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.

I’m going to do a post about this necklace tomorrow, I had to check some details before I replied as I like to check I’m giving correct information.

Hello Lovely Jewellry Ladies!
Sorry I was AWOL yesterday. Took Husband (Southampton fan) and DD (Newcastle /NUFC obsessed ) to St James Park to see the tributes to Kevin Keegan.

Anyway, first.
Hers a picture I have been looking for .
This is the picture I wanted you all to see - the little girls and big girls of the Grild of GreatBritain Tiara. The skill that went into designing and making this never fails to move me.

@PoppySeedBagelRedux

With regard to the emerald necklace I’m pretty sure it’s from the Greville Bequest. It’s not shown to its best advantage with the way HM was wearing it (sadly). The cabochon emerald drops are not the Cambridge emeralds. Apart from anything they have different ‘caps’ (if you look closely the ones on the necklace are straight edges, the ones in the tiara are jagged).
Also, the loose Cambridge emeralds are in place in the tiara.
There are plenty of pictures of The Queen Mother wearing an Emerald necklace with matching earrings - which happen to be the lovely earrings QEII is wearing in the picture below.
The ‘connector’ parts of the necklace ( the diamonds in between the large emerald/diamond pieces) look very similar -triangles , with a hole in the middle. However, the diamonds surrounding the emeralds don’t look the same. However the emeralds do!
So -is it two different necklaces, one with detachable cabochon emeralds and one with a large emerald pendant (which will be detachable- probably convertible too). If it’s two necklaces do they both take the cabochons?
I suspect so.
Mrs Greville was not known for subtle when it came to jewellry.
She clearly was fond of emeralds -look at the Emerald tiara.
So I think these are two similar but different necklaces from the Greville bequest.
Here’s some pictures - what do you think?

Interesting thank you Daisy. The necklace worn by the QM is lovely, the one shown with the drops… less so. Coco Chanel was right about taking stuff off.

It just doesn’t sit well with the dress line.
A rare mistake by Angela Kelly IMHO.

In general, I think necklaces should either be wholly on skin or wholly on fabric. E.g. I think the Delhi Durbar looks much better with a scoop or v-neck than if the pendants are resting on the dress and the rest on the neck.

It just doesn’t sit well with the dress line. A rare mistake by Angela Kelly IMHO.

I agree, they are fighting somewhat.

A more successful emerald necklace in the Queen’s possession is the Godman necklace, which has an interesting backstory. It was acquired by a trustee of the British museum, who thought it might once have belonged to Empress Josephine of France. After his death his two daughters decided to make a gift of it to QEII, on the basis that that way, it would actually get worn. QEII wore it a few times at French diplomatic events, to honour its supposed provenance (which I think ended up unproven). I’d love to see this worn again.

Not sure anyone in the current RF has the style to carry off the décolleté neckline the way QEQM did. She's wearing tiara, necklace and earrings without it looking too much. (And doesn't the King look gaunt in the first of those two photos.)

Can really appreciate the delicacy of the GGB&I tiara in that photo.

I find it very interesting that in the private jewellry collection there is very little that pre dates Queen Victoria.
There are some pieces and we are going to have a look at some of them but sadly nothing pre dates Queen Anne who died in 1714. I find it sad that nothing has come down the line.
The two Pearl necklaces (seperate ones)which the late Queen wore on her wedding day are actually the oldest pieces in the box. The shorter one belonged to the last Stuart monarch Queen Anne who had a very sad life - 17 pregnancies and only one child made it to age 10 before he died of hydrocephalus. Oddly her babies are all in Westminster abbey but they were put in the tomb of Mary Queen Of Scots/Queen Elizabeth l. Maybe Anne planned to move them after her death but when monarchs die their wishes are often forgotten.
Anyway, enough gloom.
The longer of the two necklaces is from Queen Caroline -wife of George ll. Nothing from Queen Charlotte as Victoria had to hand over all the family diamonds to her uncle, king of Hanover.
But, there are some Hanoverian pieces still in the family and without my favourite Queen we wouldn’t have them. They hve come into today’s line via the wonderful Queen Mary, through her mother who was a grandaughter of George III and Queen Charlotte.
These are a pair of gorgeous earrings that are so versatile. The pearl is removable, and replaceable with emeralds. The tops can be worn on their own -and the Queen wore these on her wedding day in 1947. She later liked to pair them with the Vladimir tiara. They are called ‘The Duchess of Gloucester pendant earrings. They were inherited in 1857 by Princess Mary Adelaide (Mary’s mother) from her aunt Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester 1776-1857

They have been altered -of course - the top is different.
The black & white picture is their original condition from Queen Mary’s jewellry inventory .

So do they still have the top pearl section, @DaisyDooley, or has that gone?

I see the Queen is wearing them as they are in the other photograph.

They still have the top of the original and that’s the part QEII wore on her wedding day!
The original top bit is now called the Duchess of Teck Earrings.
Here’s Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck wearing them.

And here’s the Pearl necklaces.
Queen Caroline had a lot of ‘Very fine’ jewellry including 4 Pearl necklaces which she wore for her coronation.
After the coronation the 50 best pearls were removed from the 4 strings and made into the bottom string of pearls in the picture.

With all the crap that is going on in the world, I'm very much enjoying this lovely, gentle, informative thread so thank you @DaisyDooley for starting it 🥰

Thank you so much.
That is such a lovely thing to say. As long as people enjoy it I’ll keep posting.

