shape
carat
color
clarity

Royal Jewels

Imdanny|1336896672|3194191 said:
prince.of.preslav|1336775497|3193425 said:
Hair up and nice new earrings! Now that's something I like! This was all for the 'Our Greatest Team Rises -BOA Olympic Concert' at the Royal Albert Hall this evening.

144199949.jpg144203776.jpg
Photo by Alastair Grant - WPA Pool/Getty Images/Photo by Indigo/Getty Images)

Many more photos (including photos of the up do) can be seen here - GBR: Our Greatest Team Rises

Bobby

That's the best she's looked since her wedding IMHO.

Well...I agree that she looks absolutely lovely. In my opinion she looks lustrous and beautiful. However, I love her long hair and think that when women wear their hair up, they lose something. I really hate it that they so often put their hair up-changing their entire natural appearance-for their weddings. I did not do so for mine. I had medium length hair and I wore a Juliet cap over it with a veil.

(I edited this to add a link to a blog on Juliet caps for anyone who is unfamiliar with them!)

Juliet Caps and Veils:

http://chicvintagebrides.com/index.php/bridal-accessories/the-juliet-cap-veil-revival/

Deb/AGBF
:read:
 
AGBF|1336883734|3194153 said:
Bobby-

Do you have any close-ups of Queen Sonja's "modern gold tiara with the diamond centerpiece" and the "all-diamond center of the choker"? I do not recall having seen them and they look really beautiful in the long shot you posted!

Deb
:saint:

Yes, Deb, I have close ups of the two centers :)

Here's an image that shows them both, cropped from larger photos:
sonja_moderntiara_diamonds.jpg
 
AGBF|1336923926|3194344 said:
Well...I agree that she looks absolutely lovely. In my opinion she looks lustrous and beautiful. However, I love her long hair and think that when women wear their hair up, they lose something. I really hate it that they so often put their hair up-changing their entire natural appearance-for their weddings. I did not do so for mine. I had medium length hair and I wore a Juliet cap over it with a veil.

(I edited this to add a link to a blog on Juliet caps for anyone who is unfamiliar with them!)

Juliet Caps and Veils:

http://chicvintagebrides.com/index.php/bridal-accessories/the-juliet-cap-veil-revival/

Deb/AGBF
:read:

Since you mentioned Juliet caps, I'd like to post these photos of two royal ladies wearing Juliet caps.

Princess Elizabeth, with her granmother Mary, as a bridesmaid at the wedding of Lady May Cambridge in 1931:
PssElizabethQnMary_wedinng.jpg

Queen Juliana wore one decorated with diamond stars, ruby and diamond clusters and pearls for her investiture in 1948. This is a recriation with fake jewels made for an exhibition:
JulianaCap.jpg

Bobby
 
Today - 12 May - is the 75th anniversary of the Coronation of TM King George VI & Queen Elizabeth.

The Royal Couple with their daughters and the Dowager Queen:
1937CoronationBalcony.jpg

The Royal Couple's relatives at the Abbey:
1937CoronationRelatives.jpg

The Royal Family in Buckingham Palace:
U395219ACME.jpg
 
Josefine|1336848334|3193891 said:
12 May 2012 /Bayern
Wedding of Princess Felipa of Bayern and Christian Dienst at the Wieskirche in Steingarden.

Here is PPE Agency's galery of the event with many photos of the guests and a few close-ups of the bride's tiara - 12-05-2012 Bayern

PS: The Swedish royal couple, close friends of the family, was sheduled to attend, but stayed at home due to the death of Count Carl Johan, HM's last uncle to pass away.

Bobby
 
Her tiara is far from one of my favorites, kind of an unfortunate shape.

In the balcony photo after George VI's coronation Queen Mary looks quite overcome with emotion. Sweet. I read that she teared up when the archbishop put the crown on her son's head.

Deb, I think hair up is sooo elegant in formal circs like that. Long overdue. (A tiara topping it would have been a wonderful improvement, imho!) It looks like Kate's hairdresser finally had a brainstorm -- if she's using the same one. Her hair is beautiful always, but somehow a royal in a formal dress & jewels, long hair seems to me out of sync, too casual. Juliet caps are lovely though.

