The Jewels Of The British Monarchs
Part 2 - Victorian Era @ Jewel Info 4 U
By: Ms Nandita Ray
Victorian Era--The Love Affair
Begins
The fantastic collection of the
British Crown started when the Royal
family slowly imbibed the importance
of exhibiting a regal look. Apart
from the royal regalia the need for
further accessorizing was learnt.
Thus began the trend for jewelry
wearing and making by the British
Royals. Elegant, innovative and
fantastic are few of the adjectives
appropriate for the huge collection
of precious jewelry worn and
possessed by the Royals.
Queen Victoria and her husband
Prince Albert started a long affair
with jewelry, designing and setting
a dress code for the court. Day time
jewelry, evening gowns and the do's
and don't of fashion and jewelry.
Diamonds were supposed to be worn
only by married women since diamonds
were considered a wedding gift. Any
unmarried lady wearing diamonds
meant it was either inherited or
gifted by a lover. With the death of
her husband Albert she went into
deep mourning and insisted on
wearing mourning jewelry all made
with black gems and started the
trend for mourning jewelry.
Queen Victoria - when King
William died Princess Victoria
ascended the throne. Young and
virginal she was greatly influenced
by the inherited wealth and became
the longest reigning monarch in
British History, from 1837 to 1901.
Her influence on the growing
monarchy was intense. Dignified and
sober she was gifted at painting and
drawing. Marriage brought along
Prince Albert her husband, who was a
huge influence on her. Prince Albert
was fond of designing jewelry and
often designed jewelry for her. She
acknowledges it in her diary, 'My
beloved one gave me such an
unexpected present, a wreath- made
to match the brooch and the
earrings. It is entirely his own
design and beautifully carried out.
The leaves are frosted gold, the
orange blossom of which porcelain
and four little green enamel
oranges, meant to represent our four
children'. The orange blossom brooch
and matching box was given to her in
1839 before they were married. First
of the two brooches was sent from
Wiesbaden, Albert's hometown. The
second brooch and matching earrings
were given at Christmas in 1845
while a matching wreath on her tenth
wedding anniversary.
 Queen Victoria is known for
getting the Kohinoor Diamond
weighing 186 carats from India. When
she was declared the Empress of
India, Ranjit Singh of Punjab who
had it in his possession was made to
sign over this diamond to the new
empress. Believed to have been mined
from the Golconda mines it was
probably mined 5000 years ago and
belonged to Hindu Kings and then the
Mughals, It is a rare find with
brilliant clear white color and
clarity. In 1852 Prince Albert got
it cut to its present size reducing
the weight by 42%, it now weighs
105.602 carats. This was done in
order to enhance it brilliance
further. He spent 800 pounds. The
stone was first mounted in a tiara
for Queen Victoria later worn by
Queen Mary and Queen Alexandra as it
was gifted by Victoria to the
country. 1936 saw it being set in a
crown for the Queen Mother, Queen
Elizabeth.
The Prince Albert eagle Brooch is
also well known. Designed by Albert
it shows an open winged Eagle all in
silver and gold studded with
turquoise with ruby eyes and two
magnificent pearls held within its
claws. It was made in 1840.
Her diamond brooch with two rows of
14 cushion cut brilliant diamonds
made by Rundell/Bridge & Rundell was
often worn by her. She gifted it to
the country. She had an emerald belt
presented to her by Maharaja Sher
Singh.
 Queen Victoria's famous diamond
necklace and tear dropped earrings
have an interesting history.
Victoria had to hand over to the
Duke of Cumberland, king of Hanover
in 1857 a chunk of her inherited
jewelry. This angered and upset her
immensely. She ordered the royal
jewelers to make carbon copies of
the lost jewelry. This exercise was
carried out by using precious stones
from "swords and useless things", as
put by her. This necklace needed 28
stones which were got from 2 Garter
badges and a sword hilt. This
necklace has 25 cushion shaped
brilliant cut diamonds set in silver
and gold. The central drop shaped
pendant is set in platinum. The
largest stone weighs 11.25 carats.
