national day jewels

Jewels of Spain’s National Day

10.12.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

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Today was National Day in Spain, and with it came both a military review and protests. Queen Letizia used her jewelry on the occasion to quietly underscore the royal family’s legacy.

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In a surprising move, Queen Letizia chose to wear a piece from a jewelry category she hasn’t yet embraced: the brooch!

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The brooch features a pearl and diamond cluster with a pear-shaped pearl drop pendant.

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Although I’ve seen some identify this as the gray pearl brooch from the joyas de pasar (described in our post over here), this actually appears to be the pearl drop brooch given to the Countess of Barcelona, King Felipe’s grandmother, as a wedding present in 1935. Queen Sofia wore the brooch frequently throughout her husband’s reign — above, she wears it at a gala dinner in 2011 — and now it appears that it’s yet another piece from her jewelry box to which Queen Letizia now has access.

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Letizia paired the brooch with her bezel-set diamond and Australian pearl drop earrings.

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Here’s a look at Letizia’s full ensemble from the reception at the Royal Palace.

Royal Jewels in Review: July 2017

07.31.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Julian Simmonds/Getty Images; Julian Stratenschulte/AFP/Getty Images; Jeff Spicer/Getty Images

July 2017 gave us an incredible bumper crop of royal jewelry, so today, I’m doing a recap post to ensure that you didn’t miss a single sparkly thing! If you followed along diligently this month, here’s a chance to sigh over the jewels all over again. Which jewels were your favorites this July?

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We started the month following the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall on a tour of Canada. As Canada is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its confederation, Canadian-related events continued throughout July, culminating with the presentation of the brand-new Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch to Queen Elizabeth II.

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To celebrate Independence Day in my home country of America, we mapped out three royal diadems that now live in the United States. It’s essential info to help you plan your next American road trip!

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Our attentions turned next to Germany, where Ernst August, Prince of Hanover married his girlfriend, Ekaterina Malysheva, in a glittering almost-royal wedding. We got to see lots of the groom’s royal relatives in attendance, but most importantly, we got to see the reappearance of a tiara that we hadn’t seen in more than a decade!

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The Spanish state visit to the United Kingdom was perhaps the highlight of the entire month. We prepared with a countdown of ten amazing Spanish tiaras and a survey of the family’s joyas de pasar collection. And then, we marveled at the jewels worn by both the Spanish and British royals during the visit, especially at the state banquet and the Guildhall dinner. Magnifico!

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We marked the 40th birthday of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden with a week’s worth of Daily Diadem posts and the story of one of her favorite tiaras, plus an overview of the jewels worn at the Te Deum service held in her honor. Our Instagram account was also brimming with additional images from Victoria’s birthday weekend!

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Victoria wasn’t the only royal celebrating a milestone birthday this month: the Duchess of Cornwall turned 70! We marked the occasion with a Top Ten countdown of her very best jewels. It’s a good one!

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When the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge headed out for a tour of Poland and Germany, we followed along, tracking Kate’s jewels throughout the trip. Highlights included a new suite of jewels set with red gemstones, a new Kiki necklace, and the surprise appearance of a pearl bracelet from the collection of Diana, Princess of Wales. The Cambridges also arrived in Belgium yesterday for the Passchendaele commemorations, which continue today.

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In Belgium, National Day brought us a fairly small jewelry haul this year, but we supplemented with a look at the glittering Cartier tiara once worn by the country’s queen. We’ve also been watching the jewels of the Passchendaele commemorations in Ypres, which began yesterday and continue today.

Tristan Fewings/Getty Images for Sotheby’s

News of a major Hollywood jewelry sale also came this month. We peeked inside the Sotheby’s preview of Vivien Leigh’s jewels, which will be sold this September. Additional portraits of the famed British actress were also all over our Instagram account!

And finally, with the 20th anniversary of the death of Diana, Princess of Wales on the horizon, we chose to celebrate her glittering life instead, with a series of posts about her jewels. Highlights included her wedding jewels, the jewels she wore to dance in, and her classic appearances in Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara. Oh — and we learned how to tell the Cambridge Lover’s Knot from Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot, too!

Stay tuned for even more July jewels this week, including Charlene’s Red Cross Gala accessories (currently up on Instagram!) and more from the Passchendaele commemorations. Which royal jewels were your highlights in July?

Jewels of Belgium’s National Day

07.21.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

NICOLAS MAETERLINCK/AFP/Getty Images

Today is National Day in Belgium, and the royal family attended a Te Deum mass in Brussels to mark the occasion. Here’s a look at what everyone wore, including Queen Mathilde’s jewelry!

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The royal family spreads out to various parts of the country for these special thanksgiving services; I’ve got images to share of the immediate family attending a service at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula.

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Queen Mathilde wore a multi-colored print dress for the occasion, while the Duchess of Brabant, who is heiress to the throne, wore a vibrant fuchsia dress that echoed the color of the Order of Leopold. (Learn more about the order over here; July 21 is the day that King Leopold I swore allegiance to the Belgian constitution, becoming the nation’s first monarch.)