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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

A Bit of “Spare” Sparkle for Kate?

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Unless you’re living under a royal rock, you’re probably aware that the Duchess of Cambridge is due to give birth to her second child any minute now. I’d imagine that William is probably looking for lots of ways to show his wife how much he appreciates her these days, so I thought I’d give him a few bejeweled suggestions for rings fit to honor the birth of a little prince or princess!

Kiki McDonough Grace Blue Topaz Round Ring

William has bought Kate several pieces of jewelry from Kiki’s collections, and if they welcome another little boy in the coming days, a blue topaz ring could be the perfect addition to Kate’s growing trove of Kiki jewels. The ring also features pave-set diamonds, and the entire thing is set in 18K white gold. (£895)

Tiffany Soleste Ring

If the baby on the way is a little princess, Kate’s jewelry collection could surely use a bit of pink in her honor. How about this gorgeous pink tourmaline ring from Tiffany? Set in platinum, of course, it’s also absolutely lousy with diamonds. ($7,800)

Annoushka Sutra Tanzanite Ring

Kate already has one very special blue ring in her collection, but surely this Annoushka ring, with its innovative design and its lovely combination of diamonds and rose gold with a stunning cabochon tanzanite, would be a welcome addition to any jewelry box. (£12,500)

Trinity de Cartier Ring

If I were Kate, I might nudge William in the direction of a classic Cartier Trinity ring. This one, which features pink sapphires and diamonds set in rose gold, would be just about the perfect ring as a thank you for birthing a royal, right? ($29,600)

Are you hoping for a new Cambridge prince or princess — and even more importantly, what do you hope William and Kate will name the newest Windsor?

Jewel History: Tracing the Jewels of the English Crown (1912)

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“Tracing the Jewels of the English Crown”
(originally appeared in the New York Times, 21 Apr 1912)
Curious as it may seem, no record exists of the chief crown jewels now in possession of Their Majesties, King George V and his consort, Queen Mary, and it is heard in authoritative circles that they have caused a book to be compiled on the subject [1], particularly tracing those jewels known to have had an Indian source.

The Koh-i-Noor [2], which is supposed to have been worn by the Pandus of Hindu mythology, is traceable from the time of Shah Jehan [3], the Mogul emperor. It was first seen by the French traveler, Tavernier [4], in 1665, when it was in the possession at Delhi of the Emperor Aurangzeb [5], and after many vicissitudes, came into the possession of Shah Shuja [6] who, when expelled from Kabul, carried it away with him. Shah Shuja took refuge at Lahore with the Sikh ruler Ranjit Singh [7], who, in 1813, “commandeered” the jewel, which subsequently came into the possession of Dhuleep Singh [8]. He kept it until 1849, when the East India Company annexed Lahore, and it presented the jewel to Queen Victoria in 1860.

It is, of course, well known how casually the possession of this treasure was regarded by the Lawrences [9], and the story has often been told how, placed in the trousers pocket of a suit sent to the wash, it was rescued by a native servant who thought it was a piece of glass.

About the same time, of course, various other jewels of great value came into the possession of Queen Victoria, including the famous Ranjit Singh necklace of 224 pearls [10]. Queen Victoria had two of the pearls made into earrings, but, thinking them rather showy, did not wear them, though they are still, of course, in the possession of the Royal House.

Most of the Indian crown jewels were, undoubtedly, in olden time used for purposes of raising money. The practice was not unknown in England. In 1625, Charles I pawned much of the treasure in the Tower to Holland [11], to secure funds for the war with Spain, and it does not seem that it was ever redeemed. In 1643, Charles I turned the crown and sceptre into money, and in 1649 the British regalia was completely destroyed by order of the Commons.

In India circumstances were often much the same. When the jewels, say, at Delhi, were captured, the captor very often placed the chief ones on the market again, and they eventually often drifted back to India, having been marked, as in the case of the Nadir Shah ruby [12], with the circumstances of their varied possession.

