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Royal Jewels

Date: 3/2/2008 3:21:44 PM
Author: LadyAmythyst69
Here - it's a bit hard to make out amongst all the 'stuff' - Queen Mary wears the Queen Victoria Bow Brooches in 1902 at her coronation. The brooches are suspended on a diamond chain going down the front of her skirt.
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Sorry LadyA but this is Queen Alexandra. Alexandra was one lady who could really pile on the minerals IMO. Note the diamond fringe ornament that she wears around the bottom of her bodice...amazing. Many people feel that Alexandra sometimes appeared overburdened by the masses of jewels that she loved to adorn herself with, and that Queen Mary did the 'dripping in diamonds' thing better. All I know is I would have loved to see this ensemble in candlelight. Or any light.
 
I really like the modern demi-parure that Queen Silvia was sporting in Vegas, but I must agree that red with emeralds is just not a good look. I believe Carl Gustav was recently in Saudi Arabia (apparently he is good friends with the King). Green and white are the colours on the Saudi flag... perhaps this was a gift? Quite an upgrade from one of those souvenir t-shirts that say, "My husband was in Saudi Arabia and all I got was this lousy t-shirt."
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Among the numerous pieces that Queen Alexandra is wearing in the photo posted by LadyA are Queen Victoria''s diamond stomacher which she is wearing quite visibly across the top of her dress neckline. Further down, and beneath the loops of pearls, is the Dagmar Necklace, which was a wedding present to Princess Alexandra when she married Bertie, AFAIK it was from her father. You can just make out the pendant cross and pearls in the middle of the getty images watermark. I can only recall one instance of HM QEII wearing this necklace, and it was worn without the pendant cross and the pearl drops. I will try to locate the pic...

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A quick look has revealed two pics of QEII wearing this necklace - looks like two different occasions to me. I stand corrected!

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I''ve always felt this piece is ''monumental'' rather than beautiful. JMO.

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One of my all-time fave pics of Queen Alexandra, this time literally drowning in pearls...I think the occasion is a State Opening of Parliament. In addition to several million oyster-years of work, she also wears Queen Victoria''s small diamond crown and Queen Victoria''s diamond waterfall brooch. Queen Victoria''s bow brooches are down the front of the skirt, this time each brooch anchors a ''chain'' of collet diamonds. Wowza.

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It''s really hard to see any detail at all in this picture, but this is Queen Mary in her coronation robes. She wears Queen Victoria''s bow brooches on the front of her bodice, stomacher style.

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This is a painting, you should be able to make them out...

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thank you LadyAmythyst69 for starting this thread--- it is soo fascinating to see and learn the history of the jewels! keep up the great work!!

does anyone ever imagine how it would be to be able to play with their collections? play in a royals jewelry box (or vault) for a day?
Oh my--- imagine!
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Date: 3/2/2008 8:27:35 PM
Author: emeraldeyes

Date: 3/2/2008 3:21:44 PM
Author: LadyAmythyst69
Here - it''s a bit hard to make out amongst all the ''stuff'' - Queen Mary wears the Queen Victoria Bow Brooches in 1902 at her coronation. The brooches are suspended on a diamond chain going down the front of her skirt.
Click to expand...
Sorry LadyA but this is Queen Alexandra. Alexandra was one lady who could really pile on the minerals IMO. Note the diamond fringe ornament that she wears around the bottom of her bodice...amazing. Many people feel that Alexandra sometimes appeared overburdened by the masses of jewels that she loved to adorn herself with, and that Queen Mary did the ''dripping in diamonds'' thing better. All I know is I would have loved to see this ensemble in candlelight. Or any light.
Click to expand...
Duh! (Smacks head!) Total miscommunicatoon between typing fingers and thinking brain.
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Date: 3/2/2008 8:49:36 PM
Author: emeraldeyes
Among the numerous pieces that Queen Alexandra is wearing in the photo posted by LadyA are Queen Victoria's diamond stomacher which she is wearing quite visibly across the top of her dress neckline. Further down, and beneath the loops of pearls, is the Dagmar Necklace, which was a wedding present to Princess Alexandra when she married Bertie, AFAIK it was from her father. You can just make out the pendant cross and pearls in the middle of the getty images watermark. I can only recall one instance of HM QEII wearing this necklace, and it was worn without the pendant cross and the pearl drops. I will try to locate the pic...
Click to expand...
Did the Queen Mum ever wear this one? I wonder if it will come out in public again on Camilla. I think she could work it!!
 
Date: 3/3/2008 1:14:02 AM
Author: LadyAmythyst69

Duh! (Smacks head!) Total miscommunicatoon between typing fingers and thinking brain.
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Click to expand...

