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Royal Jewel Rewind: The Wessex Wedding (1999)

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The Earl and Countess of Wessex depart St. George’s Chapel after their wedding

Fifteen years ago today, a rather different British royal wedding was held at St. George’s Chapel inside the walls of Windsor Castle. The ceremony joined together the newly-minted Earl of Wessex, youngest son of Queen Elizabeth II, and Sophie Rhys-Jones. No balcony kiss, no enormous guest list, no London cathedral or abbey on the menu for this royal wedding, but the guests still managed to sparkle — especially the bride! Enjoy this Royal Jewel Rewind, featuring the jewels worn by the Windsors at the last royal wedding of the last millenium!

The Countess of Wessex

Ahead of the royal wedding, the same questions were asked that are always posed about a royal bridal tiara: will it be something borrowed or something new? Diana had something borrowed (from her family); Fergie had something new, purchased for her (eventually) by her parents-in-law. Sophie’s tiara, however, was something sort of in between. It’s made of four antique elements meshed into a new tiara. The official word from the palace on the piece is that it was from the private collection of the Queen, but that it had been altered by the crown jeweller.

Sophie Rhys-Jones arriving at her wedding, wearing a veil dotted with crystals

That’s all that’s ever been said by the palace about the piece. Jewelry sleuths on the internet, however, found a piece of evidence that suggests that the four elements of the tiara were originally a set of detachable diamond anthemions that could be worn on Queen Victoria’s Regal Circlet, which dates to 1858. A photograph was uncovered that showed empty places in the storage box for Victoria’s circlet that matched the shape of the anthemions on Sophie’s wedding tiara. None of the portraits or photographs of Queen Victoria wearing the circlet show the anthemions. Instead, she wore the circlet with alternating fleur-de-lys and Maltese cross elements. The circlet is no longer used at all; its diamonds were removed in the 1930s to make a new crown for Queen Elizabeth’s coronation, and the empty frame of the piece is in the Museum of London.

Queen Victoria wears the circlet in 1861 (source)

If the theory is true (and it hasn’t been either confirmed or denied), then Sophie Wessex received a new bridal tiara that had serious heirloom roots. It also meant that the Queen, who had already lost two daughters-in-law by 1999, was not handing over a significant tiara that could potentially leave the family later. And bonus: she was reusing pieces in the collection that had essentially gone unused since they were created a century and a half before. Canny!

The Earl and Countess of Wessex

The tiara wasn’t Sophie’s only accessory on her wedding day. She also wore a necklace and earrings designed for her by her new husband, Prince Edward. Both the pieces combine white and black pearls, and the necklace features a cross pendant. Her wedding ring was also new and, like the tiara, was also made by the man who was then the crown jeweller, David Thomas.

After the bride, the most important woman at any British royal wedding is, of course, the Queen. She and the other female guests had some rather interesting territory to navigate jewel-wise at this particular wedding. The wedding was at five o’clock in the evening — a time when day attire is still worn, including hats — but Edward and Sophie requested that women wear formal evening gowns and no hats instead. So what do you wear, jewel-wise — the diamonds you’d normally wear with your evening gown, or the pearls you’d wear at 5 PM?

The Queen struck a compromise by wearing her customary pearl-necklace-and-earrings daytime combo — except that they were the same pearls she wore to her own wedding 50 years earlier. And for evening flair, she added one of the blingiest diamond brooches she owns, the Williamson Brooch. (She also cheated and wore a feather fascinator. Paul Burrell, that problematic royal butler, reportedly sniffed that there was absolutely no way that HM “would appear in public before 6 without something on her head.”)

The Queen Mother arriving inside St. George’s Chapel for her grandson’s wedding (source)

The Queen and her mother obviously had a bit of a confab about the dress code, because the Windsor matriarch showed up wearing roughly the same jewel combination (and verboten hat) as her younger daughter. Three strands of pearls are paired with the diamond drop earrings from the Greville bequest. The stunning sapphire and diamond brooch, which features two pendant drops, was a wedding gift to the Queen Mum in 1923 from her mother-in-law, Queen Mary. The entire ensemble is recycled from her 80th birthday celebrations.

