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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Victoria Melita and the Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara

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Grand Duchess Victoria Melita and Princess Elisabeth
Grand Ladies Site

As we wind down the month of March, it’s time for yet another glimpse at the glittering jewels worn by Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. So far, we’ve looked at a suite of jewelry with links to her maternal Russian inheritance, the tiara she wore on her first wedding day, and the meander kokoshnik that she wore during her second marriage. Today’s piece is a bit different — it’s a diamond tiara that she wore frequently but that never really belonged to her personally at all.

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Review: Dressing the Queen

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Angela Kelly’s Dressing the Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe (2013) [1]
The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee year inspired the publication of a trio of books dedicated to her jewels and clothing: Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration (which I reviewed earlier here), Hugh Roberts’s staggering The Queen’s Diamonds (which I will review soon), and today’s book, Dressing the Queen: The Jubilee Wardrobe. While the two books on Elizabeth II’s diamonds focus more on the history of the objects themselves, Dressing the Queen tells the story not only of her clothes and jewels but also of the staff who make her immaculate appearance possible at each public engagement.
The book was written by Angela Kelly, whose role is “Personal Assistant, Adviser and Curator to the Queen.” Because Kelly is not a historian by trade, her book is more conversational than the other, weightier tomes; it also feels more personal, and it gives some truly fascinating insights into the work that goes into creating and caring for the garments and accessories worn by the Queen. There are extensive color photographs here of the fabrics used to make the Queen’s coats and dresses, plus plenty of photographs of the designers and sewers who actually make the clothing. Incredible attention to detail is required at every stage of the creation of a single outfit, and Kelly’s book outlines the research and planning behind the work. (Plus: we get lots of photos of hats — and you know how I feel about that — and a photograph of HM’s impressive collection of plastic umbrellas!)
For jewel lovers, the book offers more than ten pages of photographs and content that present a unique behind-the-scenes look at the jewelry worn regularly by the Queen. The books on the diamonds give us a great deal of information about their history; this book shows us how they’re actually used today. The jewelry section opens with two full pages of photographs of brooches worn by the Queen, including her Cartier clips and the Victorian bow brooches. There are also detailed photos of the Queen’s rubies, aquamarines, pearls, and sapphires, plus a photograph of the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara and some of the queen’s diamond necklaces. We also get to see the way that these stunning jewels are presented to the Queen so that she can choose the specific pieces that she wants to wear: on a tray with a lace cover hand-sewn by Queen Mary.

Kelly is also the person in charge of the day-to-day maintenance of the Queen’s jewelry, including inspection and basic cleaning. (The big, complicated jewelry issues are left to the crown jeweller.) Kelly’s hands-on relationship to royal jewels gives us my favorite jewelry tidbit from this book: a series of photographs of Kelly working with the Vladimir tiara (pictured above in a photograph from 2006). The photos and accompanying text explain how Kelly swaps out the tiara’s pearls for the set of Cambridge emeralds, and the images allow you to see how the individual pearls and emeralds are stored (in numbered pouches) and how the pearls and emeralds attach to the back of the sparkler. This section is my absolute favorite part of the entire book — I love seeing the way that royal jewels “work,” for lack of a better word!
The book closes with a series of photographs of the various outfits worn by the Queen during her jubilee celebrations, including the elaborate ensemble she wore during the Thames river pageant. These outfits are discussed in minute detail, and original sketches are included. We get occasional tidbits of new info from Kelly — the way she worked directly with Danny Boyle’s team to create the perfect outfit for the complicated Olympics opening ceremony film and appearance, for example — but overall, Kelly is just as circumspect as you might expect a loyal member of the Queen’s staff to be.
This is a fun book — and a relatively inexpensive one, at under $30 for a new hardcover copy — and for those interested in royal fashion, it’s a no-brainer purchase. I also think it’s a nice addition to the collection of those who love royal jewels, too, as it provides a unique perspective on the everyday use of the jewelry. (And if the Vladimir tiara is your favorite? Buy it now!) Definitely recommended.
NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Cropped version of the cover of Dressing the Queen; source here.

Victoria Melita’s Emerald Wedding Tiara

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Victoria Melita wears the emerald tiara on her wedding day in 1894 [1]
So far, we’ve seen diamonds and sapphires from the collection of Princess Victoria Melita, who was at various times during her life a princess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a grand duchess of Hesse, and a grand duchess of Russia. Today, we’re going to shine the spotlight on the emerald tiara she wore on her first wedding day.
Victoria Melita [3]

The diamond and emerald tiara was a wedding gift to Ducky, either from both of her parents (the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who were a British prince and a Russian grand duchess) or from just her mother. She wore the tiara on the day she married her first cousin, Grand Duke Ernst of Hesse, in 1894. The match was heavily promoted by their families, and even though they didn’t dislike each other, some sources suggest that Victoria Melita was actually already smitten with her second husband (and cousin), Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, before she married Ernie. Let’s just say that there were warning signs that this royal marriage wasn’t going to work out from the start.

Regardless, the couple went through with the ceremony, much to the delight of their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria. The bride’s aunt Vicky (who was then the Empress Frederick of Germany) noted that Victoria Melita wore “a light slender diadem of emeralds with a sprig of orange blossom stuck in behind” as a bride, pairing the emerald tiara with a veil owned by the groom’s late mother, Princess Alice [2]. (You can see her wedding jewels in the photograph at the top of this post.) The emerald tiara is similar in design to an aquamarine diadem that belonged to Ernst’s sister, Grand Duchess Ella; however, the two are distinct pieces.

The emerald tiara was part of a suite of emerald jewels given to her by her parents on the occasion. She also received a “necklace of pearls and emeralds” (which seems to be the necklace she wears in the photograph on the left above) and a “bracelet set with a large emerald” on the day [4]. Although her marriage was not a success (for all sorts of complicated reasons), she continued to wear her wedding emeralds even after her divorce from Ernst was finalized in 1901.

The tiara, along with many of the other jewels owned by Ducky’s mother and sisters, was displayed in Coburg in 1903 as a part of a charity exhibition of the family’s possessions [5]. And she was also photographed in the tiara with her second husband, Grand Duke Kirill, which means that it was still in her possession in 1905. After that, it falls off the map. In her write-up on the emeralds, Ursula speculates Ducky had the tiara broken up sometime after her second marriage, using the stones to create a larger emerald parure. Ultimately, very few of Ducky’s jewels are still around today, largely because the family had to sell many of their most valuable possessions after the Russian revolution. I think it’s safe to say that her emerald wedding tiara has also left the family’s collection, one way or another.

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Cropped and edited version of the Hesse wedding photo, which is now in the public domain; you can see a full version of the photograph here.
2. Vicky’s comment, made in a letter to one of her daughters, is quoted at Ursula’s site.
3. Cropped version of an image in the public domain; source here.
4. Lists of Ducky’s wedding gifts from the Illustrated London News and the Graphic are excerpted here.
5. Ursula has a feature on the 1903 Coburg exhibition; you can see the emerald tiara here.