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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Week in Royal Jewels: January 22-28

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January 22-28, 2016
We’ve got a rather surprising winner in the weekly jewel review this week. Vote for your favorite in the poll below!
10. Princess Charlene of Monaco donned a sparkling pair of stud earrings during a ceremony in honor of Monaco’s patroness, Sainte Devote, on Tuesday.

9. For the presentation of scholarships from the Micael Bindefeld Foundation on Wednesday, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore a pair of pearl drop earrings.
8. Queen Silvia of Sweden also chose pearl earrings, plus an unusual brooch, for the opening of an exhibition of royal clocks on Friday.
7. I almost ranked this photograph first, just because it’s absolutely bonkers, but if you can look past Alessandra Borghese, Bianca Jagger (!), and that hat (!!!), Princess Gloria of Thurn and Taxis wore pearl earrings at a signing for her new book in Paris on Monday. Phew.
6. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands selected dangling diamond earrings and a dazzling dress for a concert in Brussels on Friday.
5. She wasn’t the only queen consort at the concert; Queen Mathilde of the Belgians also attended, and she wore her lovely diamond tassel earrings.
4. Mathilde wore a set of intriguing modern gold jewelry on Wednesday at an engagement in Brussels.
3. And Maxima also wore a set of gold statement jewelry on Thursday at a film festival in Rotterdam.
2. It may be familiar, but it’s still wonderful: the Duchess of Cornwall wore one of her pearl necklaces with a diamond clasp at Wilton’s Music Hall on Thursday.

1. But my dark-horse vote for the best jewels of the week goes to a woman who once was royal: Sarah, Duchess of York, who wore the diamond necklace and earrings that were wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II at a charity gala in London on Monday. (These were the same diamonds, FYI, that were a part of the strange theft at JFK in the ’90s. More on that story over here…)

The Prussian Meander Kokoshnik

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Once rulers of an entire empire, the House of Hohenzollern had a suitably grand selection of tiaras at their disposal at the beginning of the twentieth century. This tiara, the kokoshnik-style meander, supplemented the already impressive collection. It was created in 1905 by Koch, a German jewelry firm that created numerous pieces for the Prussian royal family.

Crown Princess Cecilie wears the kokoshnik [source]

Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany commissioned the tiara as a wedding gift for his bride, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (who was the sister of Queen Alexandrine of Denmark). In 1908, Cecilie was painted in the kokoshnik by Caspar Ritter. Cecilie certainly deserved to get an impressive tiara out of the deal. Her husband was a notorious philanderer — there were even claims of an affair with Mata Hari, which was probably a bad idea all around if true.

Anyway, the the tiara is impressive indeed. The piece is shaped like a kokoshnik headdress, with a Greek key design running along its borders and delicate diamond latticework in the central sections. Large diamonds are studded across the piece, giving extra substance and sparkle to the light and airy web of smaller diamonds.

Princess Kira wears the kokoshnik [source]

Some think that the Greeks originally used meander designs to symbolize unity, and so it makes sense that this wedding gift became something of a traditional wedding tiara for the Hohenzollerns. One of the most fascinating women in the family, Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, wore it when she married Wilhelm and Cecilie’s son, Prince Louis Ferdinand, in 1938. Almost thirty years later, her daughter, Princess Marie-Cécile, wore the tiara at her wedding to Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg.

The tiara appeared once more on a Prussian bride in 2011, when Princess Sophie of Isenburg, the wife of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, surprised many by donning it at her wedding reception. (You’ll remember that she wore her family’s tiara for the ceremony.) Georg Friedrich is the grandson of Louis Ferdinand and Kira — and he’s also the stepson and nephew of the aforementioned Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg. Have a bit of fun with Google on that subject after you’ve finished marveling at this meander!

Note: this is an updated version of a post that originally appeared on The Court Jeweller in January 2014.


Jewel History: The Coming Royal Wedding (1878)

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“The Coming Royal Wedding”
(originally appeared in the New York Times on 15 Dec 1878)

From the London Truth — The marriage of His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught [1] with Princess Louise of Prussia [2] is to be solemnized at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor on the 7th of February [3]. The ceremony will be performed with much state and with great festivities.

Although it appears that a dramatic representation is not in the programme, yet I am pleased to hear that the Queen will take a prominent part in all the festivities. It is time that Her Majesty should let her light shine on gatherings at the court.

The royal bride is to be attended to the altar by eight bridesmaids: the daughters of two English dukes, of two Irish marquesses, and of four earls — two being Scottish and two English. The Dukes are Bedford and Marlborough; the Marquesses Headfort and Conyngham; the Earls Errol, Elgin, Bradford, and Mount-Edgecombe.

The household of the future Duchess of Connaught, as was the case with that of the Duchess of Edinburgh, is to be composed exclusively of English ladies. I hear it reported in Tory circles that our imperial Prime Minister intends, at the first opportunity, to arrange for the Duke of Connaught and his bride to reside a great part of the year in Ireland.

NOTES

1. Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn (1850-1942) was the seventh child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. He served in the British army in various capacities for nearly his entire adult life; he also served as Governor-General of Canada.

2. Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia (1860-1917) was the daughter of Prince Friedrich Karl and Princess Maria Anna of Prussia; she was therefore a great-niece of Kaiser Wilhelm I. Her future husband’s sister, Vicky, was married to her cousin, the future Emperor Friedrich III.

3. The couple were actually married on March 13, 1879, at St. George’s Chapel. Louise’s wedding presents included a treasure trove of jewels. The couple had three children — Margaret, Arthur, and Patricia — and their direct descendants include the current monarchs of Sweden and Denmark.