The public mainly glimpsed the Queen Mum at the wedding via the television coverage; just shy of her 100th birthday at this wedding, she sensibly skipped the group pictures on the steep steps of the chapel. (So did Princess Margaret, who was recovering after scalding her feet in the bath. You can glimpse her pearl earrings here.) Even so, the best story of all from this wedding involves the Queen Mum tossing aside her walking sticks to do the twist on the dance floor, much to the exasperation of the Queen. The woman knew how to party.

Princess Anne leaves the chapel, along with other royals and Sophie’s family

Looking through the photographs from this wedding reminds you how few senior royal women there were in Britain in 1999. Post-Diana, pre-Camilla and Kate, the other major senior royal lady at the wedding was Princess Anne. With her green ensemble, she wore a pearl choker with a bejeweled clasp (though apparently not the famous Marie Feodorovna choker from her collection), plus pearl earrings and a diamond floral brooch. Behind her, you can see her daughter, Zara, who wore a necklace with a diamond cross pendant.



The Duchess of Kent, Princess Beatrice, Prince William, and Prince Harry

One of the other royal ladies who you can spot in the photographs on the steps is the Duchess of Kent, wearing simple pearl jewelry and standing beside the precious tiny royal grandchildren, Beatrice, William, and Harry. You can just see Eugenie’s jacket on the right side of the photo. She might have been cropped out because she kept doing this:

Beatrice, William, Harry, and Eugenie

Royal weddings are rough.

Other guests are visible in photos that I’m not able to include here. Princess Michael of Kent wore THIS MAGNIFICENCE. The Duchess of Gloucester was elegant in old-fashioned pearls. Lady Gabriella wore a more modern twist on the pearl choker necklace. I’ve still not managed to spot either Princess Alexandra or Princess Alice, both of whom attended. And two foreign royal guests — Princess Alexandra of Denmark and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece — apparently snuck past photographers entirely.

But I’ll leave you with this rather charming photo of the families waving off Edward and Sophie as they embarked on their carriage ride through the streets of Windsor. This royal wedding may not have had the same amount of pomp and circumstance as the big London shindigs, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the weddings of the Queen’s remaining royal grandchildren (Harry, Beatrice, and Eugenie) look a bit more like this wedding. And that’s ultimately okay with me — as long as we still get to see a little bit of bling!

Jewel History: “Wear Rented Gems at Court Function” (1922)

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The British Royal Family, ca. June 1922

“Wear Rented Gems at Court Function”
(originally appeared on 16 Jun 1922 in the Washington Post)

A new turn in London’s reaction to the royal receptions this season, the first of which occurred a few nights ago, was noted by observers of the unusual and curious. For many years it has been the custom of those who attended the courts at Buckingham Palace for the first time to make a midnight pilgrimage after the palace affair ended to the photographers’ shops in the West End, where a permanent record would be made for the benefit of future generations, showing “just how father and mother looked when they were presented to their majesties.”

After this season’s first court the other night, however, it was noticed that a number of jewelers shops in the Bond Street district also were open, and those who sought an explanation of these unseemly shopping hours found the gorgeously bedecked occupants of numerous closed motor cars were returning the tiaras, ropes of pearls, and other jewels they had rented for the evening’s wear at court.

With inroads into capital made by income tax, increased living costs, and the almost overwhelming burden of maintaining large estates on their accustomed scale of magnificence, it appears that scores of those who for years have been bidden to court functions have lately been obliged to sell their jewels, so that jewelry renters are now become hallmarked as the “best people.”

The Order of the Garter

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The Queen attends the Order of the Garter Service in 2013

Today is Garter Day, the day each year when a special service is held at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor for the members of the highest-ranking order of British chivalry, the Order of the Garter. Later today, the Garter knights and ladies will process from Windsor Castle to St. George’s in all of their finery, participating in pomp and pageantry that has roots that date back all the way to the fourteenth century.