The earrings are made of 2 large
cushion cut stones and smaller
diamonds. The hanging tear drop
shaped pendants are of different
sizes. One is 7 carats while the
larger one is 12 carats.
images courtesy:
www.royalcollection.org.uk
 The Oriental circlet was also
designed by Albert and set with
opals which were Prince Albert's
favorite stone. It was later altered
by Queen Alexandra and reset with
rubies that were presented to
Victoria in 1876.
Victoria had a small diamond
crown in the sunray form which was
her favorite as it was light and not
heavy .It has 1,300 diamonds and was
made in 1870 as a replacement for
the Imperial crown which she did not
wish to wear after Albert's death
Instead she had this small crown
made which soon became a part of her
dress. It was 10 cms high and
matched well with her widow's veil.
It was made from a necklace that she
owned by Garrard. It weighed 5.11
ounces.
Queen had a Bow Brooch made to
order by Garrard with 508 diamonds.
It is a set of 3 bows all bound
together. Queen Alexandra and Queen
Mary wore it for their coronation.
Queen Elizabeth II who inherited it
wears it very often.
The Queen also possessed a wreath
of flowers and ears of corn in an
impressive parure of pearls with a
jeweled clasp as recorded by Lady
Sarah Lyltelton, which she was
wearing as she went down the stairs
after being declared the queen, to
see the treasures kept in the vault
underground.
A pearl and diamond tassel was
also quite a popular piece which she
would often wear hanging from a
pearl necklace.
Prince Albert gave her the Albert
Brooch which was a huge sapphire the
day before their wedding. The Queen
had a necklace in graduated row of
sapphires and diamonds hanging in
clusters supporting a huge sapphire
pendant. This brooch became a part
of this set.
A matching set of emerald and
diamonds diadem and earrings and
brooch designed by Albert and
executed by Joseph Kitching at the
cost of 1150 pounds for Queen
Victoria. This was made in 1845.
Also designed by Albert for Victoria
is a sapphire and diamond tiara set
in kite and cushion shaped sapphires
and diamonds. The body of the crown
is made in silver and gold. It cost
him 415 pounds.
Victoria evidently owned a lot of
tiaras. In a painting by T.J. Parker
she is shown wearing a Gothic style
diadem set in opals and gold.
However there is no account of it.
The painting is titled "The Secret
of England's Greatness".
When her doting husband died she
lost all interest in colored stones
and notes in her diary," I shall
never wear those colored stones
which dearest Albert had arranged
for me...". This begins her journey
into distributing her precious
jewelry to her children. She
presented her third child Princess
Alice with a diamond tiara in 1862.
This is constructed in a neo classic
style. It is styled with a fringe of
leaves and flowers supported by a
delicate lattice work. She gifted
Princess Beatrice of Batten burg her
favorite strawberry leaves set with
rubies with matching necklace,
earrings and brooch.
Royal jewelers Garrard in 1896
lists only 5 tiaras
- A ruby, lasque and pearl tiara
with enamel portraits at the back
- A pearl and diamond tiara with 12
Bouton and 12 pear shaped pearls
with a diamond chain to form a
necklace, presented by Aga Khan.
- A diadem with 15 points, each point
made up of a pearl held between two
emeralds and all set in gold wire.
- A ruby and diamond coronet pattern
head jewelry with 14 lozenge shaped
clusters and 15 strawberry leaves
with ruby and diamond band. Matching
it were a necklace, brooch and
earrings.
- A turquoise and diamond tiara
crafted by Garrard in 1859 with a
matching set of necklace earrings
and a brooch.
