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Royal Jewel Rewind: Monaco’s Princely Wedding Reception, Part 3 (2011)

07.04.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

Our final rewind post on the 2011 Monegasque princely wedding wraps up with a look at the jewels worn by ladies from non-reigning royal families. (If you missed any of our previous posts in this series, visit here, here, here, here, and here!)

Photo: GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images

Micaela d’Orleans wore sparkling stud earrings and an interesting diamond ornament on a diaphanous ribbon. (She wore the same ornament — which looks like it was possibly a hair comb at some point? — at her own religious wedding ceremony in 2009.)

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Maria Margarita de Bourbon achieved a classic look with diamond earrings, a major diamond ring, and a sparkling dress.

Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images

Sophie of Isenburg wore two tiaras during her wedding to Georg Friedrich of Prussia later in the summer of 2011, but for this wedding reception, she donned only gem-set earrings.

This wedding was one of the final outings for a major Bavarian tiara: Ursula of Bavaria wore the family’s sunburst tiara, pairing it with the same diamond earrings she’d worn earlier in the day, a pearl necklace, and a diamond bow brooch. The tiara was subsequently sold.

Valerie of Baden wore one of the loveliest tiaras in the family’s jewelry box: the Baden Laurel Wreath Tiara. She paired the tiara with pearls.

Photo: GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images

Valerie’s daughter-in-law, Stephanie of Baden, wore another of the family’s heirlooms: the Baden Sunburst Tiara.

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Farah Pahlavi, former empress of Iran, was ultra-elegant in simple pearl and diamond earrings and a coordinating sautoir-style necklace, plus her delicate gold pendant necklace.

Photo: GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images

Although she has sometimes worn the imposing Musy Tiara at royal events, Marina of Savoy went tiara-less at this wedding, choosing to wear a major necklace instead. The multi-stranded pearl necklace features a cluster-style clasp set with diamonds and a large green gemstone. Marina also wore coordinating earrings.

Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images

But her daughter-in-law, Clotilde Courau, sparkled in some important royal jewels: the earrings from the antique Savoy Tourmaline Parure. Clotilde wore the tiara and jewels from this suite on her own wedding day.

Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images

Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies was decked out in diamonds and rubies for the wedding reception. Her gorgeous Edwardian-era tiara, which includes diamond dragonflies set en tremblant, was featured prominently in Geoffrey Munn’s famous tiara book. She paired the tiara with a collar-style necklace; you can also see a massive diamond on her left hand.

Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images

Isabel of Braganza wore the petite diamond bandeau tiara that belonged to her mother-in-law, Maria Francisca, pairing it with diamond floral earrings and a small diamond floral brooch.

Photo: GERARD JULIEN/AFP/Getty Images

Margarita of Romania wore the family’s Greek Key Tiara, which originally belonged to a Russian grand duchess. She added a little extra sparkle courtesy a necklace and earring set, which features spade-shaped diamond elements.

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Hearkening back to her Romanov roots, Maria Vladimirovna wore a kokoshnik-style tiara (which we’ve previously discussed here) and matching earrings at the reception.

Photo: FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images

And last, but not least, Katherine of Serbia decided to eschew a tiara altogether. She does sometimes wear tiaras at white-tie events, but for this wedding reception, she wore just her diamond chain-link necklace and the coordinating earrings.

Royal Jewel Rewind: Monaco’s Princely Wedding, Part 3 (2011)

07.03.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco (Photo: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

Time for the third installment of our look back at the jewels worn to the religious wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco! This post features jewels worn by the “pretenders” — members of formerly reigning royal families. (If you missed either of our previous posts, catch up here and here!) Stay tuned today for even more glitter from the wedding reception!