--- Laurie
 
Hello everyone, I am not sure if I am phrasing this request correctly, so forgive me ahead of time. I would love to know more about and obviously see the jewels from royal families in the various provinces/states of Germany (I do know that Prince Philip's sisters married German princes, who were not invited to the wedding) and Italy. Also the lovely lady who was married over the weekend, I am assuming she is a German/Bavarian/Austrian princess??????? I know nothing about her or her family and had never seen her tiara before (am assuming it is a family piece). I fear my knowledge in this area is lacking. Also are most of the French royal jewels in museums/private collections/lost? Do any pieces remain with the current head of the French royal house, and who is it? Thanks so much.
 
Josefine|1336848334|3193891 said:
12 May 2012 /Bayern
Wedding of Princess Felipa of Bayern and Christian Dienst at the Wieskirche in Steingarden.

Pretty girl but ugly tiara. Looks like someone has stuck a couple of cowboy spikes on her head.
 
laurensmama|1336960409|3194619 said:
Hello everyone, I am not sure if I am phrasing this request correctly, so forgive me ahead of time. I would love to know more about and obviously see the jewels from royal families in the various provinces/states of Germany (I do know that Prince Philip's sisters married German princes, who were not invited to the wedding) and Italy. Also the lovely lady who was married over the weekend, I am assuming she is a German/Bavarian/Austrian princess??????? I know nothing about her or her family and had never seen her tiara before (am assuming it is a family piece). I fear my knowledge in this area is lacking. Also are most of the French royal jewels in museums/private collections/lost? Do any pieces remain with the current head of the French royal house, and who is it? Thanks so much.

Hi, laurensmama!

Bavaria (Bayern in German) was on of the 4 Kingdoms within the German Empire untill the end of the Great War (1918). It is now part of the German Federal Republic (aka Germany). Princess Felipa is a scion of the former ruling family, the House of Wittelsbach.
I'm prettu sure that photos of the diamond tiara that HRH wore have been posted here, as it was also worn at the wedding of the Crown Princess of Sweden to Mr. Daniel Westling (a photo of Princess Anna, s-i-l of Pss Felipa, was posted by Josefine on the previous page), the gala dinners after the wedding of the Prince of Monaco to Mlle Charlene Wittstock and the that of the Prince of Prussia to Princess Sophie of Isenburg. The tiara was also worn at the wedding of Prince Manuel of Bavaria, brother of the bride, and the 5oth birthday of The King of Sweden, to name two more exmaples.
It has been said that the tiara belonged to the last Queen of Bavaria, Maria Theresia, but this seems a little far fetched as Prince Luitpold's brach of the family does not descend from her. His wife, Ursula (aka Ushi) is the first person on whom I've seen the tiara, but the again photos of Poldi's ancestors ore hard to find. This clan of the family also has an important set of amethyst and diamond jewels (necklace and earrings), similar to the ones in the Bernadotte cellection.
The head of the Bavarian royal family - HRH The Duke of Bavaria, Franz - is not married. In fact, he is in a relationship with another man (the name of whom I don't remeber). It is his sister-in-law - HRH The Duchess in Bavaria, Elizabeth - who wears the family jewels, or rather what's left of them. We have seen her with two diamond and pearl tiaras from the collection of Queen Maria Theresia and a large floral diamond tiara from her own family (the Counts Douglas, Swedish nobility; parts of it can also be worn as a brooch). It is this tiara that her daughters wore at their weddings. There is also another smaller tiara with large diamond clusters separated by Fleurs-de-lis.

It is not easy to enlist the jewels of the German royal/princely/(grand)ducal families as there are too many of them. The extent of the collections is also not known, as many jewels have been sold/confiscated/stollen in the wars and after that. The jewels that we know about are the ones still in use. Perhaps you might like to chose a few families and I can see what I know about their jewels (and I hope I'll be assisted by other psoters!!!). Also, jewels of the various German houses (like Preußen, Hannover, Württemberg, Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Thurn und Taxis) have been discussed here before. You might try to find the previous discussions.

