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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Jewel History: Her Majesty Has Diamonds Reset (1911)

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“Her Majesty Has Diamonds Reset”
(originally appeared in The Washington Post, 6 Aug 1911)

Queen Mary has lately sent some of her wonderful collection of diamonds to be reset, and this serves to confirm what was said at the time of the coronation — that these are Her Majesty’s favorite gems. Though she possesses some very valuable rubies, emeralds, and pearls, she rarely wears them, and as a rule diamonds form her sole ornament.

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Queen Alexandra, on the other hand, greatly prefers to have her diamonds mixed with other stones, particularly emeralds and amethysts. Emeralds are the favorite stones of the Duchess of Connaught, while her daughter, Princess Patricia, confessed to a preference for turquoises.

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The latter, by the way, is a favorite gem with other members of the royal family, including the Princess Royal and the Duchess of Argyll, while pearls appeal to the Princess Victoria in particular.

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It has been computed, by the way, that Queen Mary must possess no fewer than 43 diamond coronets and tiaras, most of which she has appeared in during the last season.

Princess Anne’s Diamond Festoon Necklace

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Get excited, everyone — we have a new Magpie of the Month! The Princess Royal gets a lot of flack for keeping the same hairstyle since the ’70s and wearing decades-old clothes, but her jewelry collection often doesn’t get enough attention at all. The daughter of a reigning queen, Anne has inherited jewels from the British royal family as well as from her father’s Greek and German royal relatives. Today’s piece is a gift from her parents: her diamond festoon necklace.

According to Leslie Field, this necklace was an eighteenth birthday present to Anne from her parents, Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh. Field describes the necklace as “an antique diamond festoon necklace with ribbons and bows, and pendant drops.” Some have suggested in the past that the necklace was remade from one that belonged to Queen Alexandra; however, most sources state that Elizabeth and Philip purchased the necklace themselves.

Along with the necklace, Field states that Anne received a coordinating pair of diamond pendant earrings from her parents.

Anne often pairs the necklace and earrings with the diamond festoon tiara that she received as a gift from the World Wide Shipping Group. (We talked more about that tiara here!) Along with wearing the tiara, necklace, and earrings together for various state events, Anne wore them in her engagement portraits. She also wore the necklace and earrings with a diamond floral brooch in her 60th birthday portraits (see here and here.)

And the earrings have also had one more very significant outing: Anne’s daughter, Zara, wore them on her wedding day in 2011 (along with a tiara that had belonged to Prince Philip’s mother, Alice of Battenberg).

Red Cross Gala Jewels

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The annual Gala de la Croix-Rouge is one of the biggest social events of the year in Monaco. This year, Prince Albert and Princess Charlene represented the princely family at the gala, and Charlene gave us a bit of glitter to gawk at.

Charlene chose diamonds to accessorize her dark blue Dior gown, including a pair of diamond earrings. I’ve seen speculation that the jewels were made by Van Cleef and Arpels, but I’ve not heard confirmation of that. Update: Thanks to The Royal Couturier on Twitter for giving me a bit of extra info — the earrings are Graff, like the headband, not VC&A!

She also followed in the footsteps of Queen Letizia of Spain, nestling a diamond headband into her hair. The piece was reportedly made by Graff. Maybe we’ve got a new headband trend on our hands?

And here you can see that she also added a diamond bracelet to her right wrist.

This year’s gala was also one of most prominent appearances that Charlene has made since announcing her pregnancy. She’s due to give birth at the end of the year.

The Grimaldis weren’t the only royals at the gala this year. Their close friends, Prince Carlos and Princess Camilla of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, were also in attendance. Carlos and Camilla, who use the titles of Duke and Duchess of Castro are members of the royal family that used to rule part of Italy. They’re related to most of the reigning royals who practice Catholicism, and they’re also good friends with the Danish royals.

Camilla even sat beside Prince Albert during dinner. She chose gold jewelry, which coordinated with the golden sleeve embellishment on her white gown. Her rather interesting necklace features a large golden butterfly.

And here’s a fuller look at that gown, plus what I think is a butterfly ring on her left hand. God love Camilla — she always brings a little Vegas sparkle to the royal events she attends!