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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Belgian-Dutch State Visit: State Banquet

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State banquet at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam (Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images)

The first day of the Belgian state visit to the Netherlands ended with a glittering state banquet at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam. The best thing about an all-royal state visit? So many tiaras!

Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images

Queen Mathilde wore the full version of the grand tiara of Belgium’s queens: the Nine Provinces Tiara. She also wore jewels that belonged to the late Queen Fabiola: her diamond and pearl earrings, as well as her diamond waterfall brooch. We also got a glimpse at a diamond bracelet on her left wrist.

Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images

Queen Maxima greeted her guests in the tiara, earrings, necklace, and bracelet from the Mellerio Ruby Parure, a set that has been with the Dutch royal family for more than a century. On her left wrist, she also appears to be wearing Queen Juliana’s diamond watch.

Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images

Princess Beatrix chose a tiara we’ve recently discussed here: the Dutch Diamond Bandeau. She paired it with diamond and pearl earrings, a diamond riviere, and three of the family’s diamond stars. We also get glimpses of a pair of bracelets and a pair of rings.

Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images

The king’s sister-in-law, Princess Laurentien, wore Queen Emma’s Diamond Tiara, which Maxima recently wore in New Zealand. She accessorized further with diamond earrings and another of the family’s diamond stars.

Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images

And the king’s aunt, Princess Margriet, wore her wedding tiara: the Pearl Button Tiara. She also added pearl earrings and the family’s three-stranded pearl necklace with the large pearl and diamond clasp.

Photo: ROBIN VAN LONKHUIJSEN/AFP/Getty Images

And here’s another look at the entire group. All are wearing the colorful sashes of orders of chivalry. Queen Mathilde and King Philippe are both wearing the highest order of chivalry in the Netherlands: the Order of the Netherlands Lion. (If I’m not mistaken, this is a newly-bestowed honor.) King Willem-Alexander, Queen Maxima, and Princess Beatrix all wear the distinctive purple sash of the Order of Leopold, Belgium’s highest chivalric order. (I believe Willem-Alexander and Maxima have just received this one.) Pieter van Vollenhoven, Princess Margriet, Prince Constantijn, and Princess Laurentien are all wearing the dark red sash of Belgium’s Order of the Crown. (Laurentien seems to have just received this order.)

Belgian-Dutch State Visit: Arrival in Amsterdam

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Queen Maxima and Queen Mathilde in Amsterdam (Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images)

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians are in the Netherlands for a three-day state visit this week! Queen Maxima and Queen Mathilde kicked off day one with a visit to a Flemish culture house in Amsterdam. Here’s a look at what they wore.

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

Maxima paired pieces from the family’s collection of silvery-gray pearls with her outfit for the event. The earrings feature a round pearl stud, a diamond pendant, and a round pearl drop.

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

The gray pearl brooch, which has a diamond ribbon winding around its stem, comes from the collection of Queen Wilhelmina. Maxima pinned this jewel to the waist of her dress.

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

Maxima also wore her diamond family initial bracelet and a pearl ring.

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

Mathilde went with diamonds for the visit, including her lovely diamond earrings. These earrings, which feature various diamond cuts, are newer additions to her jewelry box. She debuted them earlier this year in Sweden.

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

It’s tough to see, but she also pinned her lovely, delicate diamond and pearl brooch to her dress. She pinned the same brooch to her coat for the official arrival ceremony. I love both the dress and the brooch, but I’m not sure about the combo. The piece gets a little lost against the patterned fabric, though it showed up in better relief against the jacket. (Here’s a better view of the brooch.)

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

On her right wrist, Mathilde wore her diamond bracelet with a wrapped lattice-work pattern. We also get a sneaky glimpse here of a ring.

Photo: Patrick van Katwijk/Getty Images

That’s it for the first engagement of the day — stay tuned later today for state banquet jewels!

The Dutch Diamond Bandeau

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The Dutch Diamond Bandeau (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

It’s one of the most stunning bandeaux in a royal collection today, but the diamond bandeau belonging to the Dutch royals wasn’t always a tiara. Let’s delve into the history of this major diamond piece, shall we?

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

The giant diamonds that make up this bandeau were originally a part of a necklace. (The diamonds are often mistakenly identified as rose-cut stones, but that’s apparently not the case.) In 1879, the necklace was given by the Dutch people to Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont on the occasion of her marriage to King William III of the Netherlands. And she deserved major diamonds for marrying the old king; he was apparently quite the bon vivant. Several other princesses, including Emma’s sister Pauline, had turned him down, and he’d even tried to marry a French opera singer before settling down with Emma.

Emma’s daughter, Queen Wilhelmina, had her mother’s diamond necklace remade into this stunning bandeau tiara in 1937. She only wore the tiara in public once, and after her death, it was inherited by her daughter, Queen Juliana.

Photo: Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Juliana loved a good diamond, and this tiara was right in her wheelhouse. The enormous diamonds that cascade across the bandeau weigh, in total, more than a hundred carats. And Juliana was one smart cookie when it came to royal jewels. She started a family trust, which ensured that the pieces left to the collection would not leave the family. Above, Juliana wears the tiara at the end of her reign, during a state visit from King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain.

Photo: ROBIN UTRECHT/AFP/Getty Images

The bandeau is a part of the family collection today, and it’s worn regularly by both Princess Beatrix (whose hairstyle hides the piece a bit) and Queen Maxima. Above, Beatrix wears the tiara during a state visit from the Italian president in 2012, the year before her abdication.

Photo: Sean Gallup/Getty Images

It’s been a particular favorite of Maxima’s, who even wore it on the night before she became queen consort. And I can see why: its profile makes it easy to wear with lots of different hairstyles, but it’s still got enough wattage to take anyone’s breath away.