About the Savoia's jewels - Firstly, we've covered them before. The main brach of the family has a very important and versatile diamond and pearl tiara - a wedding present to Queen Margareta; a pink topaz parure, a long sapphire and diamond necklace (one of a pair, the other one is owned by one of Prince Vittorio Emanuele's sisters). There is also a choker of pearls with a large emerald and diamond in the center (part of Queen Margerita's emerald set) and some modern pearl and diamond jewels. Princess Maria Gabriella sold many jewels she had inherited from her mother. HRH has/had a pearl and diamond tiara that was a present to her from King Umberto II, her father. Each of Umberto II and Marie-Jose's children was given some of their great-grandmother's emeralds, but it seems that some of them have sold theirs...

Farnce - the are a few claimants the French throne. One of them - Henri d'Orléans, Count of Paris - is only left with a former diamond hair comb, now worn as a necklace. His daughter-in-law wore a turquoise and diamond tiara from her family at her wedding. His brother Le Duc d'Orleans has his mother's Art Deco diamond and sapphire tiara. Their sisters also have some smaller jewels from their mother's collection. Again, a lot was sold after Princesse Isabelle, Comtesse de Paris's death, yet the biggest loss of family jewels was when the late Comte de Paris sold the two (!) sapphire and diamond parures (one of them being in the Louvre now).
I don't know what other claimants have in their jewellery boxes.

Bobby
 
Re my previous post - I forgot to post this close up of the tiara. As you can see, it consists of a diamond bandeau topped by diamond collets with a spiked high centerpiece.
Princess Anna wearing the tiara at the 2010 wedding of Crown Pincess Victoria in Stockholm:
annabavariatiara.jpg
 
Thanks Bobby, I knew you would know. I have reviewed the previous discussions but was wondering if everything had been covered, because sometimes we start a discussion and it goes somewhere else. Which is fun but not always complete. I would love to discuss each of the various German families and their jewels (and drool over the snaps of course). Thanks again.
 
we need to celebrate queen sofia as she and juan carlos has a golden wedding today

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14--a.jpg
 
ther spainsh royals house has more jewllery items then one could belive, often we talk about tiaras but they have several necklexes and brosches

la-reina-sofia-2.jpg

la-reina-sofia-91.jpg

Reina Sofia.jpg
 
here a few more

3953056525_2c10f59c21_z.jpg

3953835472_1ff6a0d9f6.jpg

4218231941wg0pz2.jpg
 
there are several necklexes

fof1lx.jpg

imagesCAMQC4MQ.jpg

imagesCAYOZPMW.jpg
 
lovely , lovely

reina-sofia.jpg

reina-sofia-2b.jpg

sofia_pelegrina-ii_01.jpg
 
Josefine|1337024197|3195037 said:
we need to celebrate queen sofia as she and juan carlos has a golden wedding today

Yes, it's exactly 50 years since one of the last GRAND royal-royal weddings. The pre-wedding gala was a sumptuous event which saw representatives from many countries in their finest jewels. Among the guests were royals from Denmark, Romania, Grat Britain, Italy (incl. Aosta, Borbón-Dos Sicilias and Bourbon Parma), Yugoslavia, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Sweden, Germany (a.o. Württemberg, Hanover, Bavaria, Hohenlohe-Langenburg), Portugal, the Netheralnds and Jordan.

Hola! has some very nice photos (two already posted by you) from TM's 50 years as a married couple, most of which they've spent in devotion to their roles as King & Queen of Spain.
The photos include snaps from the wedding of The Duke & The Duchess of Kent, as well as their own wedding, and happy family and state events: Bodas de oro de los Reyes: una vida juntos de servicio a España

Bobby
 
Josefine|1337023324|3195030 said:
here is a good start geting to know about the jewllery in past royal families in germany
http://www.royal-magazin.de/german.htm
Josefine|1337023601|3195032 said:

Of course Ursula's site is a great resourse, but most of the (German) jewels featured there are no longer in the possesion of the respective families, are they?
The way I understood laurensmama's request, she ment the current jewels of the various German Houses.