Queen Mary, 1916-1922, descendent of
George the III and consort of George
V not only relished the jewelry she
inherited but also was a keen
collector of modern jewelry. Their
regime was the beginning of the huge
body of the sensational Jewels that
is rich, opulent and simply breath
taking. It is interesting to note
that during her time 1,016 tiaras
were made. This fact is noted in the
record books of E.Wolff & Co. who
were the main suppliers of the
famous Garrard Jewelers, appointed
by the Queen to design and make her
jewels. Amongst all the tiaras made
is the circlet made famous by King
George V when he referred to it as
"Mary's best tiara". Designed by
Garrard with a layered structure, it
has 'lyres and forget me not
flowers' symbolizing harmony and
peace. Made in 1911 the coronation
crown was constructed in a way that
the 81/2 arches could be detached
and the remaining part worn as a
circlet. Cushion shaped diamond
weighing 62 carats was secured by
wire at the top from which hung a
drop shaped diamond weighing 92
carats. This Tiara had the Cullinan
cleaving numbered III and IV and the
Cambridge Emeralds. It contained
2.200 diamonds. Since her death it
has never been worn.
Queen Mary's love for jewelry was
deeply influenced by her mother
Princess Mary of Adelaide. She is
the only English royal who has
meticulously collected and recorded
old items to be left to posterity.
The most notable item is the
enameled 'Faberge' cigarette case
which was given to Edward II by Mrs.
Keppel.
Another well known item is the gold
snuff box which is covered with
fabulous diamonds. This was made for
Fredrick the Great of Russia. Queen
Mary bought this from Christie's in
1927 when this was a part of the
Russian Crown Jewels that were sold.
She was an avid collector and added
to the list of tiaras when she
bought the Grand Duchess Vladimir's
tiara set with lustrous diamonds and
swinging tear drop pearls in 1921
when the Grand duchess died. These
freely hanging pearls could be
interchanged with emeralds strands.
 She had the well known as the
Cambridge Lovers Knot Tiara made by
E. Wolff and Co. for Garrard. It was
made in 1913 as a token of respect
to her grand mother The Duchess of
Cambridge It is set with brilliant
rose cut diamonds and pearls. It was
made in 1913. It had 38 pearls which
were a wedding gift to Queen Mary.
It was her unique way to replicate
family history.
She was given a pearl and diamond
Tiara surrounded by graduated drop
pearls on her wedding on 6th July
1893. It seems that she was fond of
white colored stones and rarely wore
colored gems.
Grace, Marchioness
Curzon of Kedleston remarked "I
remember that Queen Mary usually
wore diamonds and pearls-I seldom
saw her wearing colored stones. The
tiara that I liked best was a
magnificent one with large pear
shaped pearls that seemed to hand
inside the wide band of diamonds and
slightly shook as she moved'.
Queen Mary had a diamond tiara made
by Boucheron. This took three months
to finish. It is in form of oval
loops with flowers and leaves
design. The diamonds used in it
weigh 102 1/2 carats and the total
number of diamonds are 675. It was
delivered on 26th April 1902. It was
gift to commemorate the recent
elevation of the prince and princess
to King and Queen. It was kept in a
glass case which carried the
insignia VM which was her name
Princess Victoria Mary of Teck.
Queen Mary received some of her best
pieces from Queen Victoria who had a
special affection for her. She was
given the necklace of graduated
diamond hoops and a pearl and
diamond pendant that now belongs to
Queen Elizabeth II.
She also inherited her mother's
jewelry The Duchess of Teck, like
the neo classical ears of wheat
tiara. This tiara is set with
diamonds in tiers holding aloft the
sheaves of wheat made in gold and
silver. She also got a suite of sapphires
and diamond clusters from her
mother. She also received jewelry
from her childless aunt Duchess of
Gloucester.
Queen Mary began gifting her jewelry
from 1935. When Princess Elizabeth got married
to Prince Philip of Greece, she gave
her grand daughter her best wedding
gift. This was a tiara, which was
gifted to her by the Girls of Great
Britain & Ireland made by Garrard.
She gave a parure of turquoise and
diamonds to Lady Alice
Montague-Douglas-Scott when she
married the Duke of Gloucester.
She gave Princess Royal, her
daughter many favorite pieces and
important jewelry that she
inherited. Amongst them was a
sapphire and diamond tiara that was
designed by Prince Albert for Queen
Victoria. It is unfathomable to realize the
beauty of the pieces till they are
seen.
References used:
Christie's web site
The Jewels of Queen Elizabeth II -
Her personal collection by Leslie
Field
The Official Website of the British
Monarchy
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