Carrying on with my current theme of older pieces and their origin -here is a truly lovely piece.
This brooch is called ‘The Duchess of Cambridge Brooch’.
This brooch started its life belonging to one of George lll DIL
Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel (1797-1889] was the mother of Princess Mary Adelaide who was the mother of Queen Mary which is how this piece found its way into the main line jewellry collection.
The Duchess of Cambridge -Augusta- was also the winner of a fabulous raffle and the prize was a bag of cabochon emeralds -which is how the fabled Cambridge Emeralds got their name and also joined the royal jewellry box.
Augusta was the last survivor of her generation -indeed her daughter only outlived her for 8 years -but Mary made this up by living for 64 years after her grandmother.
This is a lovely brooch - and because it’s such a good picture you can see how the large pearl and the diamond above it are both detachable and can be used on other pieces. Augusta’s principle jeweller was Garrards who probably made this piece - we can see how long Garrards have been looking after and creating so many royal pieces.
Mary -sentimentally - wore this piece to the christening of two monarchs, her Granddaughter Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York in 1926 and Prince Charles Philip Arthur George in 1948.

The painting is of Augusta in 1877 wearing the brooch.

I hope people are not dissapointed in this thread.
We will be looking at ‘famous/biggun’ pieces as we go along but I think it’s nice to look at and see some of the lesser well known & worn pieces.
Im trying to follow a theme too rather than a scattergun approach-but please please feel free to ask questions or for certain pieces.

As well as reading about and looking at pics of the jewellery, the thread has also sent me down some fascinating genealogical rabbit holes, looking up some of the previous owners and their families.

I am really enjoying this thread, thank you @DaisyDooley
I often wish for a life with the opportunity to wear a tiara for dinner, but not even modern day royals do that anymore. Loving the concept of an emerald raffle. Id buy a ticket!

Wow I need a raffle where you can win a bag of emeralds, I usually get a slightly ropey bottle of wine 🤣
Loving this thread @DaisyDooley thank you

I doubt anyone is disappointed daisy, I have followed but have nothing of interest to add myself, I’m sure it’s the same for many posters too! , please keep going, very interesting and enjoyable 😁

The next piece is one that hasn’t been seen publically for decades.
I suppose when you have a plethora of tiaras to choose from the ‘not quite as fantastic’ ones get overlooked.
But this one I think is very pretty close up. Ok it’s no Vladimir but not every occasion requires a huge tiara. Also I think it would be comfortable to wear.
I think QEII was a little bit tight with her ‘loaning’ of pieces. It’s not like she was ever going to leave herself short & when a tiara hasn’t been worn in 70 years why not let a family member wear it?
When Camilla married the Prince of Wales this was -along with the Greville honeycomb and the Delhi Durbar - given on loan to her. We never saw her wear this tiara -but of course we wouldn’t as it’s a bit too small for Camilla’s big pouffey hair!
It would have made a nice tiara for Sophie for her wedding & ongoing tiara functions rather than the monstrosity she was given.
Anyway, I digress - this tiara is crying out to be worn again.
It -or rather it’s component parts - make it one of the two oldest tiaras in the RF.
Pieces of it were inherited in 1857 by Princess Mary Adelaide (mother of Queen Mary) from her childless aunt Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester the fourth daughter of King George III (And, fun fact, the only one of George lll’s children to be photographed).
In 1870 an inventory of Mary Adelaide’s jewellry lists “Three diamond roses, a diamond chain made into a diadem and twenty one crescents mounted on a band”. By 1882 the separate elements had been assembled into a tiara. The tiara at this point had a double row of diamonds as its base. It was inherited in 1897 by the Princesses eldest son Prince Adolphus of Teck (Prince ‘Dolly’).
The tiara in its inherited form were worn by his wife, Margaret who was a daughter of the 1st Duke of Westminster. The tiara had a new frame made into 1901 which is the frame we see today.

By 1937 the tiara had made its way to Queen Mary. Adolphus had children and there is no record -well no record availaible to us-how it came to Mary. My guess? She bought it off her brother. The Tecks didn’t have much money and so I’m sure Mary did not want to see her darling mother’s tiara go to the saleroom.
She gave it to Queen Elizabeth in 1937, who wore it several times, the last time in the 1950s. Then it went into the vault where it has sat since.

I think it would look lovely with a ‘up do’ with Catherine’s dark hair.
Fingers crossed we see it again.

That's a lovely delicate piece.

I found the photo of Princess Mary on Wikipedia. A splendid portrait of an old lady in 1850s bonnet and shawl.

Yes I was going to put her in my next post. It’s amazing that we have a picture of her.

Wasn't she the last surviving grandchild of George III? Apologies if already covered, but I just find that jawdropping.

Agreed! I also went down an enjoyable rabbit hole as I wondered if the Hanover family (including Princess Caroline of Monaco!) have been photographed wearing the heritage jewellery that Queen Victoria was forced to hand back to her uncle after she came to the throne.

The answer seems to be not really - the family also acquired a lot of new jewellery in the late Victorian/Edwardian period and they seem to wear that mostly - but it is thought that these huge pearl earrings worn in in 2018 by Princess Ekaterina of Hanover to Princess Eugenie’s wedding used to belong to George III’s wife Queen Charlotte (her of Bridgerton fame!)