2023-05-09 11:12:00
No coronation tiaras for the first time in nearly two centuries! The splendor was probably less marked than before, but the elegance may have won. In particular thanks to Kate, the Princess of Wales.
So the noise that had been leaking for several days turned out to be true! No tiaras for princesses. Fortunately, Queen Camilla had chosen to keep “the” symbolic crowning jewel of the queens of the United Kingdom: Queen Victoria’s diamond necklace. The jewel dates from 1858. A year earlier, Victoria lost the lawsuit which pitted her once morest her uncle, then her cousin, Kings Ernest-Auguste I and George V of Hanover. The cause of the dispute? A set of diamond jewelery from the collection of Queen Charlotte and designated by her, on her death in 1818, as being a “heirloom of the House of Hanover”.
For twenty years following Charlotte’s death, with the crowns of Hanover and the United Kingdom remaining united during the reigns of two of her sons, Kings George IV and William IV, the fate of the jewels was no problem. On the other hand, in 1837, on the death of William IV, the two crowns separated. The United Kingdom goes to the niece of the deceased, the very young Victoria. Hanover, which excludes women from the succession, falls to the late king’s brother, Prince Ernest-Auguste. He asks that he be awarded the jewels designated by Queen Charlotte. The British courts will eventually give him reason. Queen Victoria then decides to create a new necklace using the diamonds of a decoration and a ceremonial sword.
Read also >> Queen Camilla’s Coronation Jewels
Camilla’s Diamond Necklace
Garrard, the jeweler of the Crown, is in charge of the order. It assembles 28 cushion-cut stones and a pendant composed of a pear-shaped diamond of 22.48 carats. Like the famous Koh-i-Noor diamond, this diamond comes from the Maharajahs of Punjab. The last of them, Duleep Singh, was asked to “offer” his treasures to Queen Victoria. A somewhat forced offering, which today is giving rise to heated debates between the United Kingdom, India and Pakistan. The Lahore Diamond was among these offerings, as were two other pears of diamonds once set around the Koh-i-Noor when it was mounted on a man’s bracelet. They are mounted in pendant earrings at the request of Queen Victoria. The necklace will be worn by four queens, Alexandra, Mary, Elizabeth and Elizabeth II, on their coronation day. Only the last two will also wear the pendant earrings.
Queen Camilla has only worn the necklace as her ears are not pierced. The coronation necklace having been reduced from 28 to 26 stones, at the request of Queen Elizabeth, the two cushion-cut diamonds removed were undoubtedly transformed into clip-on earrings for Queen Camilla. Equally spectacular was the diamond and yellow diamond parure signed Graff worn by South African soprano Pretty Yende. 138 carats of diamonds for the necklace. And 35 carats for the pendant earrings.
Crystal flowers and royal diamonds
On the side of the British royal family, the Duchess of Gloucester had chosen to wear two rivers and their diamond earrings.
Zara Tindall sported a very regal diamond brooch. The jewel was given by her uncle, King Charles III, as a wedding gift to her mother, Princess Anne, Princess Royal.
The Duchess of Edinburgh was adorned with sumptuous sapphire earrings from Graff.
Following the example of the Windsors, foreign dynasties observed the same reserve. Queen Letizia of Spain wore Queen Victoria-Eugénie’s signature Bulgari diamond earrings.
Queen Anne-Marie of Greece pinned a diamond swan brooch created by Van Cleef & Arpels to her dress, which was one of her wedding gifts.
Crown Princess Mary of Denmark had borrowed part of the turquoise set from her mother-in-law, Queen Margrethe.
The Queen of Thailand and her sapphires. The center stone of the necklace weighs 109 carats. It was acquired from Van Cleef & Arpels in 1964.
Princess Margareta of Romania wore the diamond fleur-de-lis of her grandmother, Queen Helena.
But the star of the day was the Princess of Wales. Kate had chosen a tiara of silver and crystal foliage designed by Alexander McQueen in collaboration with milliner Jess Collett. In her ears she hung the pearl and diamond earrings she inherited from her mother-in-law, Princess Diana. Clumsiness or choice? It seems that she wore them backwards.
Read also >> Kate, sublime Princess of Wales at the coronation
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