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This Week in Royal Jewels: May 8-14

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May 8-14, 2015

Brooches and earrings were on the menu for this week’s royal jewel buffet. Be sure to weigh in on your favorites in the poll!
10. Princess Charlene of Monaco shone this week in a new pair of diamond and pearl earrings set in white gold, worn for the christening of her twins, Princess Gabriella and Prince Jacques. They’re Cartier, from the company’s Himalia collection.

9. Princess Caroline also chose a major pair of earrings for the christening, plus a necklace that looks to have a heart-shaped pendant. You can see more on her outfit, plus all of the other baubles worn on the day, in this post.
8. Queen Letizia of Spain chose a pair of diamond earrings with a cultured pearl drop to celebrate Red Cross World Day in Valladolid on Friday. Like many of Letizia’s earrings, this pair is reportedly by Tous.

7. Letizia wore a second pair of pearl drop earrings on Wednesday to deliver the national flag to the Spanish Civil Guard. The ribbon pinned to her jacket is the dame’s bow of the Order of Charles III, one of the highest orders of Spanish chivalry.

6. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg visited Paris to mark VE Day, and Stephanie chose small earrings for a performance on Friday at Les Invalides.

5. We also had a rare sighting this week of another Luxembourgish princess! Princess Tessy wore a necklace with multiple pendant charms and earrings with green stones for a charity gala on Tuesday in London.

4. The British royals held the first garden party of the season at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. The Countess of Wessex wore a new pair of earrings, made out of diamonds and pearls. (Or, knowing Sophie, perhaps a facsimile of those stones.)

3. Camilla also wore a new piece of jewelry at the garden party: an all-diamond butterfly brooch, which adds to her growing collection of brooches with an insect theme.

2. It was a three-brooch week for Queen Elizabeth II, who donned her mother’s diamond and aquamarine brooch on Friday, the magnificent Cullinan V on Sunday, and the impressive Courtauld-Thomsen Scallop-Shell Brooch at Tuesday’s garden party.

1. My top spot for the week has to go to Queen Sofia of Spain, who wore this gorgeous necklace and bracelet set at the Madrid Open on Sunday. That’s one way to pull focus from Rafa Nadal!

Jewel History: Queen Anne’s Indifference to Jewels (1888)

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“Queen Anne’s Indifference to Jewels”
(originally appeared in the New York Times on 12 May 1888)
From the London Daily News — The new volume of the reports of the Historical Manuscript Commission calendars the family papers of the Earl of Dartmouth [1]. Like most of its predecessors, it comprises many interesting historical anecdotes. One relating to Queen Anne [2], found in a manuscript volume in the handwriting of the first Earl, is highly characteristic of that sensible if somewhat prosaic sovereign.

Lord Dartmouth says that a little before she died, she told him that she had never bought any jewels for her own use in her life, looking upon them as “of all vanities the greatest,” though she considered them proper for presents, because they comprise a great value in a small compass.

The same authority notes that when Governor Pitt [3] brought to this country from India the famous Regent Diamond [4], Harley, Earl of Oxford [5], brought this famous jewel to the Queen and told her that several gentlemen of the House of Commons thought it a pity it should go out of the kingdom, and had a mind to move the House to have it presented to Her Majesty.

Few ladies, probably, could have resisted so tempting an offer, but the homely Queen, according to this trustworthy authority, desired that her minister would stop the motion. She added that she “should be sorry to see the people’s money thrown away upon such a bauble for her,” and told the Earl of Dartmouth that it was “a much greater pity” that the Greenwich Hospital [6] was not finished.

About three years after the death of the Queen, Pitt’s famous diamond was purchased by the Regent of France for the young King Louis XV, for the large sum of £135,000 [8].

