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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Jewels on Film: Trailer for Victoria (2017)

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Victoria, airing this autumn/spring (Screencap: ITV)

A new eight-episode miniseries about the early reign of Queen Victoria is coming to ITV and PBS soon. We’ll be covering the show when it airs on Masterpiece in January 2017, but we’ve already got a new trailer from ITV to enjoy!

Jenna Coleman (of Doctor Who fame) plays Victoria, with Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne and Tom Hughes as Prince Albert. The miniseries was written by the novelist Daisy Goodwin. Here’s a look at some of the jewelry we saw featured in the trailer…

Screencap: ITV

Because Victoria is a teenager in this miniseries, many of her jewels are on the daintier side. Above, she wears a pair of drop earrings and a delicate pendant necklace.

Screencap: ITV

Here, you can just see a brooch pinned at the center of her neckline.

Screencap: ITV

She’s wearing a bit more bling in this scene: a double row of diamonds that weirdly reminds me of the Congo necklace from the Luxembourgish collection. You can also catch a glimpse of something pinned in her hair…

Screencap: ITV

…which you can see a bit more clearly here. Also: I’m not entirely sure, but that adjustable-length necklace clasp looks awfully modern to me.

Screencap: ITV

And we’ve got tiaras! No clear look at any of these yet, but we’ve got a tiara here…

Screencap: ITV

…and here…

Screencap: ITV

…and here! (She’s also wearing earrings in this blurry, in-motion shot, plus another jewel in her hair.)

Screencap: ITV

Without a doubt, though, the most glittering moments from this trailer are related to Victoria’s coronation. Here’s the production’s version of the George IV State Diadem. Victoria is also presumably supposed to be wearing Queen Charlotte’s diamond necklace, which was lost in the Hanoverian claim and later replaced by the Coronation Necklace. Probable source material for these jewels: the Thomas Sully portrait from 1838.

Screencap: ITV

And here’s the production’s version of Victoria’s Imperial State Crown. You can see the Black Prince’s Ruby (actually a spinel) on the right side.

Screencap: ITV

Here’s Victoria wearing the crown (as she does in the coronation portrait by Sir George Hayter). This version of the crown looks strange to our modern eyes, because today’s version features the Cullinan II mounted below the Black Prince’s Ruby, with the Stuart Sapphire on the opposite side. Note that the Hayter coronation portrait shows Victoria without a necklace.

What do you think of the jewels so far? Are you excited to nitpick the production’s bling with me this winter??? Between this and The Crown in November, we’re going to be spoiled…


The Baden Palmette Tiara

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The Baden Palmette Tiara (Photo: Ian Gavan/Getty Images)

The Danish royal family has one of the biggest and widest-ranging tiara collections in Europe. Today, we’re looking at one of the older and more traditional tiaras in the bunch. The Baden Palmette Tiara, an heirloom with a long history, is a petite diadem that still packs a big, sparkly punch.

Queen Margrethe wears the tiara at the Norwegian royal wedding in 2001 (Photo: Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)

The tiara is originally a German piece, made in the mid-nineteenth century, probably by Koch. It was reportedly a wedding gift from King Wilhelm of Prussia (who later became the first German kaiser) to his daughter, Princess Louise, who married Grand Duke Frederick of Baden in 1856.

Queen Margrethe wears the tiara at the Norwegian royal wedding in 2002 (Photo: Sion Touhig/Getty Images)

Frederick and Louise’s daughter, Victoria, married King Gustaf V of Sweden in 1881. She brought the tiara with her to Stockholm (along with another rather familiar diadem, the Baden Fringe, which is generally worn today by Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden). When Victoria died in 1930, her granddaughter, Princess Ingrid, inherited the tiara, and when Ingrid married Frederik IX of Denmark five years later, she brought the tiara with her to her new country.

