Jewellery-British Royal Family.

[DaisyDooley]

This thread is for pictures and question on the JEWELLERY Of the British Royal Family, Past and Current pieces. There may be posts about other Family’s Royal Jewels too.
It is only for discussing Jewels.
No discussions of current members of the RF, no de railing by talking about tax or ownership of certain pieces.
Just lovely pretty Jewels.

Oh I do love a convertible tiara which can become a necklace etc. I thought Sophie Duchess of Edinburgh’s wedding one was a bit sort of assembled though.

When I’m the next royal bride, which at 55 and divorced Catholic may be some time, I’d like the Poltimore please.

Also I can’t get my head around how the funding worked for the “girls of great britiain” tiara. It’s a stunner. Did they all save up their Bunty pocket money?

Oh, goody! I'm a major magpie!

I'm thinking about:
Sam Chatto's proposal with a ceramic ring - she must really love him to accept that; is there a more conventional ring too? I noticed his announcement of their engagement mentioned I multiple times. It was all about him creating the ring in his ceramics workshop.

It's lovely to see PoW wearing more jewellery. I think she feels like she's grown up enough to wear it, plus being PoW.

There used to be a great US website: the Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor but the hate during Prince Harry's engagement was so intense that it shut down.

Thank you for starting this thread. It's not much of an exaggeration to say that I was heartbroken years ago when a royal jewellery blog was closed.

May I suggest that European royals also have some fun jewels? If I could have any tiara it would be one from the Dutch vaults, a diamond bandeau, I think it's called, which Maxima wore a lot when she was Crown Princess. The Europeans wear their tiaras a lot more than the BRF.

First post is Rubies.
The Greville Ruby and Diamond floral necklace
This necklace is the piece which made me fall in love with the BRF jewels
Its a fabulous necklace which was given to QEII by her parents as a wedding gift.
It come with matching earrings now - QEII had the necklace shortened (she didn’t have the length of neck/chest to wear it complete) and the pieces made into earrings.
It was thought at first that her parents had bought it specifically for her but in recent years it seems to be accepted that it is part of the fabled ‘Greville inheritance’. Mrs Greville had the height to wear it in its original length.
The Princess of Wales wore it for a state banquet at Buckingham Palace for the Spanish in 2017 with the Lovers knot Tiara .
I think Catherine would look better with it in its original length.

Oh God I loved Sartorial Splendour!

There’s an Alan Whicker program where he meets a wife of the Shah of Iran and she’s showing him all her jewels. It’s extraordinarily watchable.

Sartorial Splendor was fantastic.
Wish we could still access the jewellry vault.
Great source of info.

The ceramic ring is worrying me - surely it’s pretty fragile. Can’t imagine loading the dishwasher with it on etc.

Sophie’s was the worst tiara I have seen.
It was cobbled together with pieces from an old coronet of Queen Victorias.
It looks better now with the added row of diamonds but not much. Now QEII is no more I would have it re designed if l were Sophie.
I hope she gets a bit better access to a nicer tiara now Camilla is in charge!

@Mostlywilliow , Sartorial Splendor was the absolute best. She kept the 'jewellery vault' going for a while too.
If I could time travel at will, on a day jaunt, I'd go back to the tiaras exhibit at the V&A in 2002 or 2003. It was amazing. That was where I learned that all decent tiaras are composed of several other useful pieces: pins, bracelets, pendants or a fringe necklace and only wired up to make a tiara occasionally.

Full props to Mrs Greville who made the RF jewellery collection what it is today.

I think Pow finds jewellery uncomfortable - perhaps chafing somehow?

Yes, it was done through schools and groups. Nobody was forced to pay.
I’ll do a post with pictures that tiara tomorrow as it’s got a bit of a secret that not everyone knows about!

If anybody wants to see specific pieces just ask and I’ll look in my books.

Thanks for the thread @DaisyDooley!

I love learning about the jewels, especially the snippets of information that are given out during state visits (the diplomatic details!).

Someone on the other thread was recommending an Instagram account to follow - I'll need to look back. I follow historicroyalpalaces and royalcollectiontrust who show beautiful items, often jewellery, and also antiquejewelleryhistorian, though she isn't usually showing royal jewellery.

The Court Jeweller is worth reading:
The Court Jeweller

I like a tiara and I think Camilla especially wears a tiara well.

@tarheelbaby I would say that Mrs Grevilles bequest certainly added a fabulous haul but I think Queen Mary made the collection what it is today.
She was simply amazing with a fabulous eye for jewellry.

@LittleBearPad , I think certain ceramics are quite tough - there are ceramic knives - Japanese sushi chefs like them - and ceramic tiles on the underside of the US space shuttles - but I'd be disappointed not to have some obvious bling for an engagement; explaining every time that Samuel had thrown it specially for me would wear thin (pun?) pretty quickly.

These Earrings are begging to be worn with the Greville Necklace I’ve posted above.
They were Queen Mary’s 59th birthday present on 26 May 1926.

@DaisyDooley , yes Queen Mary was a queen magpie.

I so agree. It was very disappointing and she also had to wear it with that necklace Edward had designed for her. She must really love him.

Certain hair suits a tiara and Camilla can carry off a decent tiara.
My heart still yearns for her to re -wear the Delhi Durbar Tiara which is nearly (IMHO) perfect apart from one glaring fault which once you have seen, you cannot unsee.

Admire Queen Mary's commitment to acquiring so much fabulous jewellery and wearing so much at any one time.

That's what PoW needed at Wimbledon to go with her red dress and ruby pendant.

Yes, @HelenaWilson, forgot to mention the Court Jeweller.

Queen Camilla looks amazing in the sapphires she wears.

Nobody could wear them like Mary.
Queen Alexandra was pretty impressive but didn’t have the height and magnificent shelf of a bosom which Mary had. They both had great necks though.

I was interested in the Oriental tiara which Catherine wore, I think at the German state visit.

Wasn't it the one that had only been worn by Queens before?

Yes it was.
It was originally designed with opals in it, by Prince Albert For QV.
Opals were his favourite.
Queen Alexandra didn’t care for opals and had them replaced with rubies.
The Queen Mother loved that tiara and when the King died she hung onto i5 (along with Queen Victorias ruby necklace, Queen Alexandra’s wedding demi parure, QV waterfall brooch and a few other pieces). QEII didn’t have the heart to ask for them so she didn’t get to wear them until her mother died.

edit -when I saw the POW wearing it I was convinced she nd Camilla had gone into the jewel room/safe and Camilla was saying’Go on, try it on’!