Indeed, it is thought by experts that probably nearly all the well-known jewels have their history recorded somewhere in the private books of Indian dealers.

In any case, the royal history should be a fascinating compilation. Few objects may have so full a record as the Koh-i-Noor or the Shah Shuja armlet [13], now in the Tower, but when one reads the entrancing narrative of the Frenchman, Bernier [14], of the wealth of jewels at the Court of Aurangzeb, one feels that, somewhere or other, there must be a wealth of material.

Of what he then saw, the identity of the great golden throne [15] is, of course, known: it is now at Tehran, valued at $48,000,000. Perhaps the new royal history may throw some new light on the subject.

NOTES
1. My research suggests that the most prominent book to be written about the British crown jewels after 1912 was The Crown Jewels of England (1919) by George Younghusband and Cyril Davenport. Because the book was published before 1923, it is no longer copyrighted, and you can read a digital copy for free on Google Books.
2. The Koh-i-Noor Diamond is currently mounted in the crown of the queen consort; the photograph above shows the diamond set in the crown, resting on the Queen Mother’s coffin. Although the diamond has been in the United Kingdom for more that 150 years, many in India still believe that it should be returned.
3. Shah Jahan (1594-1666), the 5th Mughal emperor of India; probably best known today because he built the Taj Mahal as a tomb for his wife.
4. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier (1605-1689) was a French gem merchant and a world traveler. His accounts of his travels are legendary; during a journey in 1668, he acquired the stone that would one day become the Hope Diamond, then sold it to his patron, King Louis XIV.
5. Aurangzeb Alamgir (1618-1707) was the 6th Mughal emperor of India.
6. Shah Shujah Durrani (1785-1842) was the Emir of Afghanistan; he brought the Koh-i-Noor with him when he was overthrown in 1809. Maharaja Ranjit Singh took it from him in Lahore in exchange for his freedom.
7. Maharaja Ranjit Singh (1780-1839) was the first ruler of the Sikh Empire.
8. Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838-1893) was Ranjit Singh’s son and successor. He was exiled to Britain at the age of 15.
9. Sir Henry Montague Lawrence (1806-1857) and his brother, John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence (1811-1879), members of the Punjab Board of Administration. John is the one who reportedly accidentally sent the Koh-i-Noor to the laundry.
10. The two-stranded pearl necklace that belonged to Ranjit Singh was kept for years by the Queen Mother; today it’s in the Queen’s collection.
11. It was actually Charles’s wife, Queen Henrietta Maria, who managed to successfully pawn the jewels.
12. The Timur Ruby (which, like so many large royal rubies, is actually a spinel).
14. François Bernier (1620-1688), French doctor and travel writer. He was the personal physician of Shah Jahan’s son, and he was also a guest at the court of Aurangzeb Alamgir for more than a decade.
15. The Peacock Throne, made for Shah Jahan; it was taken as war booty by the Persians, but it has since disappeared. The golden throne that still exists in Tehran — in fact, in the vaults of the Central Bank with the Iranian crown jewels — is the Sun Throne, which has apparently often been confused for the Peacock Throne.

Tiara Timeline: The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara

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Time for another journey back into the mists of royal history, magpies! Today, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom celebrates her 89th birthday, and in her honor, we’re charting the history of her very favorite sparkler: The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara.

December 1891: Princess Mary of Teck, the 24-year-old daughter of a German duke and a British princess, is considered by Queen Victoria to be one of the most suitable matches for her unmarried grandsons. Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale, is the eldest son of the Prince of Wales. Although he had wanted to marry Princess Hélène of Orléans, her Catholicism was an obstacle that couldn’t be surmounted. Albert Victor dutifully proposes to Mary in December, and the two become officially engaged and plan to marry the following February.

January 1892: Only a few weeks after proposing, Albert Victor contracts influenza. He dies just before his 28th birthday.

