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Our coverage of the fantastic new Swedish royal jewelry documentary, Kungliga Smycken, continues with an overview of the information we learned during episode two! (Don’t forget to watch the actual episode — the interviews, footage of the jewelry, and archival films are beyond excellent!)

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The documentary clarifies that these diamond rosettes were indeed the same ones added to King Carl XIV Johan’s crown for his 1818 coronation, but the film reveals that they have a longer history: as sometimes speculated, they are indeed buttons from the collection of Queen Lovisa Ulrika. Crown Princess Victoria believes that Carl Johan added them to his crown to emphasize continuity with the previous Swedish royal dynasty.

The film explains that the rosettes were removed from the crown in 1909, and according to Goran Alm, Victoria of Baden came up with the idea to use them to make the tiara. The construction of the tiara began during her lifetime, but ceased after her death. In 1976, after the unfinished tiara was discovered in the vaults, the piece was finished. The documentary confirms that Princess Lilian was the first person to wear the tiara, which is called the “Carl Johan Tiara” within the family.

Crown Princess Victoria examines the tiara on camera and notes that the rosettes are marked with text on the reverse side. Christian Bolin, part of the family firm that has served as Sweden’s court jeweler since 1916, confirms that the markings note the dimensions and sizes of the individual diamonds. The markings are likely meant to serve as a guide should the buttons need to be rebuilt. Victoria also shows that the rosettes can be removed from the tiara frame, but she emphasizes that removing them is difficult, and the family doesn’t use them in other ways (as brooches, etc.).

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The jewelers in the Bolin workshop give us a close-up view of the family’s remarkable suite of emeralds, which originally belonged to King Carl XIV Johan. A gemologist, Elena Avallon, notes that the emeralds themselves are likely Colombian. Göran Alm explains that the first person to wear the individual medallions as a necklace was Queen Sofia, who sewed them together for that purpose. He explains that, much later, Princess Sibylla had Bolin alter them so they could be worn more securely as a necklace.

Crown Princess Victoria talks about the emeralds, explaining that she “really feels a responsibility” toward the historic gems. She explains that she carefully inspects them after she wears them to check for damage. Queen Silvia reiterates the need to take care with the pieces, emphasizing their “cultural value.”

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The film reiterates Trond Noren Isaksen’s argument that the tiara was made for Queen Sofia by upgrading a diamond comb found in the jewelry inventory of King Carl XIV Johan. But perhaps the most interesting information from the documentary comes from Queen Silvia, who vividly describes the painful effect the tiara had on her head during her first Nobel appearance in 1976. She was in such pain, apparently, that Prince Bertil noticed during dinner and advised her to remove the pins securing the tiara. The results of that change were even worse, as the heavy tiara dug deeply into her scalp.

Changes were made to the tiara afterward to make it more comfortable. The base was lengthened by Bolin to help distribute its weight more successfully, and it was shaped more accurately to Silvia’s head. According to Silvia, the piece is now much easier to wear.

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Göran Alm’s biggest revelation about this diamond sparkler is the mechanism that allows it to transform from a tiara to a necklace. A spring is used to create tension in the piece for tiara wear; that spring can be released to allow the fringe to be worn as a necklace.

Crown Princess Victoria, easily the royal currently most associated with the fringe tiara, calls the piece “very beautiful, very stylish, a little hard, but easy to wear.” She says that wearing such important jewelry makes her feel “humility” — about the responsibilities that come with her royal role and heritage.

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The documentary notes that these diamond earrings are some of the oldest jewels in the Bernadotte collection. Crown Princess Victoria says that she “doesn’t dare wear them.” The unique nature of the diamond briolettes is emphasized, especially the 18th-century techniques that created them.

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The documentary debunks the commonly understood provenance of these remarkable topazes with the help of Ulla Tillander Godenhielm, part of the famed Finnish family of jewelers. The topazes weren’t a wedding gift to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia from her father, Emperor Paul I. Instead, they were a gift from her mother, Empress Maria Feodorovna, to mark the birth of Maria Pavlovna’s daughter, Augusta. The set was made by Jean-François-André Duval, a Swiss jeweler and artist, in 1811, using topazes sourced from Brazil.

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Finally, the documentary features interviews from Queen Silvia, Crown Princess Victoria, and Princess Christina about this beloved family heirloom. It’s clear that they all treasure it as a part of their memory of the late Princess Sibylla. (Crown Princess Victoria even calls it “Grandma’s tiara.”) Christina shows off the various settings of the tiara, including the two different necklace options. She reveals that she wore the garland necklace for a special New Year’s Eve party in the palace courtyard in 2000.

