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Victoria Melita and the Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara

03.25.2014 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Grand Duchess Victoria Melita and Princess Elisabeth — Grand Ladies Site

As we wind down the month of March, it’s time for yet another glimpse at the glittering jewels worn by Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. So far, we’ve looked at a suite of jewelry with links to her maternal Russian inheritance, the tiara she wore on her first wedding day, and the meander kokoshnik that she wore during her second marriage. Today’s piece is a bit different — it’s a diamond tiara that she wore frequently but that never really belonged to her personally at all.

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Victoria Melita’s Emerald Wedding Tiara

03.18.2014 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Victoria Melita wears the emerald tiara on her wedding day in 1894 [1]

So far, we’ve seen diamonds and sapphires from the collection of Princess Victoria Melita, who was at various times during her life a princess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a grand duchess of Hesse, and a grand duchess of Russia. Today, we’re going to shine the spotlight on the emerald tiara she wore on her first wedding day.

Victoria Melita [3]

The diamond and emerald tiara was a wedding gift to Ducky, either from both of her parents (the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who were a British prince and a Russian grand duchess) or from just her mother. She wore the tiara on the day she married her first cousin, Grand Duke Ernst of Hesse, in 1894. The match was heavily promoted by their families, and even though they didn’t dislike each other, some sources suggest that Victoria Melita was actually already smitten with her second husband (and cousin), Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, before she married Ernie. Let’s just say that there were warning signs that this royal marriage wasn’t going to work out from the start.

Regardless, the couple went through with the ceremony, much to the delight of their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria. The bride’s aunt Vicky (who was then the Empress Frederick of Germany) noted that Victoria Melita wore “a light slender diadem of emeralds with a sprig of orange blossom stuck in behind” as a bride, pairing the emerald tiara with a veil owned by the groom’s late mother, Princess Alice [2]. (You can see her wedding jewels in the photograph at the top of this post.) The emerald tiara is similar in design to an aquamarine diadem that belonged to Ernst’s sister, Grand Duchess Ella; however, the two are distinct pieces.

The emerald tiara was part of a suite of emerald jewels given to her by her parents on the occasion. She also received a “necklace of pearls and emeralds” (which seems to be the necklace she wears in the photograph on the left above) and a “bracelet set with a large emerald” on the day [4]. Although her marriage was not a success (for all sorts of complicated reasons), she continued to wear her wedding emeralds even after her divorce from Ernst was finalized in 1901.

The tiara, along with many of the other jewels owned by Ducky’s mother and sisters, was displayed in Coburg in 1903 as a part of a charity exhibition of the family’s possessions [5]. And she was also photographed in the tiara with her second husband, Grand Duke Kirill, which means that it was still in her possession in 1905. After that, it falls off the map. In her write-up on the emeralds, Ursula speculates Ducky had the tiara broken up sometime after her second marriage, using the stones to create a larger emerald parure. Ultimately, very few of Ducky’s jewels are still around today, largely because the family had to sell many of their most valuable possessions after the Russian revolution. I think it’s safe to say that her emerald wedding tiara has also left the family’s collection, one way or another.

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Cropped and edited version of the Hesse wedding photo, which is now in the public domain; you can see a full version of the photograph here.
2. Vicky’s comment, made in a letter to one of her daughters, is quoted at Ursula’s site.
3. Cropped version of an image in the public domain; source here.
4. Lists of Ducky’s wedding gifts from the Illustrated London News and the Graphic are excerpted here.
5. Ursula has a feature on the 1903 Coburg exhibition; you can see the emerald tiara here.

Shamrocks and Clovers

03.13.2014 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Augusta Victoria of Germany’s clover coronet, ca. 1913 [1]

St. Patrick’s Day is nearly upon us — what better time to take a gander at royal jewels that feature shamrocks, clovers, and trefoils as a part of their design? We may not see many new pieces of royal jewelry today that incorporate these motifs, but the Victorians loved a good shamrock. And why not — the shamrock is not only used as a symbol of Ireland but also seen as a representative of the trinity and of other sacred trios. Here are a couple of my favorite pieces of jewelry that feature this lucky symbol.

The Prussian Clover Coronet

Augusta Victoria [2]

This striking clover diadem, pictured above and at left, was designed by a royal who wasn’t primarily known for his interest in the aesthetics of jewels: Kaiser Wilhelm II. He commissioned the coronet, which featured shamrock and clovers, from Koch in 1906 as a twenty-fifth wedding anniversary gift for his wife, Kaiserin Augusta Victoria. Dona was photographed in the piece; she also wore it in a portrait painted by Philip de László in 1908. After the family was exiled to the Netherlands in the aftermath of World War I, they managed to keep this piece in their collection. In the ensuing decades, however, the tiara was altered. In 1950, parts of the tiara were removed to create two additional tiaras. In its current form, the clover coronet is often featured in various museum exhibitions. (There’s a similar clover coronet in the collection of another branch of the German royal family; it was worn by Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Hohenzollern during her German marriage ceremony in 1961.)

The Shamrock Kokoshnik Tiara
For my money, one of the most charming kokoshniks out there is this tiara, which is made up of tiny shamrocks or trefoils. The piece also comes from the collection of the former imperial family of Germany. The tiara, which was made by Fabergé, can also be worn with three detachable elements to supplement the design. It was given as a wedding present to Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the wife of the last German crown prince, in 1905. Her daughter, also named Cecilie, wore it at her wedding to Texan architect Clyde Harris in 1949. Ursula’s site features additional pictures of the piece.

Chris Jackson/AFP/Getty Images

The Irish Guards Shamrock Brooch
When the Duchess of Cambridge makes a visit to the Irish Guards, she borrows a gold shamrock brooch from them to wear for the occasion. The piece has a teeny-tiny emerald set right in the center of the shamrock leaves, giving it a bit of glitter as well as shine. Kate has worn the brooch on three separate occasions so far (and likely will wear it again on Monday); in the past, the regiment has also loaned the brooch to the Queen Mum and to Princess Anne.

Countess of Flanders [4]

The Flanders Tiara
The Albion Art Institute in Tokyo today owns this trefoil-motif tiara, which once belonged to a member of the French imperial family. Napoleon’s adopted daughter, Stéphanie de Beauharnais, was probably the first owner of the piece, which is made of pearls and diamonds set in gold and silver. Her granddaughter, Princess Marie, married the Count of Flanders, a son of King Leopold I of Belgium; she’s the wearer who is most frequently associated with the tiara. Marie’s daughter inherited the tiara, but it eventually left the family altogether. Since it was acquired by Albion Art, it’s been included in a number of exhibitions all over the world, including the “Diamond Divas” exhibit in Belgium [3].

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS

1. Cropped version of an image in the public domain due to its age; source here.

2. Cropped version of a photograph available via Wikimedia Commons; source here.
3. Here’s an item on the Flanders tiara from the exhibition.
4. Cropped version of a photograph in the public domain; source here.