Queen Margrethe wears the tiara in 2010 (Photo: KELD NAVNTOFT/AFP/Getty Images)

Queen Ingrid died in 2000, and her impressive jewel collection has filtered through the royal and princely families of Denmark, Greece, and Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Queen Margrethe was the lucky inheritor of this lovely tiara, and she wears it often. As it’s a rather romantic tiara, with its heart-shaped palmette motifs, she often dons it for romantic occasions.

Queen Margrethe wears the tiara at Prince Joachim’s wedding in 2008 (Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

She’s worn it to numerous royal weddings, including the nuptials of both Crown Prince Haakon and Princess Martha Louise of Norway, the wedding of her godson, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, and the second wedding of her own son, Prince Joachim. It’s easy to see why the sparkler is one of Daisy’s favorites: it’s elegant, playful, and (most importantly for a tiara) small and therefore likely quite comfortable.

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


In Memoriam: Queen Anne of Romania

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Anne of Romania (Photo: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images)

On Monday, the former royal family of Romania announced the death of their matriarch. Anne, the wife of Romania’s last king, died at the age of 92 in Switzerland.

Born a princess of Bourbon-Parma, Anne’s royal pedigree was impeccable even before she married a (former) monarch. Her father, Prince Rene of Bourbon-Parma, was a son of Robert, the last reigning Duke of Parma, and Infanta Maria Antonia of Portugal. Her paternal uncles and aunts included Queen Marie Louise of Bulgaria, Empress Zita of Austria-Hungary, and Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma (husband of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg).

Anne’s mother, Princess Margrethe of Denmark, was the daughter of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie of Orleans. Valdemar’s parents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark — which means that Anne’s maternal great-aunts and great-uncles were King Frederik VIII of Denmark, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, King George I of Greece, Crown Princess Thyra of Hanover, and Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia.

Anne’s long list of royal cousins includes the reigning monarchs of the United Kingdom, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Spain, and Luxembourg, plus the former kings of Bulgaria, Greece, and Romania. That last one — King Michael I of Romania — also happens to have been her husband. Anne was never Romania’s queen consort, because Michael was forced to abdicate a year before their marriage, but she was still often referred to as “Queen Anne of Romania” by courtesy.

Before her marriage, Anne studied at Parsons School of Design in New York and even worked behind the counter at Macy’s. She also served as an ambulance driver during World War II, earning the Croix de guerre for her service. She met her husband in London during the celebrations surrounding the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip in November 1947. Michael and Anne were married for nearly 70 years, and they had five daughters: Margarita, Elena, Irina, Sophie, and Maria.

To celebrate Anne’s life, here’s a selection of images, including a few where you can see a bit of royal jewelry. Enjoy!

Photo: OFF/AFP/Getty Images
Michael and Anne stroll through the Bois de Boulogne in Paris in March 1948, a few months before their wedding. Anne is wearing a simple string of pearls
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Michael and Anne in Athens on their wedding day: June 10, 1948. Anne wore the Romanian Greek Key Tiara as her bridal diadem, plus Queen Marie’s diamond sautoir. Anne’s parents did not attend the wedding; they were Catholics, and Michael was Orthodox. There were complicated questions about the marriage, to the point that the pope was consulted. Rene and Margrethe were advised to stay away by Rene’s brother, Prince Xavier (head of the house of Parma at that time). They agreed, and the family was represented at the wedding by Prince Erik, Count of Rosenborg, Anne’s uncle
Photo: OFF/AFP/Getty Images
Anne in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1951; note the rings on her left hand

Michael and Anne in exile in England with their eldest daughters, Margarita and Elena, in 1952

Wearing the Romanian Greek Key Tiara, Anne chats with Princess Lilian of Belgium during the wedding celebrations of King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium in 1960

Michael and Anne with Constantine and Anne-Marie of Greece at a service celebrating the 100th birthday of the Queen Mother at St. Paul’s Cathedral in 2000

Michael and Anne attend a gala reception for their daughter Margarita’s charitable foundation in December 2003
Photo: DANIEL MIHAILESCU/AFP/Getty Images
Anne arrives at the National Opera in Bucharest for a concert celebrating Michael’s 90th birthday in 2011