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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Kate’s Olympic Jewel Style

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Kate’s Olympic Jewel Style (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The Duchess of Cambridge didn’t make the trip to Rio to cheer on Team GB this summer, but she’s been a major supporter of Britain’s Olympic athletes throughout her five years as a Windsor. Today, we’re looking at her Olympic jewelry style, which is suitably sporty and often dramatic.

Photo: Chris Jackson – WPA Pool /Getty Images

Kate made a visit to Olympic Park in March 2012, a few months ahead of the London Games. She wore the Kiki McDonough Grace White Topaz Stud Earrings, which feature a round white topaz ringed with small diamonds and set in white gold.

Photo: Alastair Grant – WPA Pool/Getty Images

At Royal Albert Hall in May 2012, Kate attended a concert in celebration of Team GB wearing a pair of silver-toned, pave-set statement earrings. The maker of these earrings has yet to be identified.

Photo: Sang Tan – WPA Pool/Getty Images

Kate visited the “Road To 2012: Aiming High” exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in July 2012, just before the London Games began. She wore her Cartier Trinity Necklace, which includes a pendant made of rings of white, yellow, and rose gold. The rings of the necklace neatly echo the Olympic rings. (Read more about Kate’s Trinity pieces in our post here!)

Photo: John Stillwell – WPA Pool/Getty Images

For the opening ceremony of the 2012 Games, Kate wore more ring-themed jewels: the Kiki McDonough Lola Blue Topaz Hoop Earrings. (Here’s our post on the earrings.)

Photo: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Kate was a regular at events during the London 2012 Games, and she could usually be spotted wearing a pair of pearl earrings. Her go-to pair was a simple set of round pearl studs. The maker has not been identified, partly because these are such classic pieces.

Photo: Ezra Shaw/Getty Images

The 2012 Olympics also saw the debut of one of Kate’s favorite pairs of earrings: the Kiki McDonough Diamond Hoops with the Annoushka Pearl Drops.

Photo: EDDIE MULHOLLAND/AFP/Getty Images

Even though Kate isn’t going to Rio, she’s been supporting Team GB back home in Britain. In June, she attended an anniversary dinner for SportsAid, which was also attended by many athletes heading to the Rio Games. For the event, Kate debuted the Cartier Trinity Tri-Gold Hoop Earrings, which coordinate with the pendant she wore ahead of the 2012 Games. More Olympics, more ring-themed jewels! (And more on these earrings over here!)

The Brazilian Tiara

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The Braganza, or Brazilian, Tiara (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

With the world’s eyes on the Olympic Games in Rio, what better way to celebrate than by looking at a tiara once worn by a Brazilian empress? Today, Brazil is a republic, but from 1822-1889, the nation was the independent Empire of Brazil. Here’s how their grandest tiara — the Braganza, or Brazilian, Tiara — made its way from Rio to … Stockholm!?

Jean-Baptiste Debret’s portrait of the marriage of Pedro I and Amélie of Leuchtenberg (Image: Wikimedia Commons)

In 1822, Emperor Pedro I of the Portuguese House of Braganza was crowned in Brazil. Four years later, Pedro’s empress, Maria Leopoldina of Austria, died in Rio de Janeiro. By 1829, Pedro was married again. This time, his wife was Princess Amélie of Leuchtenberg, a granddaughter of both King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and Empress Joséphine of France.

Queen Silvia wears the tiara in 2006 (Photo: Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

As Brazil’s empress, Amélie’s jewelry box included a stunning set of diamonds. Among these was a wedding gift from her new husband: an enormous diamond diadem composed of flowers and leaves. The tiara was new, but the diamonds weren’t. They’d actually belonged to Pedro’s first wife, Maria Leopoldina, and had been acquired by Pedro from their children. The tiara itself was reportedly made in France, but Amélie herself apparently stated that the diamonds were sourced from Brazil.

Queen Sofia wears the tiara, ca. 1902 (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Amélie wasn’t Brazil’s empress for long. In 1831, her husband abdicated, and the two of them settled first in Paris and then in Lisbon, where Pedro died. Amélie kept her diamonds throughout all of this upheaval, and when she died in 1873, the tiara and its accompanying necklace, earrings, and brooch were left to her closest living family member: her sister, Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway.

Queen Victoria wears the tiara (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Historian Trond Norén Isaksen has carefully tracked the tiara’s journey from Portugal to Sweden, noting that the diamonds were “shipped to Kristiansand in Norway onboard the Norwegian naval corvette Balder and from there to Stockholm,” where they were delivered to Queen Josefina. But sadly, Josefina died only three years later. Her daughter-in-law, Queen Sofia, was the Brazilian tiara’s next wearer, and it has been worn by all subsequent Swedish queens, including Queen Victoria, Queen Louise, and the tiara’s current wearer, Queen Silvia.

Queen Silvia wears the tiara at Victoria’s wedding in 2010 (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The Brazilian Tiara is especially perfect for Silvia, not only because it’s a tiara befitting a queen but also because Silvia’s mother, Alice de Toledo, was born in Brazil. Silvia wore the tiara for one of her first portraits as queen, and in 2010, she chose the tiara for one of the most important Swedish royal events of the 21st century: the wedding of her daughter, Crown Princess Victoria.

Note: This is an updated version of an earlier post, with new text/images.