If we are going to start with Baden, then here is their diamond tiara - seven large diamond sunburst brooches worn on a simple wire frame. This tiara was worn by Margravine Theodora von Baden (the DoE's 2nd eledest sister) at the 80th birthday of King Gustaf V of Swden. The present Margravine wore it at her pre-wedding and later wedding. It was also worn by Stephanie Kaul at her wedding to Hereditary Prince Bernhard:
badentiara.jpg

The family also owns a diamond and ruby tiara in the form of laurel leafs. This was worn by Margravine Theodora at the gala before for Princess Ingrid and Crown Prince of Denmark's wedding in 1935. Margravine Valerie wore it at the gala after the wedding of the Prince & the Princess of Monaco.

IIRC, Princess Theodora wore an antique diamond parure at her sister-in-law's Coronation. HRH also had a suite of emeralds and diamonds, though it seems that it is not with the family now.

**Please, don't expect me to post photos of each individual jewel I mention. I'm sure that photos from events like the weddings of the Prince de Monaco and the Prinz von Preußen are rather easy to find.
 
Württemberg

The Grandest piece from this family is a sapphire and diamond parure. It is worn at the most importand family events, like the pre-wedding balls for Duke Carl & Duchess Diane (nee de France)'s sons. The parure consists of a huge tiara in the naturalistic style, a large necklace, a pair of pendant earrings, a brooch and ring:
CarlDiane.jpg

There is an emerald parure, or rather a floral tiara with emeralds that is worn with cabochon emerald drops. Duchess Rosa (the mother of Duke Karl) wore the emeralds at a pre-wedding gala in Athens 50 years ago ;)
wurttenbergtiaraesmeralvv0.jpg

This diamond beauty, worn by Duchess Fleur in this photo, was also worn by Princess Marie zu Wied the night before her wedding to Duke Friedrich in 1993. As af as I know, it was ment to replace a larger tiara that is now in the Museum in Stuttgart (along with the Crown).
10_3.jpg

At the wedding itself, Princess Marie wore a larger diamond number from the collection. This tiara was also worn by her mother-in-law at her wedding and by her husband's aunt Marie-Therese when she married Diane's elder brother, the then Comte de Clermont (now Comte de Paris).
wurttemberg20wedding20tiara7ek.jpg

The ruby and diamond parure was a wedding present to Princesse Diane d'Orleans when she married (Hereditary)Duke Karl in 1960 from Duchess Maria Immakulata (nee Archduchess of Austria). The parure was made for her marriage in 1900. Here we can see Diane wearing the tiara upside-down with the earrings and large pendant on a riviere. HRH has also used a ruby and diamond cluster on this riviere.
diana_w1.jpg

Apart from these jewels, thera are also 4 diamond collet necklaces, a pair of long girandole earrings; two smaller diamond tiaras. Previously two diamond star tiaras and a fringe have been worn by members of the family. Somewhere in a museum is a huge Rococo tiara.
This is a list of jewels belongig to the main brach of the Württemberg family. Jewels belonging to the many scions of the dynasty are not mentioned (and this apples to other royal houses as well!)
 
laurensmama|1337020550|3195005 said:
Thanks Bobby, I knew you would know. I have reviewed the previous discussions but was wondering if everything had been covered, because sometimes we start a discussion and it goes somewhere else. Which is fun but not always complete. I would love to discuss each of the various German families and their jewels (and drool over the snaps of course). Thanks again.

Seriously? And more importantly - do you think this can be done?
The German Empire consisted of 4 Kingdoms, 6 Grand Duchies, 6 Duchies and 7 Principalities. And we are not counting the mediatized Houses, like Thurn und Taxis, Hannover, Sayn-Wittgenstein(-Berleburg/Sayn/Wittgenstein) - ~70 Principalities with many branches. Now that's something I'd LOVE to see, but really is an impossible task. And I don't even mention the nobilty.... Perhaps something worthy a Masters degree...

As I suggested, you might want to chose some of the above mentioned 23 families and I can see how I can help.
I will volunteer with the Kingdoms ;) Others - Please join in! Or has this become a board where I answer people's questions about royal jewels... I hope Not!
 