Christina also talks about wearing the tiara on her wedding day specifically as a way to remember her mother, who had died two years earlier. She reveals that she and her sister encouraged Queen Silvia to wear the tiara for her pre-wedding gala in 1976 as well. The sisters very much wanted Princess Sibylla to be a part of her son’s wedding festivities, but Christina says that they also wanted Silvia to understand the gesture as their way of welcoming her to the family.

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Earlier this month, we talked briefly about a fantastic new royal jewelry documentary, Kungliga Smycken, coming to Sweden’s SVT. Both episodes have now aired, and they’re packed with wonderful interviews, rare archival footage, insights from jewelers and historians, and spectacular views of the Bernadotte jewels. We also learned a few new things, and today’s post hits some of those highlights.

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The documentary confirms that the cameos were given to Empress Josephine by Napoleon I. The tiara was made by Marie-Étienne Nitot, Napoleon’s court jeweler, in 1809. During filming, it was discovered that some of the cameos in the tiara are signed. The front cameo, which depicts Venus and Cupid, was made by Giuseppe Girometti, and the cameo depicting Dionysus and Cupid was made by Vincenzo Catenacci. Filippo Rega also contributed to the set. The brooch’s cameo features a depiction of Napoleon himself. The film takes the same view as Vincent Meylan regarding the journey of the cameos, suggesting that they were inherited by Prince Eugene, Duke of Leuchtenberg, when his mother died in 1814.

The royal ladies also revealed some of their personal feelings about the cameos. Crown Princess Victoria notes that the tiara is very fragile, and that she has “a little extra respect” for the cameos and their history. Queen Silvia adds that she doesn’t like to travel with the cameos. She also speaks about her decision to wear the tiara on her wedding day in 1976. She reveals that it was King Carl XVI Gustaf who suggested that she use it as her bridal diadem. Silvia agreed partly because she liked the fact that it had previously been worn as a wedding tiara by Princess Birgitta and Princess Desiree. Her sisters-in-law, especially Princess Christina, helped teach Silvia about the history and importance of the Bernadotte jewelry, as did the king’s aunt, Queen Ingrid of Denmark.

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The documentary features work from historian Claudia Thomé Witte, who has helped to discover the precise provenance of the sapphires. They were a gift from Empress Josephine to her daughter-in-law, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Leuchtenberg; the sapphires, presented to Augusta between December 1810 and February 1811, were a gift to mark the birth of Augusta’s son, Prince Auguste. The film also confirms that the diadem used to be able to be worn with a set of pearls. Those pearls still exist, and have been used in other pieces of jewelry (including earrings), but the sapphires are now permanently affixed to the tiara.

The original parure included earrings, which were disposed of by Victoria of Baden (who never wore earrings.) The current earrings were created using two of the set’s hairpins. Queen Silvia confirms that the sapphires are very easy to wear, especially as her hairdresser, Peter Hägelstam, developed a base for the tiara that allows it to be more comfortably secured to Silvia’s hair with pins. Silvia specifically mentions the sapphires as her personal favorite set of jewels from the Swedish vault.

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Art historian Göran Alm, who works closely with the Bernadotte collection, calls this tiara the most important piece of jewelry in the Swedish royal vault. He helps clear up the confusing description of the piece as a “coronation tiara” — it was never worn for a Swedish coronation, but a writer in the 1920s/1930s made the “coronation” claim with no historical evidence, and the description was subsequently repeated. Queen Silvia notes that the tiara is very heavy and difficult to wear and gives an entertaining description of her first official portrait session, which featured the diadem.

Historian Claudia Thomé Witte discusses the tiara’s origins in imperial Brazil. She confirms that Pedro I bought the diamonds used in the tiara from his children, who had inherited them from his first wife. He subsequently gave the diamonds to his second wife Princess Amelie of Leuchtenberg, as a wedding gift (in the form of a necklace) and, a year later, as an eighteenth-birthday gift. Witte also explains that Pedro used Amelie’s diamonds as backing for a loan he secured from a London bank; he used the money to finance a war against his brother, Miguel. The jewels were returned to Amelie after the war ended.

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Turns out it wasn’t Queen Silvia who discovered this long-lost tiara! Instead, it was historian Göran Alm who found the tiara. It was hidden away in a storage room full of silver, and Alm happened upon it while working on an exhibit about King Carl XIV Johan. The documentary confirms that the tiara belonged to Hortense de Beauharnais, Empress Josephine’s daughter, who left the steel jewels to her niece, Princess Eugenie of Leuchtenberg. Eugenie left the steel suite to her sister, Empress Amelie of Brazil, who in turn bequeathed them to their final surviving sister, Queen Josefina of Sweden.

In the interviews, Crown Princess Victoria talks about her love for the tiara, but also its extreme fragility. She deliberately chooses to wear the tiara only for occasions that don’t involve lots of movement — where she can sit very still, not dance, etc. But she reiterates that she feels that it’s important to keep wearing the jewels when she can, because it means they are “still alive.”