jewel history – Page 37

Jewel History: The Princely Wedding at Monte Carlo (1920)

07.20.2015 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

“The Princely Wedding at Monte Carlo”

(originally appeared in the Times of London on 22 Mar 1920)

Monte Carlo, March 21 — The religious ceremony of marriage between the Duchesse de Valentinois [1], adopted daughter of Prince Louis of Monaco [2], son of the reigning Prince [3], and Count Pierre de Polignac [4] took place yesterday. The bridal procession was headed by Prince Albert of Monaco, who was accompanied by representatives of the French President and the Kings of Italy, Spain, and the Belgians. The bride looked very charming in a simple frock of white moire satin, the train falling from her waist.

As trainbearers she had two cousins of the bridegroom, who before the ceremony had become naturalized as a Monegasque subject and had taken the title of Duc de Valentinois. Cardinal Luçon, Archbishop of Reims, delivered the address and pronounced the nuptial benediction. The newly married couple returned on foot to the palace, where they had come out on the balcony to acknowledge the cheers of the assembled crowd. The Duc and Duchesse left later for Florence on their honeymoon.

The civil marriage took place on Friday in the Throne Room, otherwise known as the Salle Grimaldi, which was exquisitely decorated. There was a large gathering of official and other personages. The bride wore a charming costume of dove grey, and over it an ample plain crepe de Chine mantle with a broad brown fur collar and brown fur border.

M. François Roussel, President of the Council of State, read an address notable for its fine literary form. He is an accomplished writer and author. Addressing the Duchess first, he sketched her childhood and her self-sacrificing work as a war nurse. Turning to the bridegroom, he said that the country welcomed with respectful joy the representative of a French family of such ancient nobility. Various formalities having been fulfilled, he declared the princely couple united.

The garden party on Thursday was a great success. One thousand five hundred invitations had been issued and the terrace and beautiful gardens of the historic palace were densely crowded. The Duchesse de Valentinois did the honours most charmingly, assisted by the members of the princely family, and presented her fiancé to many visitors. There was a gala performance at the opera in the evening, when the Shah of Persia [5] was among the brilliant audience.

In the evening after the civil marriage there was a Venetian fête, which was a magnificent success. It was a perfect starlit night, and the sea was absolutely calm. The Prince’s and other yachts, which had been decorated by day in rainbow fashion, were outlined with electric lights, and all the houses even far up the mountain slopes were illuminated with Monegasque red and white lights. The Casino and terraces furnished a splendid display, and even the tramway-cars flamed with scarlet and white lamps.

There were hundreds of boats all glorious with red and white lanterns and decorated with ingenious artistic luminous transparencies, representing swans, fishes, and sea horses. Able admirals in command maneuvered the glittering fleets with great skill. Outside the harbour, convoys appeared mysteriously out of the darkness, winding over the sea like serpents of fire. Other fleets sallied out of the port into the Bay of Hercules. The fireworks were magnificent, even for Monaco. Not in 22 years have I seen such a gorgeous display.

NOTES
1. Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess of Valentinois (1898-1977), born Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet, was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II of Monaco and an French cabaret singer and restaurant hostess, Marie Juliette Louvet. Juliette met Prince Louis through her mother, Joséphine, who was Louis’s laundress in Paris. Prince Louis had no legitimate children, so to avoid a succession crisis, he adopted Charlotte in 1918, making her second in line to the Monegasque throne. She is the grandmother of the current Prince of Monaco, Albert II.
2. Prince Louis II of Monaco (1870-1949), Charlotte’s father, was the Hereditary Prince of Monaco in 1920.
3. Prince Albert I of Monaco (1848-1922), Charlotte’s grandfather, was the reigning Prince of Monaco in 1920. Prince Louis was Albert’s only child, the product of his first marriage to Scottish aristocrat Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton. By 1920, Albert had long been legally separated from his second wife, the American-born Alice Heine.
4. Count Pierre de Polignac (1895-1964) became Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois on his marriage to Princess Charlotte. Pierre’s father, Count Maxence de Polignac, was French; his mother, Susana de la Torre y Mier, was born in Mexico.
5. Ahmad Shah Qajar (1898-1930), the last ruler of the Qajar dynasty in Iran.

