united kingdom – Page 647

Camilla Takes Wing in Hertfordshire

04.28.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Camilla visits the Queen Mother Hospital for Small Animals (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

The Duchess of Cornwall began a set of engagements on Thursday with a visit to the Queen Mother Hospital for Small Animals. Camilla was there in her role as patron of the Royal Veterinary College Animal Care Trust.

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

The duchess donned two pieces of jewelry: her diamond and pearl earrings, and her diamond RAF badge. Chris Jackson provided us with an excellent close-up of the brooch, which features diamond wings flanking a laurel wreath topped with a crown and containing the RAF’s initials.

Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images

Animal-lover Camilla was totally in her element at the hospital, where she got to meet lovable patients like this dog, who showed off an impeccable taste in sweaters. But why the RAF badge for a visit to an animal hospital, you ask? Simple — after leaving the animal hospital, Camilla headed to visit RAF Halton, where she is an Honorary Air Commodore.

Where Were the British Crown Jewels Hidden in World War II?

04.26.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The British Crown Jewels, ca. 1953 (Photo: Fox Photos/Getty Images)

Camilla Tominey writes this weekend in the Express about a book which reveals the secret hiding spot where the British crown jewels were stashed during World War II. With the Germans bombing London, even the jewels’s Tower of London stronghold wasn’t considered to be safe enough for the priceless collection.

The Imperial State Crown (Photo: JOHNNY GREEN/AFP/Getty Images)

According to a new book by Colin Brown, a small space beneath Windsor Castle was ultimately chosen as the best hiding place for the jewels. The castle was already shielding two other royal assets: Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) and her younger sister, Princess Margaret. Tominey notes, “Although the precise hiding place has never been officially confirmed, Mr Brown thinks it was under a wooden trapdoor in the castle basement where the servants who tended the fireplaces had their offices.”

Queen Maud of Norway (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Ironically, the crown jewels were not the only pieces of royal jewelry stored at Windsor Castle during the war. The personal jewelry collection of Queen Maud of Norway, who had unexpectedly died while visiting her native Britain in 1938, was kept at the castle for more than a decade. The jewels were retrieved by the Norwegian royals when they came to England in 1953 for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Developments in the Koh-i-Noor Claims

04.25.2016 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

A model holds a replica of the Koh-i-Noor diamond at a show in Calcutta (Photo: DESHAKALYAN CHOWDHURY/AFP/Getty Images)

Over the past few weeks, we’ve seen a few developments in one of the claims on the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the famous stone that originated in India and is now a part of Britain’s crown jewel collection.

An illustration of the Koh-i-Noor diamond, ca. 1860 (Photo: Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The diamond was nominally given to Queen Victoria by the young Maharajah Duleep Singh, last ruler of the Sikh empire. The circumstances around the gift have always been a bit blurry, as it followed a pair of wars between the British East India Company and the Sikhs and, ultimately, the annexation of the Sikh’s territory by the British. Today, the Punjab region that had been ruled by the Sikhs is now split between Pakistan and India.

The Koh-i-Noor in its Indian armlet setting (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

A case calling for the diamond’s return to India is currently being heard by that country’s supreme court. (A similar case has also been filed in neighboring Pakistan.) On April 18, India’s solicitor general, Ranjit Kumar, argued that the case should be dropped. Kumar explained that the diamond “was neither stolen nor forcibly taken away” but “was given voluntarily … to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh wars.” He added, “The Koh-i-noor is not a stolen object.”

The diamond on display at the 1851 Great Exhibition (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Only a day later, however, India’s government stepped in to clarify their position on the diamond. The nation’s ministry of culture stated, “The government of India further reiterates its resolve to make all possible efforts to bring back the Kohinoor diamond in an amicable manner,” noting that the diamond is a “valued piece of art with strong roots in our nation’s history.”

The consort’s crown, which includes the Koh-i-Noor diamond, at the funeral of the Queen Mother (Photo: ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The Koh-i-Noor diamond is currently set in the British consort’s crown, last worn by the Queen Mother. So far, Britain has maintained that they own the gemstone legally and will not surrender the diamond to any of the claimants.