royal brooch – Page 27

The Carrington Feather Brooch

09.23.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Queen Elizabeth II wears the brooch at the wedding of Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem, November 2004 (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom has an impressive collection of royal sapphires, but few of them have as unusual a color as the sapphire in today’s piece, the Carrington Feather Brooch.

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The gorgeous diamond and sapphire feather brooch was one of the wedding gifts received by the Queen in 1947, given to her by the firm that made it, Carrington. Rather than a deep royal blue, the sapphire is distinctly blue-violet in hue.

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The purple tones of the stone are emphasized when the Queen wears it against purple clothing, as you can see above.

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But against bright blue clothing, the sapphire looks much bluer. Generally, the Queen only wears the brooch with blue or purple clothing, helping to emphasize the shifting color of the gemstone.

Queen Elizabeth II wears the brooch at the wedding of Lady Tamara Grosvenor and Edward van Cutsem, November 2004 (Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

Decades after she received it, the Queen still brings the brooch out of her jewelry box on occasion. On November 6, 2004, she wore it on a rather unusual occasion: a non-royal wedding. She rarely attends weddings that aren’t family affairs, but that autumn, she was a guest at the wedding of Lady Tamara Grosvenor, daughter of the 6th Duke of Westminster, and Edward van Custem, whose parents are close friends of the Prince of Wales. The wedding took place at Chester Cathedral, and the Queen appropriately wore the brooch, one of her own wedding gifts, to witness the blessed event.

Queen Elizabeth II wears the brooch to celebrate the anniversary of the BBC’s Royal Charter, April 2006 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

Two years later, the Queen wore the brooch with a cornflower blue coat for a visit to the BBC, where she helped celebrate the anniversary of the corporation’s Royal Charter. The engagement took place one day before her own 80th birthday.

Queen Elizabeth II wears the brooch on Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, June 2010 (Stuart Wilson/Getty Images)

The brooch’s sapphire popped against the light blue coat the Queen paired it with for Ladies’ Day at Ascot in 2010.

Queen Elizabeth II wears the brooch at a Buckingham Palace garden party, May 2014 (ANTHONY DEVLIN/AFP/Getty Images)

One of the brooch’s most recent appearances came in 2014, when she wore it with a light purple ensemble for the first Buckingham Palace garden party of the season.

The Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch

09.16.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Duchess of Cornwall wears the Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch, 2007 (Michael Perez-Pool/Getty Images)

As our September sapphire fixation continues, today we’re dipping into the jewelry box of Queen Victoria to have a look at one of her most unique pieces: the Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch.

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The main diamond portion of the brooch forms a heart shape. Inside the heart is the number 60 (the number of years in a Diamond Jubilee reign) in Cyrillic numerals, which, for comparison purposes, looks something like this: Ѯ. Additionally, there are three cabochon sapphires set in the piece: one at the top and two as negligee-style pendants.

Queen Victoria, ca. 1879, surrounded by her Hesse grandchildren: (clockwise from lower left) Princess Irene, Princess Ella, Prince Ernest Louis, Princess Victoria, and Princess Alix (Wikimedia Commons)

The brooch was a gift from several of Queen Victoria’s grandchildren, all of them descendants (and their spouses) of the late Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine. The group included four members of the Russian imperial family: Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, along with Alix’s sister, Grand Duchess Ella, and her husband, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich. Alix and Ella’s brother, Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse and by Rhine, also contributed, along with his first wife, Grand Duchess Victoria Melita (who was also one of Victoria’s granddaughters). The group was rounded out by Alice’s eldest daughter, Princess Victoria, and her husband, Prince Louis of Battenberg (later Marquess and Marchioness of Milford Haven).

Queen Victoria’s Prussian descendants and relatives, pictured ca. 1900; (bottom row, L-R): Prince Adolf of Schaumberg-Lippe, Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, Prince Henry of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, and Grand Duke Ernest Louis of Hesse; (top row, L-R): Princess Irene of Prussia, Queen Sophie of the Hellenes, Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, King Alexander of the Hellenes, Queen Helen of Romania, King George II of the Hellenes, Empress Augusta Viktoria of Germany, Empress Frederick of Germany, Princess Victoria of Schaumberg-Lippe, and Princess Margaret of Hesse

A sidenote: Victoria, Ella, Ernie, and Alix had one more living sibling — Princess Irene — but she was part of a different Jubilee gift presentation. She had married a first cousin, Prince Henry of Prussia, son of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, the Empress Frederick. The Morning Post noted that Henry and Irene joined with some of his siblings to present their grandmother with “a large silver-gilt vase, the lid supporting a figure of Britannia … inscribed: ‘Presented to our beloved grandmother, Queen Victoria, by her grandchildren William-Augusta Victoria, Henry-Irene, Bernard-Charlotte, Adolphus-Victoria, Frederic Charles-Margaret. 22 June, 1897.'”