Prussia

What is still owned by the House of Prussia (main branch) is not known for sure. For sure we know that Crown Princess Cecilie's meander kokoshnik is with the Prince. The same applies to Empress Augusta Victoria's clover coronet, as these two have been exhibited many times with the credit given to HI&RH The Prince of Prussia. However, at some point during the time of Prince Louise Ferdinand as Head of the House parts of the coronet have been removed and two smaller tiaras were made (the larger one was worn by Kira Kirilovna at the Silver Wedding anniversary of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard 50 years ago).

Apart from the meander kokoshnik, the Crown Princess also owned a kokoshnik by Faberge, which I've read was sold. She also had a full parure of sapphires and a set of rubies and diamonds. Both have not been seen since she passed away. IIRC, HRH left jewels the her chauffeur, so that might explain why we've not seen them.
Another mysterious loss of jewels are Empress Augusta Victoria's aquamarines - a kokoshnik, large necklace and pair of earrings (they were definitely sold). Also, Empress Frederik's large pearl necklace.
 
Hanover

The Prince of Hanover - Ernst August - has married twice and both his wives have worn this XIXc. floral tiara once:
10wrvh5.jpg
floraltiatahannover.jpg

In the first photo, Princess Chantal wears a pink topaz and diamond suite. Apart from the necklace and pendant earrings, there is also a brooch, a ring and pendant for the necklace.

Princess Caroline surprised everyone when she wore the Brunswick tiara in 2004 at the wedding in Denmark - a present from the Duchy of Brunswick to Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia for her wedding. It was her favourite tiara and disappeared after her death.
Since Carolne doesn't wear Hanoverian jewels often (actually, she only did so twice - at the wedding of the Crown Prince of Denmark), we don't know for sure what's in the boxes.
Princess Chantal has worn a sapphire and diamond set - necklace, earrings and pendant, but I don't know if they come from the historical collecton, or are jewels made/bought for/by her.
As I've said before, many British royal jewels were awarded to Hanover in the late 1850s. Among them a set of bow brooches, diamond necklace and cross and other jewels (the Comberland diamond, f.e.).
 
Saxony

When I said that I'm going to cover the Kingdoms, I had forgotten about Saxony. Why? I don't remeber any jewels, nor even members, from this family. Of course, there is the Green Vault, but I can't remeber having triaras, necklaces, etc. Actually, the only two jewels that I remebr are a Lover's knot tiara (belonged to Princess Maria Immaculata) and a diamond necklace attributed to Queen Amalia.
Anyone with more knowledge than me?
 
Central Europe circa 1789:

HRE%201789.png

German Confederation 1815 - 1866:
German%20Confederation.png

German Empire 1871 - 1918:
German%20Empire.png

List of constituencies of just the German Empire:
Kingdoms
Prussia (Preußen)
Bavaria (Bayern)
Saxony (Sachsen)
Württemberg

Grand duchies
Baden
Hesse
Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Oldenburg Oldenburg
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Duchies
Anhalt
Brunswick
Saxe-Altenburg
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Saxe-Meiningen

Principalities
Lippe
Reuss, junior line
Reuss, senior line
Schaumburg-Lippe
Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Waldeck-Pyrmont



That's a whooooole lotta people.
 
Wow Bobby you are wonderful! What a vast scope of knowledge and photos you have. I realize this is a HUGE task, but I so appreciate what you have shared so far. Sometimes my brain is spinning and I think I need a flow chart as pieces are borrowed/loaned and moved around families, and yet you keep it all straight. Thank you so much for sharing. :appl:
 
laurensmama|1337043795|3195307 said:
Wow Bobby you are wonderful! What a vast scope of knowledge and photos you have. I realize this is a HUGE task, but I so appreciate what you have shared so far. Sometimes my brain is spinning and I think I need a flow chart as pieces are borrowed/loaned and moved around families, and yet you keep it all straight. Thank you so much for sharing. :appl:

Thanks, laurensmama! I was nice to go through my photos and remeber what I know about certain jewels :)
BTW, I've incidently covered the Duchy of Brunswick ;)

Bobby
 
prince.of.preslav|1337008772|3194854 said:
Hi, laurensmama!