Happens all the time to me too!
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Date: 3/3/2008 1:17:00 AM
Author: LadyAmythyst69

Did the Queen Mum ever wear this one? I wonder if it will come out in public again on Camilla. I think she could work it!!
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I don''t think QEQM wore this one. I agree with you on the Camilla idea - she might be able to pull this one off. We''ve already seen her in the ruby and diamond breastplate and all five rows of the Greville armour. She seems to like these monolithic pieces.
 
Did anyone watch that 20/20 Royal Family special last night on ABC? They had a segment on "The Royal Bling" and they talked about the monarch''s crown that QE wears at the opening of Parliment...They showed inside the Royal Jewels area and the dude that carries the crown to the QE to wear. And that the crown has it''s own horse drawn carriage ride to the Parliment Bldg. It was quite interesting but I wanted SO much more BLING info! They showed QE at the recent State Dinner and she was wearing that monstrous 3-strand old cut diamond necklace and between that and her crown, the fire bursts were insane...Wow. If I ever met her I''d really have to compliment her jewels...I wonder if that would be considered rude and I wonder if she''s a bling girl or it''s just part of the job. Wouldn''t it be SO sad if she didn''t even care about the royal jewelry? If I was her, I''d be playing dress up in the Jewel House area all the time...
 
To a certain extent, I think it is just part of her working wardrobe to her. Imagine being royal all of your life, and having been surrounded from your earliest memory by all of these items. Seeing your mother and granny and your aunts and distant relations dressed for coronations, state openings, weddings and the like. As bizarre as it may sound to mere commoners like you and I, a person would become rather inured to it. It becomes just a part of your own 'normal'. Getting all decked out in the jewels and orders, it's something that's done for the guest really.

The monarchy program that aired as a 20/20 special last evening was actually a drastically edited version of a much longer series of programs that were shown on the BBC (Britain, of course) and the CBC (Canada, for those who might not know) earlier in the year. There were a total of six episodes, each an hour or so in length, and each one dealt with a sort of self-contained aspect of the royal family's day to day activities. Did your version show anything of the much talked about Annie Liebovitz photo session where Annie asked HM if she could remove her 'crown' which in fact was the Girls of Great Britian and Ireland tiara? The Queen looks at Annie with incredulity and asks, "What do you think this is?" I'm not sure if HM was trying to let Annie know that the tiara was not in fact a crown, or if she was getting huffy because she didn't like the idea of having to alter an outfit (the elaborate full Garter regalia, complete with robes) that the photographer had specifically asked for in advance.
 
QEII and dubya at the dinner in Washington.

HM wears the Girls of Great Britian and Ireland tiara given to Queen Mary as a wedding gift, and then by Queen Mary to then-Princess Elizabeth as a wedding gift.
The necklace is referred to as the George VI Festoon Necklace and was made up in 1950 from 105 loose diamonds that the King had inherited.
The bracelet looks to be Queen Mary''s Link Bracelet, which according to Field in The Queen''s Jewels, was among the items purchased from the estate of the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. In its original form, the bracelet was actually a choker that could be divided into two bracelets. The Queen inherited at least one of these bracelets from Queen Mary in 1953. There is no mention of the second bracelet''s whereabouts in the ediiton of the Field book that I have.

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This is the same occasion of course, but you can see the brooch that HM is wearing to secure her Garter sash. It is Queen Mary''s True Lover''s Knot Brooch - inherited by the Queen in 1953.

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Thanks EE, for the 411 on the jewels HM wore that night. I suppose you''re right about her likely perspective on jewels because IIRC, one doesn''t see them on her person when she''s at Balmoral, do they? Usually she''s in tartan and country clothes. I still would love to if she gets any kick out of it...probably not eh? Too bad.

I had no idea that was part of a series. I would love to see the series. Here it was "hosted" by Barbara Walters but she doesn''t really interact with the Royal Family in the actual footage, IIRC. Was she in your version because I''m guessing she''s not someone who the BBC would favor for such a series! I want to see the entire thing now. They did not show anything in the last hour (it was only two hours and I missed the first hour) about that AL incident. Didn''t HM walk out on AL? What a stupid thing to do. I think photogs like AL think the world revolves around them. I''d like to think HM just got up and left. That would have been very funny to see...!
 
The footage had been edited in an incorrect order when a promo tape was made by the BBC originally. There was quite a controversy that ensued and IIRC an executive at the BBC actually ended up resigning over the uproar. It turns out that the footage that was supposedly showing the Queen walking out of the session was in fact her walking in to it. The huffy part about the crown/tiara was quite funny though. Annie comments later on in the show that she was pleased to see how ''feisty'' the Queen was. Indeed!
Baba Wawa was not in our version at all; just a narration. There has been speculation that ABC showed such a small portion of the shows because the series might have been bought in its entirety by another network. Not sure if PBS has deep enough pockets, but I would keep my eyes open anyway. You can buy the DVDs from Amazon I think, but to be honest you probably saw all the best bits.