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In October 1897, the Glasgow Herald reported that Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee gifts had been placed on display at the Imperial Institute in London. The brooch was among the numerous gifts displayed: “From their Imperial Majesties the Emperor and Empress of Russia, the Grand Duke and Duchess of Hesse, the Grand Duke and Duchess Serge, and Prince and Princess Louis of Battenberg, is a magnificent brooch in the shape of an open heart, with, in the centre, the number sixty in Slavonic characters, wrought in diamonds, and surrounded by a cabochon sapphire at the top and two large sapphire drops pendant. It is stated that, owing to the unique size and beauty of the sapphires, the brooch is valued at £20,000.” The exhibition, which was held in the building’s North Gallery, was open for three months, and half of the proceeds went to benefit the Prince of Wales’s Hospital Fund. (The building was an appropriate choice for a Jubilee exhibition, as it has been built following a fundraising scheme that coincided with Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887.)

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After the exhibition, the brooch seems to have dropped out of public view — for more than a century, if you can believe it! I haven’t been able to find an instance of any royal wearing it, including Queen Victoria, Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, the Queen Mum, or even Queen Elizabeth II. Instead, we didn’t see the brooch come out of the jewelry box again until after the Duchess of Cornwall joined the royal family in 2005.

Camilla wears the brooch in Philadelphia, 27 January 2007 (STAN HONDA/AFP/Getty Images)

Following her royal wedding, Camilla began wearing numerous pieces from the jewelry collection of the late Queen Mother. I don’t believe we’ve ever confirmed that the Queen Mum had the Hesse brooch in her possession, but given the provenance of the other jewels worn by Camilla at that time period, it wouldn’t surprise me if the brooch was in the Queen Mother’s collection at some point. Above, Camilla makes an early appearance in the brooch in Philadelphia in January 2007.

Camilla wears the brooch in Tokyo, 30 October 2008 (KATSUMI KASAHARA/AFP/Getty Images)

In October 2008, Camilla wore the brooch with a blue jacket and a poppy for a meeting with Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako during a visit to Japan.

Camilla wears the brooch in Newfoundland, 3 November 2009 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

During her first official visit to Canada in November 2009, Camilla wore the brooch on a coat of midnight blue velvet; unfortunately, the color match of the fabric and the sapphires made the gems recede a bit. The diamond design does pop against a darker background, though, even when slightly obscured by poppies.

Camilla wears the brooch in Oslo, 20 March 2012 (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

In March 2012, the brooch was a natural choice for another 60th anniversary commemoration: Charles and Camilla’s tour of Scandinavia, part of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations. Camilla wore the brooch in Oslo for a visit to the National Monument at Akershus Fortress in Oslo.

Camilla wears the brooch in Blackpool, 14 December 2017 (Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

Camilla paired the brooch with a midnight blue ensemble again in December 2017, when she wore the piece on a velvet jacket for the annual Olympia Horse Show.

The Sapphire Chrysanthemum Brooch

09.09.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

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Queen Elizabeth II has an impressive collection of jewelry set with September’s birthstone, the sapphire, but few have as long a personal history as today’s piece, the Sapphire Chrysanthemum Brooch.

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The brooch, which features sapphires and diamonds set in platinum to form a chrysanthemum design, has been in the Queen’s collection for decades. It’s a rare piece that dates from before either her wedding or her accession to the throne; she received it in 1946 when she launched an oil tanker, appropriately named the British Princess.

From the start, Elizabeth chose the brooch for important events. In April 1948, she wore the brooch in Grosvenor Square for the unveiling of a memorial to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A few weeks later, she wore the brooch during an important visit to Paris — more specifically, for a speech that warned against the dangers of nationalism at the Galliera Museum.

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She has also worn the brooch for important family occasions, including multiple family portrait sessions. Above, in October 1950, she wears the brooch for an early portrait with Prince Philip, Prince Charles, and baby Princess Anne.

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The Queen’s jewelry box expanded exponentially in the early 1950s, following her accession and the death of Queen Mary, but the brooch remained a frequently worn piece. Above, she wears the brooch for a visit to the tomb of the late Empress Menen Asfaw of Ethiopia in February 1965.

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In June 1991, the Queen wore the brooch on a powdery blue coat for the Epsom Derby. The “stem” of the brooch is especially visible against the pastel color.

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Most often, however, the Queen has chosen to wear the brooch with clothes in brighter shades of royal blue. Here, during a luncheon with Robert and Grace Mugabe at Buckingham Palace in March 1997, a decade before the honorary knighthood granted to him by Britain was removed.

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She wore the brooch with a similarly hued coat in May 1998, when she joined Canadian PM Jean Chretien to inspect the honor guard, then composed of members of Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry, at Buckingham Palace.

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The setting of the sapphires in the chrysanthemum’s center is especially evident in this photograph, taken in June 2000 during a visit to Cardiff University.

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Seven decades after the brooch landed in the Queen’s jewelry box, she’s still wearing it. A recent high-profile appearance for the brooch came in April 2015, when the Queen wore it on a light blue jacket for Easter Sunday services at Windsor.

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Perhaps most famously, though, the then-Princess Elizabeth wore the brooch for a series of portraits taken with Prince Philip at Broadlands during their honeymoon in 1947.

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The Queen wore the brooch again in November 2007 as she and Philip recreated a famous image from the series at Broadlands in honor of their 60th wedding anniversary.