Photos (clockwise, L-R): Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Let’s start off with the attendees from France. Quick background: there are three “houses” of French royalty today, all of which claim to be the rightful heirs to the French throne. Representatives of two of those houses attended the wedding. The Orleans branch descends from King Louis Philippe, who reigned until 1848; the head of the house uses the title of “Count of Paris.” And this is his wife: Micaela d’Orleans. She wore a lovely diamond and pearl demi-parure to the wedding, which includes a pair of pearl drop earrings and an intriguing diamond loop necklace with a pearl drop pendant. She also wore gold rings, including the hammered ring you see above.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

The other French pretender at the wedding was Louis Alphonse de Bourbon, current head of the “Legitimist” line. (This line is complicated, and it threads through the Spanish royal family, too.) Louis Alphonse uses the title of “Duke of Anjou.” His wife is Maria Margarita de Bourbon, a Venezuelan banking heiress. She wore classic diamond stud earrings with her sparkling dress, plus a major diamond ring on her right hand.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images, DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images

If Germany still had a monarchy, its sovereign today would probably be Georg Friedrich of Prussia, head of the main branch of the Hohenzollern family. His wedding took place shortly after this one, but he brought along his fiancee, Sophie of Isenburg. She wore an intricately embroidered dress to the wedding, so she kept her jewelry simple: just a necklace with a disc-shaped gold pendant, and her engagement ring.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images, Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images, Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Leopold of Bavaria, a member of the extended Bavarian royal family, attended the ceremony with his wife, Ursula. (You’ll see them pop up at lots of royal events because they’re friends with several reigning royals. He’s Prince Carl Philip of Sweden’s godfather.) Ursula wore several pieces of intriguing jewelry: a pair of earrings with a ribbon stud and a pave-set ball pendant; a six-stranded pearl necklace; a glittering bracelet; and a brooch with a cabochon amethyst center stone and a diamond meander border.

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

And here’s another German royal with significant connections to reigning royalty: Valerie of Baden, wife of Maximilian of Baden, who is a nephew of the Duke of Edinburgh. (Valerie’s own royal connections aren’t too shabby, either — she’s a great-granddaughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.) Unfortunately, photographers at this wedding didn’t seem to recognize her — but, luckily for us, she was seated beside Karl Lagerfeld, so we got a pretty good glimpse of her jewels anyway. (That’s Karl’s glove in the corner of the photo, of course.) Valerie went with pearls for the wedding: pearl drop earrings and a multi-stranded pearl necklace worn knotted.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, Marc Piasecki/Getty Images

Photographers did, however, recognize Valerie’s daughter-in-law, Stephanie of Baden. She also wore pearls, including a three-stranded necklace and a pair of earrings with a gem-set stud and a pearl drop.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images, PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images, PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images

The former empress of Iran, Farah Pahlavi, attended the wedding in a bright suite of jewels. The set includes earrings, a large cocktail ring, and an even larger brooch in the shape of a bird. She also wore a delicate gold necklace.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

Marina of Savoy, wife of one of the pretenders to the Italian throne, went big with two pieces of jewelry: large earrings with a faceted center stone, and a ring with rows of gemstones.

Photo: PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

Marina’s daughter-in-law, the glamorous French actress Clotilde Courau, wore only one piece of jewelry at the wedding ceremony: her own wedding. (As you’ll see later, though, she more than made up for it at the evening reception.)

Photos (clockwise, L-R): Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, Dan Kitwood/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images

The Italian contingent was rounded out by two Monegasque residents: Carlo and Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. The pair are close friends of the Grimaldis, and they’re often in attendance at the big social events in Monaco during the year. For this wedding, Camilla wore major pearls, including large earrings, a necklace, and an enormous ring. She also wore a glittering diamond bracelet, plus one set with colorful gemstones, on her left wrist.

Photos: Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, DAMIEN MEYER/AFP/Getty Images

The pretender to the throne of Portugal is Dom Duarte Pio de Braganza, who often uses the title “Duke of Braganza.” His wife, Isabel, wore glittering diamonds to the wedding ceremony, including the necklace of diamond circles that belonged to her mother-in-law, Maria Francisca of Orleans-Braganza.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images, PATRICK KOVARIK/AFP/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

Margarita of Romania represented her father, King Michael, at the wedding. She wore a three-stranded pearl necklace, pearl and diamond earrings, and a gorgeous diamond brooch in the shape of a fleur-de-lis.

