(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
(Image: The Court Jeweller) |
Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, ca. 2014 (Milos Bicanski/Getty Images) |
On Friday, the former Greek royal family announced some exciting news: Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark is engaged to be married!
Greek Royal Family |
King Constantine’s office released the following statement on the family’s official website: “Their Majesties King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie are delighted to announce the engagement of their youngest daughter Theodora to Mr. Matthew Kumar. Further details about the forthcoming wedding will be provided in due course. Mr. Matthew Kumar, 34, was born and raised in Southern California to Sam and Lonnie Kumar. He is a practicing attorney in Los Angeles.”
Greek Royal Family |
Theodora is the daughter of the former King and Queen of Greece, as well as a niece of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia of Spain. She is a professional actress, with a degree in theater arts from Brown University. In recent years, she has lived in Los Angeles, where she filmed a role on the television soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. Official engagement photos of the couple were taken in London, where Theodora was born, and released on the Greek royal website.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images |
Here’s hoping that Theodora will follow in the footsteps of the previous royal brides from her mother’s family, wearing the Khedive of Egypt Tiara as a wedding diadem. The tiara originally belonged to Crown Princess Margareta of Sweden; after her death, it was inherited by her only daughter, Queen Ingrid of Denmark. All of Queen Ingrid’s female descendants so far have worn the tiara on their wedding days. The most recent bridal outing for the tiara came in 2011, when Theodora’s cousin, Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, wore the tiara for her religious wedding ceremony in Germany. Learn more about the tiara’s history here!
RALPH GATTI/AFP/Getty Images |
Our November Magpie of the Month is a woman who comes from a principality that celebrates its national holiday this month. The late Princess Grace of Monaco had a jewelry collection that was perfect for a woman who was both a princess and a movie star. Among all of the diamond glitter, though, she owned a few quieter pieces, including the lovely diamond and pearl suite we’re discussing today.
The set, which comes from Van Cleef and Arpels, was a wedding gift from Grace’s husband, Prince Rainier. The diamond-accented pearl suite includes a necklace, a bracelet, a pair of earrings, and a ring.
Grace wore the pearls throughout her royal marriage. Above, she wears them for a dinner held in July 1961.
AFP/Getty Images |
Here, in December 1976, you’ll note the pearls on Grace as she participated in an important family tradition: handing out gifts to Monegasque children at the annual Christmas party at the Palais Princier.
RALPH GATTI/AFP/Getty Images |
Another image from the same Christmas party gives us a look at the earrings and necklace from the suite in color.
RALPH GATTI/AFP/Getty Images |
Grace also sometimes mixed and matched the pearls with other similar pieces from her jewelry box. For the 18th Monte-Carlo Television Festival in August 1979, Grace wore the necklace and bracelet with a pair of pearl drop earrings.
A few years later, Grace also chose the suite for an important family occasion: the wedding of her brother, Jack “Kell” Kelly, to Sandra Worley in Philadelphia.
Grace’s jewels have been displayed several times since her death, and the wedding gift pearls have often been included in various exhibitions. Here, you get an excellent view of the necklace from an exhibition at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco in 2007.