The Court Jeweller – Page 1270

Gucci and Pearls for Kate’s Museum Visit

06.29.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

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The Duchess of Cambridge visited the Victoria and Albert Museum in London on Thursday morning to view the museum’s new Exhibition Road Quarter, and she brought a familiar pair of earrings with her.

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Kate wore her white gold and diamond Kiki McDonough hoops with her Annoushka pearl drops for the museum visit.

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While the museum’s director, Tristram Hunt, gave Kate a tour, we got a good look at the Gucci dress she chose to wear for the occasion.

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As you can see in this close-up, Kate coordinated her pearl earrings with the pearly buttons on her dress.

Queen Elizabeth II’s Qatari Pearl Suite

06.29.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

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We’re very used to seeing Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom wearing pearls; she dons diamond and pearl earrings and a three-stranded pearl necklace for virtually all of her daytime engagements. She also has numerous sets of pearls suitable for evening use, including today’s suite of diamond and pearl jewelry, given to her by the Emir of Qatar.

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The diamond and pearl demi-parure includes a pair of earrings and a six-stranded pearl necklace. The pearl strands of the necklace are linked and ornamented by additional diamond pieces. The necklace is one of the largest that the Queen wears.

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The set was given to the Queen in 1979 during an official visit to Qatar. She wore the jewels during a gala banquet on the visit, and she’s mainly (but not exclusively) worn them at Qatar-related events ever since. In these photos, she wears them during a state banquet for the Emir of Qatar at Windsor Castle in 2010.

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Because of the pearl and diamond combination in the demi-parure, it should come as no surprise that she usually wears the set with the Vladimir Tiara (hung with its original pearl drops). But she’s also worn it in the past with Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik, highlighting the glitter of the diamonds in the demi-parure.

More German Noble Sparkle from the Löwenstein Family

06.28.2017 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

While we were chatting about this weekend’s Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg family wedding, my friend Netty Leistra, who is a freelance royal journalist based in the Netherlands, shared even more sparkling jewels from the family’s collection with me.

Netty photographed Ludwig, Prince zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg and Elisabeth, Princess zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg — parents of the bride at this weekend’s wedding — at the wedding of Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Kelly Rondestvedt in 2009.

Elisabeth wore a grand demi-parure of jewels set with enormous blue gemstones. I don’t know precisely what the stones are, but they look like blue topazes to my eye. Yet another example of jewels from a noble family appearing in public during a wedding celebration. Thanks so much for sharing these, Netty!

The images to this post were generously provided by Netty Leistra. You can find her work portfolio here; she also writes a blog here. If you’re interested in the royal houses of Europe, including non-reigning and noble families, her work is wonderful. I highly recommend a visit!