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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Birthday Jewels: Queen Silvia of Sweden

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Happy birthday to Queen Silvia of Sweden! Silvia, who turns 71 today, is the longest-serving Swedish queen, so she has had more than a few opportunity to wear pieces from the family’s immense collection of royal jewels. To celebrate her birthday, let’s look at some of her most glittering appearances during her tenure as the country’s queen.

Cameos at her wedding (June 1976)

The grand Braganza tiara and pink topazes for her first formal portrait (1976)

Jewels from Queen Sofia at her first Nobel Prize ceremony (December 1976)

Leuchtenberg sapphires at the ’78 Nobels (December 1978)

Wearing Queen Sofia’s tiara during the Mexican state visit (May 1980)

The sapphires at Versailles (June 1980)

Sapphires at the ’82 Nobels (December 1982)

Silver wedding of Margrethe and Henrik of Denmark (June 1992)

Diamonds at the ’94 Nobels (December 1994)

Wearing the Edward VII Ruby Tiara at the wedding of Prince Joachim of Denmark (November 1995)

The Connaught with the pink topazes for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 50th birthday (April 1996)

Cameos at the ’96 Nobels (December 1996)

Cut steel and diamonds for the 60th birthday of King Harald of Norway (June 1997)

Cameos for the ’98 Nobels (December 1998)
Gala held before the wedding of Alexia of Greece and Denmark (July 1999)

Connaught and topazes for the 60th birthday of Queen Margrethe of Denmark (April 2000)

Diamonds for the ’00 Nobels (December 2000)

Twenty-fifth wedding anniversary celebrations (June 2001)

Wedding of Crown Prince Haakon of Norway (August 2001)

Bejeweled hair at the ’01 Nobels (December 2001)

Emeralds for the 90th birthday of Otto von Habsburg (November 2002)

Diamonds at the ’02 Nobels (December 2002)

Glittering in pink at the ’03 Nobels (December 2003)

Diamonds for the state visit to Brunei (February 2004)

Processional Jewels for Count Lennart Bernadotte’s birthday (May 2004)

Wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (May 2004)

Sapphires for the ’04 Nobels (December 2004)

Connaught and pearls at a gala for the Norwegian royals (September 2005)

Modern Fringe for the state visit to Australia (November 2005)

King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 60th birthday celebrations (April 2006)

Silver wedding of Henri and Maria Teresa of Luxembourg (June 2006)

Japanese state visit gala (March 2007)

State visit to Denmark (May 2007)

King’s Dinner during the ’07 Nobels (December 2007)

Crown Princess Victoria’s wedding (June 2010)

Wedding of Prince Albert II of Monaco (July 2011)

Sapphires at the ’12 Nobels (December 2012)

Princess Madeleine’s wedding (June 2013)

Diamonds at the ’13 Nobels (December 2013)

Sapphires at the ’14 Nobels (December 2014)

Holiday Wishlists 2014: Chaumet

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Holiday Wishlist: Chaumet
From Romanov tiaras to French imperial jewels, the House of Chaumet has been an important part of the royal jewel landscape for two centuries. The firm was founded by Marie-Étienne Nitot, later Napoleon’s court jeweler, in 1780, and they’ve been making remarkable jewels ever since from their atelier in the Place Vendôme in Paris. Here are five of my favorite pieces from their current collections…
The Joséphine Tiara Ring is a tribute to one of the firm’s first major customers, Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon. Made of platinum and set with diamonds, the ring echoes the shape of a tiara in miniature. (Price on request)

This charming Bee Pendant is from the “Attrape-moi… si tu m’aimes” collection, which roughly translates to “catch me … if you love me.” I will definitely catch you, you adorable citrine-and-diamond bee. (Price on request)
The Grand Frisson Brooch is absolute geometric perfection. (Price on request)
The Hortensia Earrings are exuberant chandeliers of rubies, garnets, and red tourmalines. (Price on request)
It wouldn’t be Chaumet without a tiara, would it? I’m absolutely gaga over the delicate simplicity of the Joséphine Tiara, which places a single Paraiba tourmaline amid a field of diamonds and white gold. (Price on request)
If you could be a Chaumet client, which pieces would you want to bring home with you?
Disclaimer: I was not compensated for writing this post in any way, and Chaumet did not sponsor it. The opinions expressed here are solely mine.

Princess Alexandra’s Emeralds

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When Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent decided how to divvy up her jewels in her will, she followed an old-fashioned royal principle: give the jewels to your sons so that their wives can wear them. Where daughters are concerned, it’s their husbands’ families who are responsible, then, for bejeweling them. Because of this, our Magpie of the Month, Marina’s daughter Alexandra, doesn’t have many Kent heirloom jewels in her possession.

Instead, she has smaller collections of gems, probably acquired at some point during her marriage to Sir Angus Ogilvy. Today, we’re chatting about her diamond and emerald jewelry, a collection of various pieces that she wears at both day and evening events.

Alexandra has a few items of diamond and emerald jewelry with a geometric, almost Art Deco style. These include a pair of diamond and square-cut emerald studs, worn above at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2012.

She sometimes pairs the emerald earrings with a diamond and emerald butterfly brooch, as she did at the Royal Academy of Art in 2012…

…but sometimes she wears the earrings with a gorgeous diamond and emerald brooch, which I’d classify as one of the most stunning jewels in Alexandra’s collection.

She’s also worn the diamond and emerald brooch as a hat ornament. It coordinated perfectly with the green velvet hat she wore to the diamond wedding service for the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh in 2007.

Alexandra also has another large emerald in her collection. It forms the clasp of a pearl choker, similar to the pieces worn by many of her fellow royal ladies, including the Duchess of Cornwall and the late Diana, Princess of Wales. The emerald, which appears to be a cabochon, is surrounded by diamonds. Above, Alexandra wears the choker at Margaret Thatcher’s 80th birthday party in 2005.

The most high-profile outing for the emerald and pearl choker, however, was the dinner held the night before Prince William’s wedding in 2011. In the photograph above, she also appears to be wearing an emerald ring on her right hand.