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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Saturday Sparkler: The Vasa Tiara

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We’ve talked quite a lot this month about Norwegian royal jewels, but so far we haven’t discussed one of my favorite pieces: the Vasa Tiara, a petite diamond tiara with a larger historical legacy.

You might be asking yourself why a tiara named after an old Swedish royal dynasty is currently worn by a Norwegian princess; the simple answer is that said princess’s mother happened to be born a Swedish princess. When Princess Märtha of Sweden, daughter of Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg, married the future King Olav V of Norway in 1929, the city of Stockholm decided they needed to give their princess a proper Swedish send-off in the form of a tiara. (They did the same for Märtha’s sister, Astrid, on her marriage to a future king of Belgium, but that diamond and pearl tiara hasn’t been seen in a very long time.)

The diamond and platinum tiara was made by C.F. Carlman. It takes its name from the heraldic symbol of the Vasa dynasty, which is incorporated into the central element of the tiara. The Vasas hadn’t ruled in Sweden for centuries by the time the Bernadottes showed up on the scene in 1810; the last Vasa ruler was the rather infamous Queen Christina. But the Bernadottes can claim kinship to the Vasas, because they were deliberate about marrying royal women who descended from that old Swedish line. Two Bernadotte queens, Joséphine of Leuchtenberg and Victoria of Baden, were Vasa descendants, which means that Princess Märtha was, too.



The new Norwegian crown princess wore her new tiara on a regular basis, and she also loaned the art deco sparkler to her two daughters, Ragnhild and Astrid. The tiara was apparently originally intended to be one of those 1920s forehead bandeaux, but I’ve not seen many pictures of the Norwegian ladies wearing it that way. Thankfully, it transformed nicely to a more traditional “top of the head” tiara.

Crown Princess Märtha never became Norway’s queen. She died of cancer in 1954, and her children divided up her jewels (and those of the late Queen Maud) several years later, after King Harald married Queen Sonja. Astrid was the lucky recipient of this tiara. But Trond Norén Isaksen has noted that Astrid essentially treats the piece like a lifetime loan. She plans to have the diadem returned to the royal vaults after her eventual death — hopefully at a time far, far in the future.

This Fortnight in Royal Jewels: August 14-27

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August 14-27, 2015

Time yet again for a recap of some of the royal jewels on display over the past few weeks. We’re still in the doldrums of August, but we’ve got a few bejeweled appearances to discuss! Be sure to vote for your favorite jewels in the poll below…

10. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden wore a delicate necklace, earrings, and bracelets with a silver watch at the Climate Pilgrimage on August 22.

9. Joining Victoria at the Climate Pilgrimage was Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway, who wore a gold pendant necklace and colorful bracelets.

8. During the VJ Day anniversary celebrations on August 15, the Countess of Wessex wore her trendy pearl earrings from Heavenly Necklaces, with a large pearl affixed to the back of a smaller stud.

7. Here’s how you know that the back-to-front pearl earrings are definitely on trend: Queen Rania of Jordan wore a marbleized pair at a university conference in France on August 26.

6. Empress Michiko of Japan wore a pair of interesting earrings and a simple pendant necklace to travel to a medical checkup in Tokyo on August 9.

5. Four days earlier, Michiko wore a simpler pair of earrings with a pearl necklace at the Florence Nightingale awards ceremony.

4. Crown Princess Victoria wore a rather “sharp” pair of earrings with a coordinating bracelet at the Radio Sweden anniversary celebrations on August 21.

3. Queen Maxima selected a lovely pair of earrings with a pale pink pendant drop at the opening of Papageno House on August 26.

2. The Duchess of Cornwall wore some of her favorite pieces of jewelry — her pearl and diamond earrings, plus her pearl necklace with the round diamond clasp — at the VJ Day anniversary celebrations on August 15.

1. Queen Elizabeth II chose one of her most important brooches — the Cullinan V — for the VJ Day anniversary celebrations. (You can read more about the Cullinan Diamond here!)

The Cotes Peridots

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© Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Tucked away in one of my favorite places in the world — the jewelry rooms at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London — is a set of peridot jewels that any August baby would covet. And even better — these peridot pieces have an intriguing royal connection. Set your time machines, magpies: we’re headed for Regency England.
One of the most extravagant British royals of all time, George IV (sometimes better known to history as the Prince Regent), also had one of the most disastrous marriages in royal history. His union with Caroline of Brunswick was doomed from the start — he even barred her from his coronation when he finally became king — but it did manage to produce a single child: Princess Charlotte of Wales. The Hanoverian royals’ family relationships were, to put it mildly, a complete mess — they distrusted, disliked, and sometimes even openly despised each other. To make sure he knew precisely what was going on in his daughter’s life, George recruited two of the ladies from her household, the Cotes sisters, to keep an eye on Charlotte.

Charlotte was reportedly not a fan of Charlotte and Lucy Cotes, even calling the sisters and their aunt “the Famine and the consequences,” which is a pretty fabulous Regency-era insult. But apparently the Cotes sisters were good and faithful spies, because when Charlotte married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1816, George commissioned sets of jewelry for the sisters to wear at the wedding.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The suites of jewels — one amethyst and one peridot — were made by Rundell, Bridge, and Rundell. The peridot set is the one on display today at the Victoria and Albert; it consists of a large necklace with a cross pendant, a pair of bracelets, a pair of earrings, and a brooch. The peridots are set in gold.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The leather case that the jewels originally resided in still exists, and so does a letter written to one of the Misses Cotes by George’s sister, Princess Elizabeth. The handwritten note reads, in part, “I write in great haste by command of The P. Regent to beg you to accept the set of Chrysolytes which I send with this note. He hopes You will wear it at the Wedding as a proof of his regard.” (Chrysolite is another term sometimes used for peridot.) The note is signed “Eliza” and dated April 30, 1816. The museum also notes that the invoice for the peridot set still exists in the Royal Archives today.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The peridot suite remained with members of the Cotes family for two centuries, but in 2012, the owner sold the set at a charity auction. The new owner, however, applied to export the jewels, taking them out of England — a move that was subsequently deferred by the Culture Minister, Ed Vaizey, in the hopes that a British buyer would come forward and keep the jewels in the UK.

© Victoria and Albert Museum, London

And a British buyer did come forward — the Victoria and Albert Museum, who purchased the set from the person who previously bought the set at auction. Who better to preserve a gorgeous set of early nineteenth-century British jewels with a royal legacy than the V&A? The jewels remain in Britain, and now they’re on display (for free!) to the public. If you ask me, that’s a win all around.