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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

The Connaught Pearl Bar Brooch

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KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images

The brooch we’re focusing on today isn’t the grandest piece of jewelry that belongs to our Magpie of the Month, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, but it is a jewel with a remarkable history that links three royal families: the Connaught Pearl Bar Brooch.

JAN WOITAS/AFP/Getty Images

The design of the brooch is simple: three natural pearls surrounded by diamonds and arranged in a horizontal bar formation, with extra diamonds studded between the clusters. The brooch appears to be set in silver and gold.

Princess Patricia wears the brooch on her wedding day in 1919 (Illustrated London News)

The brooch originally belonged to Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia, who married one of Queen Victoria’s sons, the Duke of Connaught, in 1879. She later gave the brooch to her younger daughter, Princess Patricia of Connaught. When Patricia married Alexander Ramsay in 1919, relinquishing her royal title in the process, she pinned the brooch to the bodice of her wedding gown.

ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images

In April 1958 — sixty years ago this month — Patricia presented the brooch to her great-niece, Crown Princess Margrethe of Denmark, as an eighteenth-birthday gift. Margrethe has worn the brooch regularly in the six decades that have elapsed since. In May 2006, she chose the brooch for a press conference aboard the royal yacht at the start of an official visit to Greece. (Also of note in this photo: Margrethe’s massive toi et moi engagement ring, which you can read about over here!)

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images

Margrethe often pairs the brooch with the same modern diamond earrings that she wore in Greece. Here, she wears the brooch and earrings together during an official visit from King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands in June 2013.

PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP/Getty Images

Margrethe wears the brooch on a variety of colors. Here, she fixed the brooch on an orange-red ensemble for an IOC meeting in Copenhagen in October 2009.

DMITRY ASTAKHOV/AFP/Getty Images

She also often wears the brooch with blue clothing, as she did for the start of the official Russian visit to Copenhagen in April 2010.

Jason Kempin/Getty Images

Although Margrethe often places the brooch traditionally on her chest, she has on occasion placed it in more unexpected ways. For a gala hosted by the Danish-American Society in New York in June 2011, she pinned the brooch in the center of her bodice.

Getty Images

Margrethe has also used the brooch as an enhancer ornament on one of her pearl necklaces. She wore the piece this way in May 2004 for the Spanish royal wedding in Madrid, fastening the brooch horizontally near her neckline. The brooch may not be a grand piece, but it has a grand family history — something we know Margrethe values just as much.

The Danish Sapphire Fleur-de-Lis Brooch

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PETRAS MALUKAS/AFP/Getty Images

It’s a a new month, which means it’s also time for a new Magpie of the Month! This April, we’re celebrating the jewels of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, who turns 78 this month. Margrethe’s jewel box is one of the most interesting in Europe, filled with heirloom pieces, sentimental items, and modern jewels. Today, we’re kicking things off with a look at a classic piece: her Sapphire Fleur-de-Lis Brooch.

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images

The sapphire and diamond brooch is a family heirloom, reportedly going back at least three generations in the Danish royal family. There are photographs of Queen Ingrid wearing the brooch, and now, Queen Margrethe is the primary (perhaps even exclusive) wearer of the piece.

NICO CASAMASSIMA/AFP/Getty Images

Margrethe often wears the brooch, which is set with diamonds and cabochon sapphires, against dark clothing, but during a May 2006 visit to Italy, she paired it with a bright yellow jacket.

Niels Henrik Dam/Getty Images

She uses the brooch in a versatile way, but she primarily wears it for day occasions and even important government functions. In October 2008, she chose it for the opening of the parliamentary session in Copenhagen.

KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images

Here, she wears the brooch for a diplomatic event: receiving the President and First Lady of Finland in April 2013. I like the brooch best with solid colors, but the diamonds tend to recede a bit against a white outfit like this one.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

In 2010, Margrethe wore the brooch for an important family event: the wedding of her nephew, Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark. On this occasion, she used the brooch as an ornament on a pearl necklace.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The wedding appearance gave us a clear look at the brooch’s details. Here, you can see the large diamond that sits in the center of the piece. You can also see some design similarities between this brooch and the pearl and diamond fleur-de-lis brooch worn by the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.