Bavaria
(...)
It is his sister-in-law - HRH The Duchess in Bavaria, Elizabeth - who wears the family jewels, or rather what's left of them. We have seen her with two diamond and pearl tiaras from the collection of Queen Maria Theresia and a large floral diamond tiara from her own family (the Counts Douglas, Swedish nobility; parts of it can also be worn as a brooch). It is this tiara that her daughters wore at their weddings. There is also another smaller tiara with large diamond clusters separated by Fleurs-de-lis.
(...)

Here you can see a photo of Duchess Maria Anna wearing the tiara at her wedding: Link
The Duchess in Bavaria wore parts of it as a brooch at the wedding of the Prince of Prussia (along with a diamond riviere and pendant): Link

This pearl and diamond tiara was originally a much larger floral diadem and the gaps were set with large pear shaped diamonds. The photo is from the pre-weddinf of Alois, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein & Duchess Elizabeth:
elisabethdouglasdcsenba.jpg

The other diamond and pearl tiara, as worn by Duchess Maria Anna (I think) and her mother:
bayerndiadem.jpg
pre-SEEGER00013589.jpg
 
From the wedding of the Prince of Prusia and Princess Sophie of Isenburg we understood that the Fürst & Fürstin of Isenburg only have one tiara in their collection - a floral one with large diamonds. This was worn by Sophie at the wedding and then by her mother at the gala dinner (with a dog collar of pearls and diamonds). The Fürstin zu Wied - Sophie's elder sister - wore a very large diamond diadem in the Napolenic style with a set of amethyst and diamond jewels. The Princely house zu Wied also has a peald and diamond tiara, necklace and brooch. These were worn by the then Fürstin at the banquet before the marriage of her daughter Maria to Friedrich von Württemberg (when the Duchess of Württemberg wore the sapphires). Their eldest Isenburg sister, Archduchess Katharina, a sister-in-law of Princess Astrid of Belgium, wore a small diamond tiara from the collection of her mother-in-law.

The Fürstin Ysenburg & Büdingen (nee Princess Antonia of Prussia) wore a massive diamond floral tiara, presumably the only one the family has, along with tow diamond rivieres and long earrings.

The family of the Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe owns a beautiful large diamond tiara - Photo by Thomas Starke/Getty Images

We know for sure the Saxe-Coburg-Gothas still own the turquoise parure that belonged to Duchess Adelaide. It is possible that the large diamond tiara was worn by the current Duchess at the pre-wedding for her son. A small badeau, also from Duchess Adelaide, was worn by another family member.

The Mecklenburg-Schwerin line is now extinct in the male line and it is not know what happened to the family jewels.

The Hassen family has the large diamond tiara that was a wedding present to Pincess Alice of Great Britain, and (at least in the late 1960s) the large diamond kokoshnik that was worn by Princess Cecilie, the DoE's sister. Princess Mafalda of Savoy had a grand parure of amethysts and diamonds. This was later worn by Princess Sophie (Prince Philip's other sister), but its current whereabouts are unknown.
A tiara with ears of wheat, similar to the one in the Dutch collection, was a wedding present to Princess Mafalda and she wore it at her wedding. This was worn by Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg at her wedding to the Landgrave in 1964 and then by their daughter-in-law Laetitia in 2006 (pix can be founf on PPE Agency).
A bandeau of rocky chrystal and turquoise was also among the jewels of the family in 1937. IIRC, it was loaned to an exhibition a few years ago (I must have a photo), yet the owner I don't know.

The Hohenlohe-Langenburgs sold Maria Alexandrovna's rubies. Princess Margarita wore another coronet-like tiara, also from MA, but I don't know what happened to it.
In 2006, Princess Xenia wore an antique tiara and earrings with pink stones and diamonds - (c) PPE/ v/d werf

The Leiningens owned a pearl and peridot parure. It was worn by Princess Maria Louisa of Bulgaria when she was married in the famil. They also had a small Greek key kokoshnik in diamonds.

Thurn und Taxis - discussed many times before. It is believed that the family still owns a sapphire parure, and emerald parure and a ruby parure. Also a diamond tiara (?) and individual strands of very large pearls.

OK I think this is pretty much everything I know about the jewels of the German houses! Not all the Houses are lisited, but this what I know.
Of course, I do not attempt to make a complete list of jewels, nor I know the exact story behind the pieces. This is all from photos that I've seen and stories that I've read.

Bobby
 
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