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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

This Week in Royal Jewels: April 15-21

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April 15-21, 2016

A major royal birthday was the biggest event of the week, but everyday engagements brought us quite a bit of sparkle, too. Be sure to vote for your favorites in the poll below!

10. On Saturday, the Countess of Wessex wore simple earrings, a pendant necklace, and a Girlguiding pin to open the organization’s new headquarters in London.

Photo: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

9. In Spain, Queen Letizia wore her diamond wedding earrings to present a literature award on Tuesday.

Photo: MOLLY RILEY/AFP/Getty Images

8. Queen Rania of Jordan wore glittering drop earrings, a pendant with a pyramid-shaped stone, and a sparkling ring on Friday to speak at an IMF and World Bank meeting in Washington, D.C.

Photo: Pelle T Nilsson – Pool/Getty Images

7. At Thursday’s cabinet meeting, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore statement earrings as her King Carl XVI Gustaf announced the name of the family’s newest member: HRH Prince Alexander Erik Hubertus Bertil of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland.

Photo: VALERY HACHE/AFP/Getty Images

6. Princess Charlene of Monaco absolutely glittered in a gorgeous pair of earrings on Sunday at a tennis tournament in Monte Carlo.

5. Queen Maxima of the Netherlands attended the Four Freedoms Awards in Middelburg on Thursday; she wore her drop earrings with embellished orange pendant drops.

Photo: Daniel Leal Olivas – Pool/Getty Images

4. Gold jewelry was on the menu for Queen Sofia of Spain as she attended a dinner in London honoring the centenary of the British-Spanish Society on Wednesday.

Photo: Arthur Edwards – WPA Pool/Getty Images

3. On the day before her 90th birthday, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom wore a brooch of diamond roses for engagements in Windsor.

2. Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, wearing diamonds, rubies, and pearls, also attended the Four Freedoms Awards on Thursday. Her brooch is the diamond and ruby bow brooch commissioned by Queen Emma.

Photo: John Stillwell – WPA Pool/Getty Images

1. My star of the week goes to a starry piece of jewelry: the Jardine Star Brooch, worn by Queen Elizabeth II in Windsor on her 90th birthday.

Queen Letizia’s Week in Earrings

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Queen Letizia attends a meeting for the Miguel de Cervantes IV Centenary (Photo: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images)

She didn’t make our super-packed royal jewel roundup this week, but Queen Letizia of Spain was out and about in a couple of pairs of earrings.

Photo: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

They were hidden a bit in her curly ‘do (which seems to be a trend — show us your earrings, royal ladies!), but Letizia wore her Tous cultured freshwater pearl drop earrings on Thursday. The event was a meeting at Zarzuela Palace for the Miguel de Cervantes IV Centenary.

Photo: Carlos Alvarez/Getty Images

On Wednesday, Letizia attended a series of audiences at Zarzuela Palace. For those meetings, she selected a pair of stud earrings in an abstract floral pattern. Each floral earring is composed of five petals of varying lengths.

Saturday Sparkler: The Bavarian Sunburst Tiara

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The Bavarian Sunburst Tiara (Photo: Sotheby’s)

I’ve got quite the Saturday Sparkler to share with all of you today — there are few tiaras in the world that are as interestingly composed as this one, to say the least. With a royal history that began in Spain and ended a few years ago in Germany, this sunburst tiara is a truly intriguing piece.

The diamond tiara entered the Bavarian collection in 1883, when Infanta María de la Paz of Spain married Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, a first cousin of the nation’s last king, Ludwig III. The tiara was one of María’s wedding gifts from her mother, Queen Isabella II of Spain. The large fleur-de-lys element in the center of the tiara served as a reminder of Maria’s Bourbon heritage; it is a symbol of the royal house. The central element, including the fleur-de-lys, is unusual in that it is set en tremblant, which means that it moves slightly as the wearer moves.

The women of the family continued to wear this tiara to major royal events in the years before they decided to put it up for sale. Ursula of Bavaria, who is married to Maria’s great-grandson, Leopold, wore it to Albert and Charlene of Monaco’s wedding reception in 2011. Her daughter-in-law, Anna (who was born into the Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg family), wore the tiara to the big royal wedding in Sweden in 2010.

The tiara even graced the head of a Bavarian bride, Felipa, in 2012. But for reasons unknown (though likely financial), the family decided to put the tiara, as well as some other jewels, up for auction in May 2013 at Sotheby’s. Auction estimates noted that the tiara was expected to fetch between $100,000 and $150,000, but when the hammer fell, a lucky buyer had splashed out more than $180,000 on the piece. If it was you, congrats! But be careful — I really think this tiara could be classified as a weapon!