Claudio Bresciani/AFP/Getty Images

One of Margrethe’s more recent appearances in the brooch came in April 2015, when she wore it for the Sibelius-Nielsen Festival in Stockholm. The fleur-de-lis is a traditionally French design symbol, connecting the piece to Margrethe’s late husband, Prince Henrik. I wouldn’t be surprised to see this one worn more often in the wake of his recent death, as a sort of quiet bejeweled tribute. The brooch would also be a natural loan to Margrethe’s French-born daughter-in-law, Princess Marie.

Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and the Empire Tiara

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Our month-long look at the jewels of Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg wraps up today with an overview of her use of the grand duchy’s most imposing diadem: the Empire Tiara.

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The enormous, all-diamond tiara has been with the family for generations. (Our lengthier post on its history can be read over here.) Maria Teresa has been grand duchess since her husband took the throne in 2000, but she did not attempt to wear the Empire Tiara in public until after the death of her mother-in-law and predecessor, Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte.

I believe that Maria Teresa’s first public appearance in the tiara came in April 2006, during a state visit to the Netherlands. (The two royal families are actually two branches of the same royal house; the Orange-Nassaus reign in the Netherlands, and the Nassau-Weilburgs now reign in Luxembourg. From 1815 until 1890, the Dutch sovereign also reigned over Luxembourg, but the two countries had differing succession rules, and Queen Wilhelmina was not allowed to ascend to the Luxembourgish throne. Instead, the job fell to Adolphe, Duke of Nassau, the current grand duke’s great-great-grandfather.)

Maria Teresa wore the tiara for a state banquet at the Noordeinde Palace in The Hague. On this occasion, she paired the towering diadem with two diamond rivieres, pearl drop earrings, a pearl and diamond bracelet, and one of the Nassau Rose Brooches.

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Maria Teresa brought out the tiara again for another important state visit in March 2007, this time to Belgium. The Luxembourgish and Belgian royal families are closely related: Grand Duke Henri’s late mother, Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte, was born a Belgian princess. The choice of the diadem for this visit was surely a nod to those close family bonds. Maria Teresa wore the tiara for a state banquet at Laeken Castle near Brussels.

Appropriately, Maria Teresa also wore a jewel that once belonged to Josephine-Charlotte’s mother, Queen Astrid of Belgium: the diamond and emerald choker necklace, which can also be worn as a bracelet or a bandeau. She also wore diamond and emerald earrings and the grand diamond epaulette brooch, which was once a shoulder decoration for an elaborate dress military uniform. For me, this outing of the tiara might be her best, simply because of her more elaborate hairstyle choice.

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Maria Teresa chose a sleeker hairstyle for one of her most recent outings in the tiara, which came in Stockholm at the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden in June 2010. This was one of the largest and most glittering royal weddings in a generation, and the tiara was one of many heirloom diadems dusted off for the occasion.

For this appearance, Maria stuck with a theme: diamonds and pearls. Along with the tiara, she wore pearl drop earrings, a single (but substantial) diamond riviere, and Princess Ingeborg’s Pearl Fleur-de-Lis Brooch. The choice of that brooch for a Swedish royal wedding was surely a deliberate one: after all, Princess Ingeborg, great-grandmother of Grand Duke Henri, was a Danish princess who married into the royal family of Sweden.

Three major appearances, three different styles. But what about the future? We haven’t seen Maria Teresa wear the Empire Tiara in years. Many see this tiara as more of an art object, suitable for display in a museum, than as a piece of jewelry suited for modern wear. What do you think: do you want to see Maria Teresa wear this one again soon? (The recently announced Dutch-Luxembourgish state visit, scheduled for May 23-25, would certainly be an appropriate opportunity!)