vietnam in November 2009.

OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images

The combination of the floral frock and the brooch has been a favorite; here, she wears it the same way during a 2008 visit to Mexico City. Even against the busy fabric, the shape of the brooch stands out nicely in this particular view.

Milos Bicanski/Getty Images

For her official visit to Greece in May 2006, Margrethe wore the brooch on a background of pale blue. The similarity between the color of the outfit and the color of the piece meant that the brooch faded away into the background a bit.

Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Margrethe loves to use her brooches as enhancers on her long pearl necklaces, and she wore the turquoise brooch this way during the festivities for Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary’s wedding in May 2004.

CLAUS FISKER/AFP/Getty Images

For me, the brooch is most successful when worn against solid, light-colored clothing. It stood out nicely when worn with a white jacket during a luncheon hosted for the President of the United States at Fredensborg in 2005.