Photos (clockwise, L-R): Marc Piasecki/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images

One of the claimants of the headship of the House of Romanov, Maria Vladimirovna, attended the wedding. She wore an intriguing suite of jewelry that looks like it may be a matched set: earrings, brooch, and ring.

Photos: PHILIPPE DESMAZES/AFP/Getty Images, Sean Gallup/Getty Images

Katherine, the wife of Alexander of Serbia (son of the last king of Yugoslavia), wore understated jewels. The most notable pieces were her earrings, which appear to be set with light blue gemstones — possibly aquamarines?

The Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara

06.23.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Leuchtenberg Fabergé Tiara (Photo: MEHDI FEDOUACH/AFP/Getty Images)

Earlier this week, I briefly mentioned a rare diamond tiara made by Fabergé, a jewelry house that made relatively few tiaras. Today, let’s delve further into its story. Although the tiara ended up in Italy, it began its story with two imperial powers: Russia and France.

Some of the diamonds in this small but mighty tiara were given by Tsar Alexander I of Russia to Empress Joséphine of France. The Alexander and Joséphine (who had by this time been divorced by Napoléon Bonaparte) were good friends, and he often visited her at her country estate, the Château de Malmaison. When he visited, Alexander brought presents, and these diamonds were among those gifts.

Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

The tiara itself was made much later, around 1890. Joséphine’s diamonds had been inherited by her son Eugène, the Duke of Leuchtenberg, and the tiara was made by Fabergé for his descendants. The piece was created by August Holmström, the Finnish-born craftsman who was head jeweler for the firm. (He also made the lovely star sapphire brooch we discussed earlier this week. P.S.: the brooch sold for $75,000. If you bought it: congratulations!)

The Leuchtenbergs must have been thrilled with their new sparkler — there’s a lot of glitter packed into a small, easy-to-wear frame. After World War I, however, the Leuchtenbergs sold the tiara in Switzerland to the Belgian royal family. It was eventually inherited by Prince Charles Théodore, Count of Flanders. When he died unmarried and without children in 1983, he bequeathed the tiara to his sister, Marie José, the former queen of Italy.

Photo: FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images

Marie José died in 2001, and her daughter, Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, inherited this tiara and many of her mother’s other jewels. In 2007, Maria Gabriella put a collection of her mother’s jewelry, including the Fabergé tiara, up for auction at Christie’s in London. The auction notes for the piece described it as “designed as a series of graduated old-cut diamond arches with knife edge collet spacers, the central pear-shaped diamond flanked by three briolette and one old-cut diamond, each with diamond collet and leaf surmount to the foliate band, on gold wire frame, mounted in silver and gold, circa 1890, 13.2 cm. wide, with Russian assay marks for gold. Maker’s mark for August Holmström on frame.”

Photo: MIKE CLARKE/AFP/Getty Images

When the hammer fell at the auction in June 2007, the tiara sold for more than two million dollars, nearly double its auction estimate. The sparkler was purchased by Artie and Dorothy McFerrin, a husband-and-wife collecting team from Houston who have acquired an immense private collections of Fabergé items. (Another aside: I wonder if the McFerrins were the purchasers of the star sapphire brooch auctioned this week…)

Luckily for us, the McFerrins have decided to share their bounty with all of us. The Leuchtenberg tiara is on display with much of the rest of their collection at the Houston Museum of Natural Science. The pieces appear in the “Fabergé: From a Snowflake to an Iceberg” exhibition. And this November, the museum will be hosting a special symposium, “The Wonder of Fabergé,” with lectures and presentations focusing on the nearly 600 items in the collection. This tiara, a centerpiece of the museum’s advertising for their Fabergé exhibit, will surely be a major focus.