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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Week in Royal Jewels: January 22-28

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January 22-28, 2016
We’ve got a rather surprising winner in the weekly jewel review this week. Vote for your favorite in the poll below!
10. Princess Charlene of Monaco donned a sparkling pair of stud earrings during a ceremony in honor of Monaco’s patroness, Sainte Devote, on Tuesday.

9. For the presentation of scholarships from the Micael Bindefeld Foundation on Wednesday, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore a pair of pearl drop earrings.
8. Queen Silvia of Sweden also chose pearl earrings, plus an unusual brooch, for the opening of an exhibition of royal clocks on Friday.
7. I almost ranked this photograph first, just because it’s absolutely bonkers, but if you can look past Alessandra Borghese, Bianca Jagger (!), and that hat (!!!), Princess Gloria of Thurn and Taxis wore pearl earrings at a signing for her new book in Paris on Monday. Phew.
6. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands selected dangling diamond earrings and a dazzling dress for a concert in Brussels on Friday.
5. She wasn’t the only queen consort at the concert; Queen Mathilde of the Belgians also attended, and she wore her lovely diamond tassel earrings.
4. Mathilde wore a set of intriguing modern gold jewelry on Wednesday at an engagement in Brussels.
3. And Maxima also wore a set of gold statement jewelry on Thursday at a film festival in Rotterdam.
2. It may be familiar, but it’s still wonderful: the Duchess of Cornwall wore one of her pearl necklaces with a diamond clasp at Wilton’s Music Hall on Thursday.

1. But my dark-horse vote for the best jewels of the week goes to a woman who once was royal: Sarah, Duchess of York, who wore the diamond necklace and earrings that were wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II at a charity gala in London on Monday. (These were the same diamonds, FYI, that were a part of the strange theft at JFK in the ’90s. More on that story over here…)

This Week in Royal Jewels: January 8-14

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January 8-14, 2016
We’re back with our weekly roundup of royal jewels! See what pieces were out and about this week, and vote for your favorite in the poll below!
10. Photographers gave us a good look at the Duchess of Cambridge’s Kiki McDonough citrine earrings on Sunday at a ceremony marking the centenary of the end of the Gallipoli campaign.

9. In Madrid, Queen Letizia of Spain wore her cabochon ruby earrings at a drug addiction charity meeting on Tuesday.

8. Letizia selected her Links of London Hope Egg earrings on Friday for a series of audiences at Zarzuela Palace.

7. On Tuesday, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians wore diamond and pearl earrings to welcome Queen Rania of Jordan to Brussels.

6. In an event from last week’s calendar, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands wore an impressive pair of spherical statement earrings at an awards ceremony in Lisse.

5. Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands wore gold jewelry on Wednesday to the annual New Year’s reception for the diplomatic corps in Amsterdam.

4. For the same diplomatic reception, Maxima chose the diamond pendant earrings from Queen Juliana’s collection, wearing them with citrine drops.

3. Maxima wore diamonds and emeralds — a pair of glittering earrings and a butterfly brooch — for Tuesday’s reception at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

2. Of all the royals who gathered for the 95th birthday celebrations of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, for me the most impressive jewelry-wearer was his elder daughter, Archduchess Marie Astrid. She wore a gorgeous pearl choker necklace with a jeweled clasp and coordinating pearl drop earrings. (ETA: Drat, foiled by Twitter! This picture is from Jean’s 90th birthday celebration in 2011. Still love the necklace!)

1. My list this week is book-ended by the Windsors at the Gallipoli campaign commemoration. My top spot goes, as it so often does, to Queen Elizabeth II. She wore her Pearl Triangle Brooch, which features two large pearls and a yellow diamond.

Royal Jewels of 2015: The Top Ten Jewel Moments

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We’ve had a fair bit of royal sparkle to enjoy this year, magpies! Here’s my list of the top ten royal jewel moments of the year. There were so many to choose from — settle in with a glass of celebratory champagne, and then tell us about your favorite bejeweled moments of 2015 in the comments below!

10. Queen Maxima at the Danish State Banquet

When Maxima arrived at Christiansborg Palace for a state banquet this March, I know I wasn’t the only one who gasped. She paired her gown from the 2013 inauguration ceremonies with the full version of the grand Dutch Sapphire Tiara, plus other diamond and sapphire pieces, including the stunning sapphire wing brooch.

9. Queen Letizia in the Ansorena Tiara

Denmark was also the site of Queen Letizia’s big jewelry moment of 2015. At Queen Margrethe’s 75th birthday gala, she wore the diamond and pearl tiara made for her by Ansorena for the very first time. As a bit of icing on the cake, she also donned a wedding ring at the event for the first time in years.

8. Princess Madeleine at the Nobel Prize Ceremony

The Nobel ceremonies in Stockholm almost always offer us an important jewelry moment for the year, and this time around the superstar was Princess Madeleine. She borrowed the amazing aquamarine kokoshnik tiara that had belonged to her grandmother, Princess Sibylla, for the December 10th banquet. The incredible blue aquamarines were a great complement to Madeleine’s blue eyes.

7. Princess Caroline at the Rose Ball

Monaco has never been the most glittering principality in Europe, but Princess Caroline stepped up her game at this year’s Rose Ball, wearing her diamond fringe necklace with a lovely pair of diamond earrings that had belonged to her grandmother, Princess Charlotte.

6. The Duchess of Cornwall at a Royal Film Premiere

Camilla is one of the very best at carrying off major pieces of royal jewelry, and the new ruby demi-parure that she debuted in February at the premiere of The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel was no exception.

5. The Duchess of Cambridge at the Chinese State Banquet

When Kate arrived at her very first state banquet in October, she did so wearing pieces of jewelry that linked her to generations of queens past: the Lotus Flower Tiara from the collection of the Queen Mother, a diamond bracelet made from a choker that had belonged to Queen Mary, and diamond earrings borrowed from the present Queen. But it was the diamond bracelet that she borrowed from the Queen — a wedding gift from Prince Philip made with Romanov diamonds — that really spoke to her place in the family’s affections.

4. Queen Elizabeth II in the Crown Rubies

At Royal Ascot this year, the Queen wore an incredibly important British royal heirloom for the first time in public: the brooch from the crown ruby demi-parure, which dates to the reign of Queen Victoria. Even better, at a state banquet in Germany, she wore the brooch with its coordinating necklace and earrings. The crown rubies are traditionally paired with the Oriental Circlet; maybe we’ll eventually see her wear that combo in the future?



3. The Duchess of Cambridge in the Lover’s Knot Tiara

For years, many of us assumed that we wouldn’t see Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara again in public until Prince William’s daughter came of age. Too many associations with Diana, we all assumed. Turns out we were seriously wrong — a lesson we all learned when Kate arrived at the December diplomatic reception confidently balancing the historic tiara on her own crown.

2. Queen Mathilde in the Wolfers Tiara

After Queen Fabiola’s death in 2014, it was announced that all of her belongings were being given to charity. While that gesture was typical of her generosity, it was frightening for those of us who hoped that her major jewels had remained with the Belgian royal family. When her niece-in-law, Queen Mathilde, showed up at a state banquet in October wearing one of Fabiola’s pieces, the Wolfers Tiara, I think we all breathed a collective sigh of relief.

1. Queen Maxima at the Swedish Royal Wedding

The jewels weren’t new to us, and she wasn’t the star of the show, but really, did any royal lady wear jewels better in 2015 than Maxima did at Prince Carl Philip’s wedding in June? She wore the century-old Mellerio Ruby Parure as if it had been made just for her. Absolutely stunning!