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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Cartier: Style and History

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On display for the first time: a sapphire worn by Queen Marie of Romania at her coronation [1]
If you happen to find yourself in Paris between now and the middle of February, you simply must find time to visit a glittering collection of jewels that includes a number of important and familiar royal gems. The Grand Palais is currently hosting an exhibition on the work of Cartier, showcasing pieces from the nineteenth century alongside more contemporary creations.
Among the 600 jewels in the exhibition, Cartier: Le Style et L’Histoire features a number of highly recognizable royal pieces. One of the most impressive is the sapphire pictured above. In the early 1920s, King Ferdinand of Romania purchased it from Cartier for his wife, Queen Marie. She wore the sapphire, which weighs more than 478 carats, to her coronation in 1922. The family probably sold the sapphire around 1947, when Marie’s grandson, King Michael, was forced to abdicate. It has been auctioned several times in the decades since, and in 2003, Christie’s sold the gem for almost $1.5 million [2]. Joelle Diderich notes that this is the first time that the sapphire, which is often said to be one of the largest ever discovered, has ever been exhibited to the public [3].
The Williamson diamond brooch [4]

The pieces loaned to the exhibition by Queen Elizabeth II have been seen by the public on a much more regular basis. One is the phenomenal Williamson brooch (pictured at right), which features one of the most valuable pink diamonds in the world. The diamond, which weighs more than 23 carats, was given to the queen by John Williamson as a wedding present in 1947 [5]. Cartier designed the brooch to complement the stone five years later. Unfortunately, Suzy Menkes says that the exhibit does not display the piece to its greatest effect, because the “low lighting does not do this rose pink stone justice” [6]. The other piece loaned by Elizabeth to the exhibit is perhaps even more recognizable: it’s the Halo tiara that the Duke of York (later George VI) purchased for his wife from Cartier in 1936. We know it better today as the Duchess of Cambridge’s wedding tiara [7]. The curators of this exhibition knew to capitalize on that famous connection; Kim Willsher explains, “To ensure its significance did not go unremarked, there was a framed photograph of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, wearing the Halo diadem – ‘something borrowed’ from the Queen – at her wedding to Prince William in 2011” [8].

Diamond tiara once owned by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium [9]

But Kate’s wedding tiara isn’t the only diadem in the exhibition that has connections to royalty. Doulton reports that “one of the first cases displays a revolving carousel of diamond tiaras that shower out sparkles of light and revolve just slowly enough to take in their delicate grace,” marveling that it makes the viewer feel like her or she is “standing pressed against the wall at a ball during the height of the Belle Époque” [10]. One of these sparklers is the diamond and platinum bandeau (pictured above) acquired from Cartier by Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians in 1912. The tiara was worn by Elisabeth at several major royal occasions, including the weddings of her son and grandson. It was eventually sold back to Cartier by Princess Lilian, Elisabeth’s daughter-in-law, in 1987 [11].

The Essex tiara [12]

And there are plenty of other tiaras with royal connections, too. The Essex tiara (pictured above), made for a countess and later worn by the wife of a prime minister (that’d be Lady Churchill) and a crown princess (Margarita of Romania), is on display [13]. So are two tiaras from the collection of Marie Bonaparte, including her olive wreath tiara [14].

The Windsor flamingo
brooch [16]

As you might expect, there are a number of objects included in the exhibition that were worn by Princess Grace of Monaco. The Grimaldis have loaned Grace’s engagement ring, an impressive diamond and platinum necklace, several animal brooches, and the three brooches that make up the Bains de Mer tiara [15]. And another pair of famous royal Cartier customers, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, are represented by several jewels. The duke’s grandfather, Edward VII, famously dubbed Cartier “the jeweler of kings,” and although David abandoned his throne, he continued to patronize the jeweler as if he were still a sovereign. Among the duchess’s jewels on display are her famous flamingo brooch (pictured at right) and one of her diamond panthers, this one perched on an enormous cabochon sapphire. Jewels from other American collectors like Gloria Swanson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Barbara Hutton sparkle throughout as well.

