Royal Style: Make Do and Mend, or Go Big and Spend?.

[Maireas]

New thread!
Thanks for the title, Deftly!

I'm just looking at QE2's brooch! That's fabulous. Could one of our clever jewellery crew identify it for us?.

It was a gift from Bahrain when the Queen and Prince Phillip made a state visit to various Gulf states in 1979 - apparently she only wore it three times in public. She came back with a embarrassment of jewels from that trip - not just the gold and bejewelled dhow brooch, but also this sapphire and diamond necklace and earrings set from Dubai that the Queen wore frequently, and this diamond necklace from Saudi Arabia which again became a staple.

It'd be interesting to understand the tax implications of all those gifts!
I'm guessing HM is exempt but what if other members are 'gifted'.
I know there's some weird shenanigans in Holland or Sweden (can't remember which now) where the jewels were transferred to the state and are loaned to the royals to avoid such delicate matters

orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/10/royal-splendor-101-on-jewel-ownership.html?m=1

orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/11/royal-splendor-101-personal-property.html?m=1

Found it! It's not transferred to the state, but family 'foundations'

And here

orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/2011/10/royal-splendor-101-family-jewel.html?m=1

There was a royal jewellery exhibition at BP about seven or eight years ago. Lots of the Queen’s jewels and tiaras were on display and it was amazing seeing close up the pieces that we saw her wearing on TV etc. I’d definitely go to see them again if ever there was a chance.

Thank you! Well done, @Serenster and @paradyning 👍

Genuinely only here for Single White Princess Marie’s ‘wannabe anywhere but here’ vibes. Brava Marie 👏

Ah if looks could kill! And Joachim looks like a pre-Maria Capt Von Trapp. Not happy are they?

I think the Queen looks happy, but none of the other 4 look happy at all. Sad situation all round really. I hate it when families fall out, especially when it's so public.

Something about Margarethe gives me really bad vibes.

Daisy dresses beautifully for her age, especially in the high formal evening wear. That velvet dress is gorgeous. I guess it helps that she's tall & elegant.

I would love to see All of the royal jewels and I bet a lot of tourists would pay to see such an exhibition. But I doubt they will ever do it - tbh I doubt they want people to know just how much fab priceless glittery stuff they have.

imagine a few days spent in the royal jewel vault. my idea of heaven - jewels and history combined

But it’s already been done. There was an exhibition at BH some years ago.

Are the long necklace things the equivalent of an order?

Me too!

I think she's very intelligent and would be interesting to sit next to at an official dinner but not sure she's the maternal/family-oriented sort. Which must be hard if the entire purpose of your job is to produce heirs!

I mentioned it here before but I did a tour of BP in the summer, about a fortnight before the queen died, and there were a few tiaras on display. The one she wore as a child to her parents' coronation, the Girls of Great Britain, the Vladimir and the Diamond Diadem, as well as some other items of jewellery.

Oh how they sparkled... 👑 ✨

She has said before that she isn’t particularly maternal. Of course she loves her children and grandchildren, but she’s not the very cuddly sort.

But producing heirs isn’t her entire job! She is Head of State, that’s her actual job...

As for vibes, I don’t get anything off about her at all. She’s a funny, talented and extremely intelligent woman.

Well yes but ensuring the continuation of your family line is a big part of it!

True enough! But there are a lot of children coming up in the ranks so that’s likely not to be such a problem for a generation or two at least. It just sounded funny to me, that that’s a monarch’s only job.

(Plus to be fair one doesn’t necessarily need to be maternal in order to have plenty of sex, which is the important bit for providing heirs... )

I think Fred and Joachim are only a year apart, which makes me think Margrethe just wanted to get the whole kids business over and done with as quickly as possible!

Actually I’m quite certain I’ve seen she said that they would’ve liked to have had more children but it just didn’t happen.

She’s not a cold woman by any means, I don’t think. She’s always gathered all the family and her grandchildren around her at Christmas and other holidays, and she speaks very affectionately about her mother and father. She’s clearly very close to her sisters too. She used to look at her husband with such adoration. But very committed to her work (after all it’s a career, at the end of the day) and took/takes her responsibility very seriously.