In the country HM will usually be seen wearing one, two or three stands of pearls, Queen Mary''s pearl and diamond earrings, and of course a brooch. These items of jewelry would probably be quite typical for a country lady of her generation.

I too would like to think that the Queen gets a bit of a charge out of wearing the jewels - she is only human after all!
 
I watched the special last night - I had read about it before in the London newspapers, so I thought it was the BBC version. It was fun to see the Queen (she''s so tiny!) with her dogs, etc. I couldn''t take my eyes off the diamond in the crown HM wore during her speech in Parliment. I bet it is very heavy. I would like to see it in it''s entirety - this seemed a bit choppy, but I did renew my affection for the Prince of Wales. He seems rather fun!

My 9 year old son came into the room when the Queen was making her speech at the opening of Parliment, and wanted to know if the jewelry was real. "Oh yes, honey! It''s real!" He was quite impressed!
 
I''ve been a little MIA lately, but I just wanted to say thank you LadyAm and others for keeping this awesome thread alive with photos!!

I love love love looking at all the royal jewels!!

This is by far one of my favorites!
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Another of the Queen in the True Lover''s Knot Brooch. I didn''t realize this before but apparently the "legs" of the bow are en pendant so they can move back & forth.

She is also wearing one of the most beautiful of the suites she owns (in my opinion anyway!) - the King George VI Victorian Suite. The necklace and matching earrings were made in 1850 but was purchased by King George VI to give to his daughter Elizabeth as a weding gift in 1947. The Queen eventually shortened the necklace in the early 1950''s and made the extra stone into a pendant which is removeable. I think the sapphires on this necklace are divine. I wish the Queen would wear it more often!!

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In 1963 the Queen had a tiara and bracelet made to match the King George VI Victorian Suite. I wonder if this is the most recent major royal jewelry comission from the British Royals. I can''t think of anything this major that is more recent in date and was comissioned by the RF themselves. (Not counting engagement rings of course.) The Queen doesn''t wear this tiara all that often either. I don''t think the tiara is all that pretty but I do love the necklace!!

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I love this old one of the Queen - wearing the True Lover''s Knot Brooch and - possibly the piece I''d most like to see out of all the British RF jewels - Queen Victoria''s Collect Necklace and Earrings. I think my eyes would pop out over the size of those rocks!! Made in 1858 from 28 collet stone that QV had removed from a Garter Badge and a ceremonial sword. The total carat weight was originally 161 cts. The largest stone is over 11 carats alone. The Queen has altered it somewhat from the original though. The pear shaped pendant stones on the necklace and the earrings came from the Treasury of Lahore (India) and were presented to QV by the East India Company in 1851 - spoils of the empire.

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Another of the Queen in Washington DC 2007 wearing the True Lover''s Knot Brooch.

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Another from Washington DC. It gives you a good look at the scale of the brooch - pretty huge - which I think is why she only really wears it for the more formal occasions. I think it is the largest of her collection of bow brooches. She is also wearing the George VI Festoon Necklace which was made in 1950.

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Another good oldie of the Queen in the True Lover''s Knot Brooch. She is also wearing Queen Alexandra''s Russian Kokoshnik Tiara. Made by Garrard (of course) in 1888 it was presented to Queen Alexandra on the occasion of her silver wedding anniversary by "365 peeresses of the kingdom". It has 61 spikes of platinum and 488 diamonds. The kokoshnik is a form of Russian traditional headress that became very popular as interpreted in tiara form. Lots of the Royal families have at least one in their collection. Queen Alexandra specially requested this design because her sister was the Empress of Russia and had an almost identical tiara.

The ruby and diamond necklace was bought by the Queen from Sothebys in 1964 and the center pieces can come off to wear as brooches or in the hair. (She later had a tiara (and these earrings) made to go with the necklace - that was in 1973 so I guess that the ruby and diamond tiara is the most recent major piece she has comissioned.) She doesn''t wear the ruby set that much. I think HM is a diamond gal.
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Here''s a photo of the Queen in the ruby tiara. I think the design is supposed to resemble lotus flowers. She used 96 rubies which were given to her (set as a necklace) by the people of Burma on her wedding. The number 96 in Burmese culture is supposed to protect the wearer from illness.

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Here''s a closer photo of the ruby necklace.

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Here''s the Burmese Ruby Tiara.

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