May 1893: Albert Victor’s younger brother, Prince George, Duke of York, is now his father’s heir. He hasn’t just taken his brother’s place in the line of succession; he’s also become close to his brother’s fiancee. He and Mary have bonded as they mourned, and in May, he proposes. She accepts.

June 1893: Lady Eva Greville, daughter of the Earl of Warwick, forms a committee of women to raise money to buy a wedding present for Mary. The committee becomes known as the “Girls of Great Britain and Ireland.” Their appeal is so successful that they raise more than 3,000 pounds more than they need to buy her gift. They purchase an extremely versatile and lightweight tiara of diamonds set in silver and gold, made by E. Wolff and Co. on commission from Garrard. The tiara is topped with a set of 14 oriental pearls, and it comes with a second, smaller frame that allows it to be worn as a coronet. Even better, the tiara can also be taken off its frame completely and worn as a necklace. All of the components of the tiara are packaged in a custom mahogany box.

June 1893: As Wolff and Co. is finishing Mary’s tiara, a tragedy strikes: the HMS Victoria, a British battleship, accidentally collides with another ship off the coast of Tripoli and sinks, killing more than 350 sailors. Mary asks Lady Eva’s committee to donate the surplus money they collected to a fund that had been established to support the widows and children of the sailors who died aboard the sunken ship.

July 1893: George and Mary are married in a ceremony at the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace in London. Wisely, Mary chooses to wear a different tiara — the one given to her by Queen Victoria — nestled in a wreath of flowers on her wedding day. But Mary, now Duchess of York, expresses delight at the committee’s present, declaring that it is one of her “most valued wedding gifts.”

July 1897: Mary wears the smaller, coronet setting of the tiara to the famous Devonshire House Ball, which celebrates Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee. As a feature of the party, the Duchess of Devonshire hired Lafayette to come and photograph the guests in a tent behind the house. The tiara is plainly visible in the photograph of Mary and George; she goes in costume as a lady from the court of Marguerite of Valois, while he goes as “the Queen’s Champion.” (Appropriately, Marguerite of Valois was portrayed by Mary’s mother-in-law, the future Queen Alexandra.)

January 1901: Queen Victoria dies. George is now the heir to the throne.

November 1901: George and Mary are created Prince and Princess of Wales.

May 1910: George’s father, King Edward VII, dies. George and Mary become King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom. Wearing the tiara with its upright pearls, the new Queen Mary is painted by George C. Wilmshurst. The portrait is published in the Illustrated London News.

June 1911: Souvenir postcards for George and Mary’s coronation feature the queen wearing the tiara.

1914: Mary has the tiara altered by Garrard. The pearls are removed completely and replaced with 13 brilliant-cut diamonds (which had come from the dismantled County of Surrey Tiara). Mary has 13 of the pearls recycled by incorporating them into her new lover’s knot tiara. The base of the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is also removed around this time so that it can be worn separately as a small diamond bandeau. Above, Mary is photographed in the tiara without its base, ca. 1920.

1935: Mary is photographed in the base-less version of the tiara by Hay Wrighton for a photographic album publication called Popular Personalities.

January 1936: George V dies, and Mary’s eldest son, David, becomes King Edward VIII.

December 1936: Edward VIII abdicates, and Mary’s second son, Bertie, becomes King George VI. Mary’s granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, becomes the heir to the throne.

November 1947: Mary gives both the tiara and the bandeau base to Elizabeth as a wedding present. Elizabeth still reportedly calls the sparkler “Granny’s Tiara.”

May 1948: Elizabeth wears the tiara to the opera in Paris during a visit to France.

March 1950: Elizabeth wears the tiara to the Guildhall in London.

1951: Elizabeth wears the tiara in Malta.

September 1951: At a film premiere in London, Elizabeth pairs the tiara with a fur wrap.