The Patiala bib necklace [17]

But it’s a jewel that belonged to a male customer, not a woman, that perhaps steals the entire show. Cartier has loaned a restored version of the famous Patiala necklace (pictured at left) to the exhibition. Ordered from Cartier in 1928 by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala, this bib necklace originally featured the yellow De Beers diamond in its pendant element. That diamond alone weighed more than 234 carats; the restored version of the necklace features a replica stone in its place (along with other replacement stones throughout). Doulton marvels that the “jaw-dropping” necklace, which features diamonds “the size of conkers,” is able to be “seen from across the vast room” [18]. The necklace was discovered in pieces in 1998, identified as Cartier, and restored.

The exhibition is being held at the Grand Palais, located on the Avenue de Champs-Élysées, until February 16, though it is closed on Tuesdays. Much more is available at the exhibition’s website. But if you, like me, can’t make it to Paris to see these remarkable gems before the show closes in a few weeks, there’s another alternative available. An iPad app, which features gorgeous, high-definition photos of many of the famous royal gems in the exhibition, is available for $3.99. Its text is in English, and it’s quite a bit cheaper than a round-trip ticket to France!

A note: special thanks to reader Nancy, who was lucky enough to visit the exhibition, for sending me the gorgeous photographs in this post and giving me permission to use them on the blog. Thank you so much!

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Photograph taken by blog reader Nancy. Used with the kind permission of the photographer. Do not reproduce without the photographer’s consent.

2. See New York Magazine’s blog, The Cut, here.
3. See Women’s Wear Daily‘s review of the Cartier exhibition here.
4. Photograph taken by blog reader Nancy. Used with the kind permission of the photographer. Do not reproduce without the photographer’s consent.
5. In The Queen’s Diamonds, Hugh Roberts states, “Dr Williamson presented the diamond (uncut and weighing 54.5 metric carats) to Princess Elizabeth” (pg. 294). See also Field, pg. 102, and the Royal Collection website.
6. See the New York Times review of the Cartier exhibition here.
7. See more on the Halo tiara in this post at A Tiara a Day.
8. See the Guardian review of the Cartier exhibition here.
9. Photograph taken by blog reader Nancy. Used with the kind permission of the photographer. Do not reproduce without the photographer’s consent.
10. See the Telegraph review of the Cartier exhibition here.
11. See more on the Cartier bandeau in this post at A Tiara a Day.
12. Photograph taken by blog reader Nancy. Used with the kind permission of the photographer. Do not reproduce without the photographer’s consent.
13. See more on the Essex tiara in this post at A Tiara a Day.
14. See more on the olive wreath tiara in this post at A Tiara a Day.
15. See more on the Bains de Mer tiara in this post at A Tiara a Day.
16.  Photograph taken by blog reader Nancy. Used with the kind permission of the photographer. Do not reproduce without the photographer’s consent.
17.  Photograph taken by blog reader Nancy. Used with the kind permission of the photographer. Do not reproduce without the photographer’s consent.
18. See the Telegraph review of the Cartier exhibition here.