NOTES
1. Queen Anne created the Dartmouth earldom for William Legge, 2nd Baron Dartmouth, in 1711. The 1st Earl was Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal and one of Queen Anne’s confidants.
2. Queen Anne of Great Britain and Ireland (1665-1714) was the last monarch of the House of Stuart, reigning from 1702 to 1714. She had no living descendants, so when she died, the throne passed to her second cousin, King George I.
3. Thomas Pitt (1653-1726), was the Governor of Madras; he was also the grandfather of William Pitt, who served as Prime Minister under King George III.
4. The Regent Diamond was sold to Thomas Pitt by a merchant in India in 1701. There are several stories about where the merchant acquired the 410-carat diamond; one story says that it was found by a slave in a diamond mine and hidden until he could sell it, while another says that it was stolen from Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, ruler of Golconda. Pitt had the diamond recut into a 141-carat stone. He sold it to the Duke of Orléans, who was regent for the young Louis XV, and it became part of the French crown jewels, worn in coronation crowns by Louis XV and Louis XVI. Later, it was mounted in Napoleon’s sword; today, it is in the Louvre, set in a tiara that was worn by Empress Eugenie.
5. Robert Harley, 1st Earl of Oxford and Mortimer (1661-1724) was one of Queen Anne’s chief ministers.
6. Greenwich Hospital operated in London from 1692 until 1869. Its buildings are now part of the Old Royal Naval College.
7. In today’s money, that would be somewhere in the ballpark of £17 million. The diamond is now said to be worth £48 million.

Jewels of VE Day Commemorations

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The British royals were out in force this weekend to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Allied Forces’ victory in Europe in May 1945. VE Day was such an important part of the Queen’s life that they’ve recently made a film about it, so you know the royals celebrated in style!

The Queen started off the weekend in Windsor, where she and the Duke of Edinburgh lit the first of a series of celebratory beacons to launch the weekend of commemorations.

Friday was the actual anniversary of D-Day, May 8. The Queen chose a brooch for the occasion, the Queen Mother’s Aquamarine Art Deco Brooch, that may actually be the one worn by the Queen Mum on the balcony at Buckingham Palace on VE Day. We’re discussing the possibility over here, so stop by and weigh in with your thoughts.

The Duke of York and Princess Beatrice were also in attendance at Friday’s beacon lighting.

On Saturday, the Countess of Wessex traveled to Guernsey and Jersey to celebration the 70th anniversary of their liberation. Her dress honored the traditional green color of Guernsey.

For Jersey’s traditional red, Sophie added an important bit of jewelry. She wore a gorgeous pair of ruby and diamond earrings that were loaned to her by the Queen. They’re the Queen’s Ruby Floret Earrings, which coordinate with the Burmese Ruby Tiara. For much more on Sophie’s entire ensemble, as well as her part in the commemoration ceremonies, head over to Anna’s blog.

On Sunday, the royals attended a service at Westminster Abbey.

The Queen wore an important brooch, the Cullinan V Brooch, for the church service. (You can read more on the stunning history of the Cullinan diamond and its various forms here.)

As she usually does for events that are related to the military, the Duchess of Cornwall wore the cap badge of the Lancers, the regiment her father fought with in World War II. She also wore her usual pearl and diamond earrings and one of her pearl choker necklaces. You can also glimpse a delicate necklace with a letter “C” charm under the pearls.

One of the few living royals who was alive on VE Day, the Duke of Kent, was present for the service at the Abbey…

…as was the Duke of York…

…and the Earl of Wessex.

After the service at the Abbey, Charles and Camilla headed to Horseguards Parade, where they took part in another service for military veterans. Royal reporters noted that the pair shook hundreds of veterans’ hands. Say what you will about monarchy as an institution or a political philosophy — there’s something powerful about seeing the grandson of George VI personally acknowledging those who served in his grandfather’s armed forces seventy years ago, isn’t there?

In 1985, the BBC recorded the Queen relating her recollections of VE Day, which she called “one of the most memorable days of my life.” The British Monarchy’s official YouTube channel recently re-released that audio with accompanying photographs of the day; you can view it above. (I really want to know which tiara the Queen Mum wore on the balcony that night!)