The Queen’s Jewels – Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Tribute
What is in the Queen’s personal jewel box today – or, more accurately, in the vaults at Asprey & Garrard and in the safes and bunkers at the Palace?
The most visible tiaras include ‘Granny’s tiara’ – a pearl and diamond bandeau given to Queen Mary as a wedding present from the ‘Girls of Great Britain and Ireland’ in 1893 and passed on to her granddaughter as a wedding present; Queen Alexandra’s Russian fringe tiara with upstanding spikes (given to her as a silver wedding present in 1888); and the fabulous circle tiara with hanging pearls – a Romanov treasure acquired by Queen Mary from the exotic Grand-Duchess Vladimir of Russia and smuggled out of St Petersburg after the Revolution by a dashing young English aristocrat.
The emeralds that can replace the dangling pearls have an equally colourful history: they were part of the Cambridge emeralds that Queen Mary inherited from her own family. She had to recover them from the mistress of her brother, the late Prince Francis of Teck.
The Queen has a splendid emerald necklace made partly from the same heritage but also with emeralds from India and from other gifts. However, the Queen has hardly ever worn another historic necklace, the Dagmar, which Queen Alexandra brought from Denmark on her marriage to the future Edward VII.
Bracelets
The jewel box also has bracelets, earrings and dozens of brooches, which include another ‘chip’ of the Cullinan: a heart-shaped stone that the Queen is especially fond of and tends to wear at family gatherings; Her other favourite is a trio of bow brooches, part of Queen Victoria’s inheritance. She has two other more elaborate bow brooches from Queen Mary, who also left her a bold sapphire and diamond brooch bought from the estate of the dowager Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia.
Although Queen Victoria built up the royal collection and Queen Mary added to it by buying up jewels from the royal family’s deposed and impecunious Russian relatives, the Queen has not proactively added to her own jewel box. It has increased enormously because of gifts offered to her during a long reign.