October 1951: Elizabeth and Philip embark on a Canadian tour; she wears the tiara at the ballet in Winnepeg.

February 1952: George VI dies, and his daughter becomes Queen Elizabeth II. As queen, the tiara becomes something of a trademark piece for her. She wears it in portraits that appear on currency and stamps in the United Kingdom and throughout the Commonwealth.

June 1952: Elizabeth wears the tiara in Edinburgh during her first public appearance after her father’s funeral.

1952: Elizabeth wears the tiara to the royal film performance in Leicester Square.

October 1955: The tiara is Elizabeth’s choice for a film premiere starring another (future) royal: To Catch a Thief, featuring Grace Kelly

March 1956: The tiara accompanies Elizabeth, her mother, and her sister to the ballet at Covent Garden.

1957: Elizabeth poses in the tiara with the First Lady of France, Germaine Coty.

October 1957: Elizabeth wears the tiara to the White House during a visit to the United States.

May 1960: Elizabeth wears the tiara at a service held at St. Paul’s Cathedral.

1961: The tiara travels with Elizabeth on a trip to Pakistan.

1962: Elizabeth wears the tiara to the annual Royal Variety Performance.

November 1964: The tiara is Elizabeth’s choice for celebrating the Diamond Jubilee of the Royal Academy of the Dramatic Arts.

1965: The tiara sees Maria Callas perform in Puccini’s Tosca at Covent Garden.

1967: The Queen returns to Malta and, once again, brings the tiara with her.

1969: The bandeau base is finally reattached to the tiara, bringing the piece back to its original height. Elizabeth wears the tiara on a visit to Austria in May, and you can see that the piece has increased in height in the photograph above.

1970: Elizabeth pairs the tiara with jewels from the Delhi Durbar parure at a state banquet.

May 1972: Elizabeth wears the tiara at the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium.

1975: Elizabeth wears the tiara with pieces from the Brazilian Aquamarine parure.

November 1976: Elizabeth takes the tiara with her on a visit to Luxembourg.

1977: In New Zealand, Elizabeth gives a speech wearing the tiara and the Durbar emeralds.

1979: HM pairs the tiara with rubies at the theater.

October 1980: In Morocco, Elizabeth toasts King Hassan while wearing the tiara with diamond and pearl jewelry.

February 1982: Elizabeth wears the tiara at Claridge’s Hotel in London.

November 1983: Elizabeth wears the tiara with a pearl and diamond choker in Bangladesh.

March 1985: In Portugal, Elizabeth pairs the tiara with a rare outing of the Kent amethysts.

November 1987: Forty years after receiving the tiara from her grandmother, Elizabeth poses in it with Prince Philip for a fortieth wedding anniversary portrait at Windsor.

October 1989: Photographers snap a view of the back of the tiara, showing that it is generally not worn as a complete circlet, during a banquet in Malaysia.

June 1992: Elizabeth wears the tiara with diamonds in Paris.

1993: The tiara is now a century old. Elizabeth wears it with a pink gown to a banquet in Hungary.

1996: Elizabeth wears the tiara at a gala concert in the Czech Republic.

February 2000: Alongside Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Elizabeth wears the tiara to a gala at the Natural History Museum in London.

April 2004: The tiara is Elizabeth’s choice for an important state visit to France, marking the hundredth anniversary of the Entente Cordiale.

November 2005: The tiara takes yet another trip to Malta.

May 2006: Elizabeth wears the tiara with the robes of the Order of the Bath.

May 2007: The tiara makes another trip to the White House during a state visit to the United States.

2010: Elizabeth wears the tiara during a tour of Canada.

2011: Elizabeth selects this tiara to wear at a state banquet during her
historic state visit to the Republic of Ireland. The tiara’s name takes
on extra significance during the visit, which strove to highlight the
cultural and economic ties between the two nations.

July 2014: During a state visit designed to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, Elizabeth wears the tiara at a banquet in Paris.