Jewel History: London Admires Stotesbury Gems (1912)

07.07.2015 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Mrs. Edward T. Stotesbury [source]

“London Admires Stotesbury Gems”

(originally appeared in the New York Times on 7 Jul 1912)

Just as the Duchess of Marlborough’s emeralds were, a few years ago when she first began to display them, the objects of many admiring remarks in London, so Mrs. Edward T. Stotesbury’s diamonds are now the talk of the town.

The Philadelphia banker’s wife [1] loves jewels for their own sake, and can discuss the good and bad points of a gem with an expert’s knowledge. All her stones are of the finest water, and a number of them, gathered at the cost of much time and trouble, are of incomparable beauty.

Countess Sophie de Torby wearing her pearls (and other jewels) [source]

London first saw them at the recent Court, when Mrs. Stotesbury was presented to the King and Queen [2] at Buckingham Palace, and since then their fame has grown, so that “Mrs. Stotesbury’s diamonds” has become as current a phrase in conversations of which feminine adornments form the topic as the Countess of Torby’s pearls [3], the Duchess of Marlborough’s emeralds [4], or the Duchess of Westminster’s famous tiara [5].

This last mentioned ornament is in danger of losing its proud and hitherto undisputed prominence in the way of tiaras, or “fenders,” as they are sometimes irreverently called. Mrs. Stotesbury’s tiara is running it a close race. Mrs. Stotesbury’s is not so high as the Duchess’s, but has affixed to it six pendant pear-shaped diamonds, which are calculated to make smaller jewels pale their comparatively ineffectual fires.

A high diamond collar with many beautiful stones in the collar itself and a number of pear-shaped pendant gems is another of Mrs. Stotesbury’s much admired possessions; while she has a pair of drop earrings, consisting of two large stones, each nearly as big as the smaller of the two chief pieces into which the Cullinan diamond was cut [6]. The largest portion of the Cullinan diamond is set in the King’s crown, while the portion next in size is worn by Queen Mary on special occasions.

Eva Stotesbury [source]

History does not state what the Queen thought when she saw the American woman making her curtsey with several gems rivaling Her Majesty’s most brilliant ornament, at least in sparkle, if not in size.

It would be impossible to enumerate all of Mrs. Stotesbury’s jewels, but a sapphire pendant is understood to be unique both in respect to color and size. The size is that of a silver dollar.

NOTES
1. In January 1912, the widowed investment banker Edward T. Stotesbury married Eva Roberts Cromwell, who had also been widowed. The pair lived large; along with Eva’s famous jewels, the pair collaborated on numerous elaborate estates in America. Eva had three children with her first husband. Her daughter, Louise, was the first wife of General Douglas MacArthur. One of Eva’s sons, James, married two heiresses: Delphine Dodge (of the automobile company) and, famously, Doris Duke.
2. King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom.
3. Sophie of Merenberg (1868-1927) was the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia; her uncle, Grand Duke Adolph of Luxembourg, gave her the title of Countess de Torby. One of Sophie’s grandfathers was the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Her daughters were Lady Zia Wernher and Nada Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven.
4. In 1912, the Duchess of Marlborough was Consuelo Vanderbilt.
5. The Duchess of Westminster in 1912 was Constance Cornwallis-West.
6. For more on the Cullinan diamond, read my extensive post on the gemstone.

Jewel History: Mrs. Leeds’s Jewels Astonishing Paris (1912)

06.22.2015 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

“Mrs. Leeds’s Jewels Astonishing Paris”
(originally appeared in the New York Times on 23 June 1912)

PARIS, June 22 — The society sensation of the present season here has certainly been Mrs. William B. Leeds [1], with her marvelous gowns and jewels. The latter embellishment of the youthful widow’s beauty has caused the greatest astonishment in Paris society, especially when her wonderful collection of emeralds was recently increased.

To the well-known tiara and necklace of these stones she has now added a superb stomacher, bought at Cartier’s for $140,000 [2]. The dazzling array of emeralds in the possession of Mrs. Leeds is now estimated by experts to be worth a good deal over a million dollars. They include many stones believed to be unique for size and perfection of quality.

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