Margaret of Connaught’s Gold Bracelet

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Crown Princess Margareta with two of her children, Ingrid and Carl Johan [1]
Time for another look at the jewel collection of Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden, who was born Margaret of Connaught. Today’s focus is on another of her less glittering pieces: her delicate gold cuff bracelet. What seems like an insignificant piece is actually one of the more important sentimental pieces of jewelry for Margaret’s Danish descendants.
Margaret of Connaught [2]
Margaret and her sister, Patricia, wore identical gold cuff bracelets on their left arms; you can see Patricia’s bracelet on her left wrist in this W&D Downey picture postcard. To my knowledge, it’s never been made clear where Margaret and Patricia got their gold bracelets, but I would wager that the tokens were gifts from their parents, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught. In 1915, Margaret carried the tradition to the next generation when she gave her daughter, Princess Ingrid of Sweden, an identical gold bracelet as a fifth birthday present. You can see Margaret and Ingrid both wearing their gold bracelets on their left arms in the photograph above, which was taken not long before Margaret’s death in 1920. The photograph on the right, which shows Margaret wearing the bracelet on her left wrist, also shows her twisting the same strand of pearls that we discussed last week. Margaret’s bracelet was apparently big enough to slide up and down her arm, as it is shown both at her wrist and situated further up on her forearm.
Princess Ingrid of Sweden [3]
Princess Ingrid was only ten when her mother died, so it should come as no surprise that she decided to carry on sentimental traditions, especially regarding jewelry, that had been begun by her late mother. That includes the gifting of identical gold bracelets to each of her daughters — Margrethe, Benedikte, and Anne-Marie of Denmark — on their fifth birthdays. A Billed-Bladet report notes that the child-sized bracelets are exchanged for a larger size later [4].
Margrethe, who is now Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, regularly wears her gold bracelet, even amid all of the splendid, sparkling jewels she sports for official functions. Like the women of previous generations, they wear the bracelet on their left wrists. You can spot it on Margrethe here, at a banquet during a South Korean state visit. It’s also visible in more than one of the queen’s official portraits [5], and you can see it here among her jewels for the annual New Year’s Court [6].
In this photo of the young Danish princesses, you can see Anne-Marie, the future queen of Greece, wearing her bracelet. Just like their big sister, Benedikte and Anne-Marie continue to wear their gold bracelets, although at one point, Anne-Marie’s broke and had to be repaired. Anne-Marie has stated that she was “deeply unhappy” when the bracelet broke, underscoring the sentimental importance of these simple pieces to the women of the family [4]. All three of the sisters regularly stack their gold cuff bracelet with other pieces (as Benedikte does here), so sometimes you have to look carefully to find it. Benedikte and Anne-Marie have passed on the tradition to their own daughters, Alexandra (here’s hers), Nathalie (and hers), Alexia (and hers), and Theodora (and hers!). Only direct female descendants participate in the tradition, so while you see Crown Princess Mary wearing pieces of Ingrid’s jewelry, you won’t see her (or Princess Marie, or any of the wives of the Greek princes) wearing one of these bracelets.
While Margrethe didn’t have any daughters, she was recently able to carry on the tradition by giving one of the bracelets to her granddaughter, Princess Isabella, on her fifth birthday in 2012. The young Danish princess has been photographed several times wearing her new gold bracelet — here’s a closeup of her bracelet taken during the christening of her cousin, Princess Athena. These childhood bracelets aren’t discarded when they’re traded for a larger size later on, and Billed-Bladet has speculated that the bracelet that little Isabella wears now is the very same one that Queen Margrethe received from Queen Ingrid in 1945.
Although for many years there were no young princesses in the Danish royal family, there are now two more little girls waiting to receive their bracelets. Isabella’s younger sister, Princess Josephine, will receive her bracelet exactly two years from today. (Happy third birthday, Josephine!) And their cousin, Princess Athena, will receive her bracelet a year later, in January 2017. Here’s hoping that this sweet tradition, begun with the Connaught princesses and continued for five generations, will be kept up for years to come!


NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Photograph in the public domain due to its age.
2. Detail of picture postcard of Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden; original source here.
3. Cropped version of picture postcard of Princess Ingrid of Sweden, available at Wikimedia Commons; source here.

4. Read the Billed-Bladet article (in Danish) here.
5. See the queen’s left arm in this portrait and this one.
6. The photo comes from a Hello! article about the bracelets; read here.

Jewel History: State Ball at Delhi (1903)

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Lady Curzon, Vicereine of India [1]
“State Ball at Delhi”
(originally appeared in The Washington Post, 7 Jan 1903)
Delhi, India, Jan. 6 — The state ball tonight in the palace of the grand mogul proved to be one of the most attractive features of the Durbar festivities. The European dance among the columns and pillars of the palace was a strange and wonderful sight. When a fanfare of silver trumpets at 10 o’clock announced the arrival of the viceroy, Lord Curzon of Kedleston, the scene was a brilliant one. Lady Curzon was gowned in gold brocade and wore a magnificent tiara [2] and necklace of diamonds, with four rubies that had belonged to the King of Theebaw [3].
Some 5,000 guests were present, among them the Duke of Connaught, Lord Kitchener, and all the other prominent personages in India, the Duchess of Marlborough, and numerous other Americans. Lord and Lady Curzon and the Duke and Duchess of Connaught on the royal dais received scores of native princes, whose costumes were dazzling creations.

NOTES, PHOTO CREDITS, AND LINKS
1. Detail of a colorized picture postcard of Lady Curzon wearing the famous Worth “peacock” dress at the 1903 Durbar festivities; source here.

2. For the ball, Lady Curzon wore her Boucheron tiara, made in 1898 for her state trousseau. Read more about the tiara at A Tiara a Day.
3. Thibaw Min was the last king of Burma, reigning from 1878 to 1885; he was forced to abdicate by the British after they invaded the country. Read more here.