Greece – Page 28

This Week in Royal Jewels: July 26-August 2

08.03.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

July 26-August 2, 2018

The royal summer holidays are upon us, but we’ve still got some lovely pieces to enjoy this week. Don’t forget to vote for your favorites in the poll below!

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10. Infanta Elena of Spain wore simple earrings with a ring design while sailing in the 37th Copa del Rey Mapfre in Palma de Mallorca on Thursday.

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9. Elena wore layered necklaces and lovely blue earrings as she sailed on Sunday.

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8. For the International Music School Summer Courses by Princess of Asturias Foundation in Oviedo last Thursday, Queen Letizia of Spain wore delicate earrings with a star stud and a golden chain.

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7. Letizia chose her Chanel star stud earrings for family portraits at the Almudaina Palace in Palma de Mallorca on Sunday.

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6. Princess Beatrice of York chose delicate gold bracelets and an embellished headband for the NEXUS meeting at the United Nations headquarters in New York last Thursday.

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5. Princess Eugenie of York wore delicate golden earrings with balanced pendants for the same meeting at the United Nations, which was part of her work as Director of the Anti-Slavery Collective.

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4. Infanta Elena wore a striking necklace with a green seaweed design on Wednesday for a concert at Port Adriano, but the real highlight here for me is an appearance from her aunt, Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, who wore a festive lariat-style necklace.

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3. Letizia chose a pair of dazzling hoop earrings for Wednesday’s concert in Palma de Mallorca.

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2. For Wednesday’s concert, Queen Sofia piled on her signature layered necklaces, including a sautoir-style piece.

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1. Without a doubt, my vote for the best jewels of the week go to Princess Charlene of Monaco, who wore dazzling diamonds with her gorgeous beaded gown for this weekend’s Red Cross Gala in Monte Carlo. (Much more here!)

Queen Alexandrine’s Diamond Sautoir Necklaces

08.02.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Anne-Marie wears her necklace for the pre-wedding gala in Spain, 21 May 2004 (ODD ANDERSON/AFP/Getty Images)

This August, we’re devoting our Magpie of the Month posts to a woman who celebrates her birthday in a few weeks: Anne-Marie, the Danish princess who was Queen of Greece in her youth. We’re kicking things off with a piece that connects her with her Danish royal heritage: her diamond necklace, made from a sautoir that belonged to Queen Alexandrine.

Anne-Marie wears her necklace at a farewell dinner held at Fredensborg shortly before her wedding, 10 September 1964 (Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Anne-Marie and her sister, Princess Benedikte, own identical diamond necklaces. The pieces were made by dividing up a sautoir — a fashionable long necklace worn in the 1920s and 1930s — that belonged to their Danish grandmother, Queen Alexandrine. The original necklace was always able to be taken apart and worn in different lengths and configurations, so dividing the piece for the young princesses was not a difficult task. Both women began wearing their necklaces in their youth; above, Anne-Marie wears hers a few days after her eighteenth birthday, shortly before she married King Constantine II of the Hellenes.

A portrait of Anne-Marie wearing her necklace with the Greek royal emeralds, displayed on 3 May 1968 (Keystone/Getty Images)

Anne-Marie brought the diamond necklace with her to Athens and used it immediately, often combining it with various pendants, including a substantial cross. In the portrait above, she uses the large brooch from the Greek royal family’s emerald parure as a pendant on the necklace.

Anne-Marie wears her necklace with the Greek royal emeralds at the Danish royal wedding, 14 May 2004 (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The necklace followed her into exile, and she’s continued wearing it ever since. Here she wears it with a different configuration of the Greek emeralds for the wedding of her nephew, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, in 2004.

Anne-Marie wears her necklace with Margaret of Connaught’s aquamarine pendant at the pre-wedding gala in Luxembourg, 19 October 2012 (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

The necklace’s simple design and its all-diamond setting allow it to be combined with numerous gemstones. In Luxembourg in 2012, Anne-Marie wore the necklace with a heart-shaped aquamarine pendant that had belonged to her British-born grandmother, Princess Margaret of Connaught. Her tiara on the occasion, the magnificent Khedive of Egypt Tiara, also belonged to Margaret.