C.W. Cope’s 1844 painting of the investiture of the Black Prince as a Garter Knight

Edward III founded the order in 1348. As with most medieval traditions, there’s a grand legend surrounding the order’s creation, which, though it’s likely not true, is suitably romantic. At a ball in Calais — back in the days when English kings were still claiming France, natch — Edward was dancing with the Countess of Salisbury, when one of her garters slipped down her leg and fell on the floor. Supposedly Edward picked it up and put it on his own leg, as one does, and then wagged his fingers at snickering courtiers, declaring “Honi soit qui mal y pense.” That phrase — which roughly means “shame on him who thinks evil of it,” with “it” being “putting on your future daughter-in-law’s garter,” I suppose — became the motto of the new chivalric order.



Two supernumerary knights, Princes Andrew and Edward, in 2013

Really, the establishment of the order probably had much more to do with an attempt to cement power and position by linking the current reign to a nostalgic past of Arthurian legend. Edward’s initial roster of knights numbered twenty-four: twelve knights companion for the king, and twelve for the Prince of Wales. Even today, the number of knights and ladies of the order is limited to twenty-four. However, that number does not include the monarch, the Prince of Wales, “supernumerary” knights and ladies (generally members of the British royal family) [1], and “extra” knights and ladies (generally foreign monarchs and royals) [2].



Former Prime Minister John Major attends the Garter Day service in 2013

The Queen herself gets to appoint new members to this chivalric order. That wasn’t always the case; from the eighteenth century until 1946, Garter knights were appointed on the advice of the government (the same way that people are made members of the Order of the British Empire today). But this chivalric order is now the gift of the monarch, just as it was centuries ago. The current roster includes lots of former politicians, plus others including high-ranking military officers, lords lieutenant, ambassadors, and aristocrats. In 1987, women were allowed to become full ladies companion of the order, though none are currently members (following the recent death of Lady Soames). Two spots are currently vacant.



The Queen wears the hat, mantle, collar, and Greater George in 2012

When those two spots are filled, the new knights or ladies will get a pretty awesome set of vestments and insignia to wear. Each member gets a velvet mantle and a velvet hat with a plume of white feathers. The riband (or sash) of the order is bright blue — the official name of that particular shade of blue is “kingfisher blue,” apparently. And because this the Order of the Garter, after all, each knight/lady gets an actual velvet garter. A lady wears hers around her upper left arm, while a knight straps his around his left calf.



Winston Churchill wearing his Garter insignia (including the actual garter) in 1955

And then there’s the jewel-encrusted insignia. The patron saint of the order is the famous dragonslayer, St. George (who is also the patron saint of England). Each knight/lady receives two enameled figures of St. George on horseback in the midst of slaying the dragon. The smaller one (the “Lesser George”) is a badge that is worn suspended from the riband, and the larger one (the “Greater George”) is worn suspended from the golden collar. Each member also receives an eight-pointed star.



Garter Day 1972

Tomorrow, we’ll be treated to photos of the Garter knights and ladies processing down the hill from Windsor Castle to St. George’s Chapel for the service, and then riding back up the hill in carriages on their way back to the castle itself. Inside the castle, there are numerous references to the order, including a great hall that features the coats of arms of each member lining the walls and ceiling. And, if you’re in England and want to see the Garter procession in person, be sure to apply for a ticket for next year’s Garter Day festivities, as the public is allowed inside the castle walls for a glimpse of the knights and ladies in all their medieval finery!

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. The British royals who are currently knights/ladies of the Garter are Prince Philip, Prince Charles, Prince William, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, Prince Edward, the Duke of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent, and Princess Alexandra.
2. The current list of extra (or “stranger”) knights/ladies is as follows: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, King Juan Carlos of Spain, Emperor Akihito of Japan, King Harald V of Norway, Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, and Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.