Portugal – Page 4

The Braganza Floral Necklace Tiara

06.02.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

As they lost their thrones, many royal families struggled to hang on to their jewelry, too. But, thanks to the careful planning of ancestors along the way, the current pretender to the Portuguese throne and his wife still have quite a jewelry collection at their disposal. Today, we’re looking at the floral diamond suite from the Braganza collection, which includes a necklace that can also be worn as a tiara.

Isabel wears the necklace and coordinating earrings in Sweden, April 2006 (SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Precious little is known about the provenance of this suite of diamond jewelry, but we do know that it’s been in Isabel’s jewelry box for at least 15 years, and she has worn it for prominent gala occasions in Portugal and abroad. In April 2006, a little more than a decade ago, she wore the necklace and earrings at a private dinner celebrating King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden’s 60th birthday.

Isabel wears the necklace and coordinating earrings in Sweden, April 2006 (SVEN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images)

Here’s a closer view of the necklace and earrings from their Swedish royal outing. The central element on the necklace, to me, is reminiscent of the Edwardian Tiara worn by Crown Princess Mary of Denmark. Perhaps Isabel’s jewels date to around the same time period?

Isabel wears the earrings at the princely wedding reception in Monaco, July 2011 (FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images)

In Monaco in 2011, Isabel wore the diamond earrings from the suite with another family tiara, the diamond bandeau. She also pinned a brooch to her dress that appears to have a floral design, but I don’t know if it’s part of the same collection of jewelry.

Isabel wears the necklace (as a tiara) and earrings during the Spanish state visit to Portugal, November 2016 (Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

In November 2016, we got to see Isabel wear the necklace in its converted tiara form. She wore the tiara with the coordinating diamond floral earrings during the Spanish state visit to Portugal.

Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

This wasn’t the first time that Isabel had worn the necklace as a tiara, but it’s currently the most recent. Although the Portuguese royals haven’t had a throne for more than a century, the Braganzas have held on to quite a lot of royal jewelry, and Isabel has several tiaras to choose from, so this workhorse piece is only one of the sparklers she wears at gala events.

The Best Royal Jewels of 2017: #10 (The King Luis Diamond Tiara)

12.27.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year again, magpies: we’re counting down the ten best royal jewelry moments of 2017! We’re kicking things off with a surprise appearance from an important Portuguese royal tiara…

#10: The King Luis Diamond Tiara

This sparkling diamond tiara dates to the last years of the Portuguese monarchy. It was a wedding gift to Queen Amelie of Portugal from her father-in-law, King Luis. She kept it after the monarchy was abolished, and she left it in her will to her godson, the current Duke of Braganza.

His wife, Isabel, wore the tiara on her wedding day in 1995. Portugal is now a republic, but the Braganzas would be the nation’s king and queen if the monarchy hadn’t been abolished, and they sometimes attend official events. Their wedding was even broadcast on television. But although Isabel attends white tie events on a semi-regular basis, she doesn’t often wear this sparkler, which is the grandest of the family tiaras.

But when King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands made a state visit to Portugal this October, it was thrilling to see Isabel attending — and wearing the King Luis Tiara! It’s wonderful to see these relics of monarchies past sparkling in public once more.

The Diadem of the Stars

12.23.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Diadem of the Stars (Wikimedia Commons)

It seems like all the world is decorated with holiday stars these days, so I thought it was only appropriate to feature one of the starriest and spangly-est tiaras that ever graced a royal head: the star tiara of Queen Maria Pia of Portugal. Worn in various forms during the last years of the Portuguese monarchy, the Diadem of the Stars is now a part of the Portuguese Crown Jewels.

Maria Pia wears her diamond stars in a portrait, ca. 1871 (Wikimedia Commons)

Maria Pia, who had been born an Italian princess, commissioned this tiara (and a suite of accompanying jewels) herself. In 1863, she directed Estêvão de Sousa to craft the jewels for her. It took three years for de Sousa to fashion the parure, which is made of gold, silver, and diamonds. A large yellow diamond sits at the center of the largest star in the tiara; the diamond itself is a treasure, and it’s often simply called “the Maria Pia Diamond.” The diamond stars are set on spiralled wire, which means that they moved and twinkled slightly as the wearer moved.

The tiara’s coordinating necklace (Wikimedia Commons)

Although we see the tiara today with two rows of closely-bunched diamond stars, the piece is apparently more versatile in arrangement; early photos show wearers with a single row of stars, and it seems that they could be worn in various settings. A few additional stars could be worn as hairpins, and to top it all off, the tiara also has a matching necklace.

Amelie wears the diamond stars, ca. 1896 (Grand Ladies Site)

The tiara was a showstopper against the tall hairstyles of the late nineteenth century. After Maria Pia’s husband, Luís I, died in 1889, the tiara was worn by the next queen, Amélia. But her tenure as queen consort was a relatively short one. Her husband, King Carlos I, was assassinated in 1908; two years later, her son, King Manuel II, was deposed. The family had little time to gather their belongings, and the tiara was left behind when they fled the country.

Amelie wears the diamond stars, ca. 1904 (Wikimedia Commons)

Today, the tiara is a part of the nation’s crown jewels. Although the piece was restored during the twentieth century, it is not currently on display. In fact, none of the crown jewels in Portugal are — they’re held in a vault at the Ajuda National Palace in Lisbon. The collection was once on display at the palace, but a theft in 2002 that involved part of the crown collection (but not this tiara) has led the Portuguese to take serious measures to secure their most valuable jewels. Today, you can only see Maria Pia’s stars when they are occasionally brought out for special exhibitions.