Anne-Marie wears her necklace at the wedding of Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, 18 June 2011 (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images)

Anne-Marie also sometimes wears the necklace sans pendant, and I think it manages to hold its own. (Her topaz brooch here also has a removable pearl pendant; Queen Ingrid inherited it from a German great-aunt. More here!)

Benedikte wears her necklace at the Swedish royal wedding, 8 June 2013 (Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

For the sake of comparison, here’s a look at Princess Benedikte wearing her identical diamond necklace at the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden in 2013. (More on the Star and Pearl Tiara she wore with it can be found here!) Benedikte also often wears her necklace with various pendants from her jewelry box.

Benedikte wears her necklace as a pair of bracelets at a pre-wedding dinner in Copenhagen, 11 May 2004 (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

Even after being split into two, the necklaces are still able to be worn in different configurations. An example of their continued versatility can be seen here, as Benedikte wears hers divided as a pair of bracelets for a pre-wedding gala in Denmark in 2004.

Princess Andrew’s Meander Tiara

06.09.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Alice wears the tiara in a portrait, ca. 1914 (Royal Collection)

We spent a lot of the last month here discussing British royal wedding tiaras, and today, I’ve got a deep dive into the history of one of the most fascinating of them all: the diamond meander bandeau that belonged to Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark.

Alice wears the tiara in a portrait, ca. 1914

Most of the tiaras in the British royal collection arrived in Windsor hands through members of Queen Elizabeth II’s family, especially Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and the Queen Mum. But today’s Mountbatten-Windsors trace half of their royal heritage to Greece, and this piece, the meander tiara that belonged to Prince Philip’s mother, is a part of that legacy.

Zara wears the tiara on her wedding day, 30 July 2011 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The term “meander” is another word for the Greek key design that makes up the band of this tiara. No one seems to know precisely when Princess Andrew, who was born Princess Alice of Battenberg, acquired the tiara, but it would make sense that she received a Greek key tiara after marrying Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903.

Alice wears the tiara in a family portrait featuring her four daughters — Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie — taken around 1914 (Royal Collection)

The tiara is made of diamonds, and the Greek key design is punctuated by a central laurel wreath element and two honeysuckle elements. The design suggests an early twentieth century creation, and indeed, Geoffrey Munn argues that the tiara was made around the turn of the century in France, perhaps by Cartier. The earliest photographs we have of Alice wearing the tiara were taken around 1914, a decade after her marriage.

Alice wears the tiara with a pair of coordinating horseshoe-shaped hair ornaments in a portrait, ca. 1914

Alice owned the tiara until 1947, when she gave it to her new daughter-in-law, Princess Elizabeth, as a wedding gift. Had Elizabeth not become queen only a few years later, this tiara might have been a perfect piece for a princess. But history had a different plan. Elizabeth quickly graduated to grander pieces suitable for a sovereign, and she was never photographed wearing this tiara.

Sitting behind Lord Mountbatten, Anne wears the tiara at the State Opening of Parliament in 1970

Instead, the tiara was handed over to Princess Anne, who still owns the piece today. It was officially given to Anne by her mother in 1972, just before her engagement and wedding to Mark Phillips, though she had already borrowed the tiara and worn it in public in previous years.

Zara wears the tiara on her wedding day, 30 July 2011 (Dylan Martinez – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Anne has worn the sparkler on a regular basis at state functions and in official portraits, but the piece’s most prominent outing in recent years was at the wedding of Anne’s daughter, Zara Phillips. Zara paired her great-grandmother’s tiara with a veil for her Scottish wedding, paying tribute to her lesser-known royal heritage.

Note: This is an updated and expanded version of an earlier post, with new text and images.