The story of the British royal family’s jewellery is one of constant evolution, but perhaps no single figure influenced the collection as profoundly as Queen Mary, From family heirlooms to her own creations and even treasures acquired from distant empires, the jewels of the British royals stand as a testament to her transformative influence.
One such addition from her own family was The Cambridge Sapphires. This magnificent collection of jewels had passed through various royal family members for over 150 years but are now in the possession of private collectors.
The history of this parure traces back to Augusta, the Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and granddaughter of George III. Born a princess of Cambridge and sister to Princess Mary Adelaide (and thus aunt to Queen Mary), Augusta married the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1843. While the exact creator remain unknown, this impressive parure emerged in the latter half of the 19th century and was given to Augusta as a wedding present.
This original collection, according to Leslie Field’s “The Queen’s Jewels,” comprised of a necklace, and a stomacher that could be divided into three brooches. The parure also featured a magnificent diamond and sapphire tiara as its centrepiece. Features seven graduated openwork foliate panels, each intricately set in silver and gold. At the heart of each panel gleamed two cushion-shaped sapphires, surrounded by a halo of cushion-shaped diamonds.
Princess May of Teck, later Queen Mary, shared a close bond with her aunt Augusta. Consequently, she inherited a substantial portion of Augusta’s jewels upon the Grand Duchess’s passing in 1916. Queen Mary, known for her discerning eye for jewellery, didn’t leave the parure untouched. She ingeniously transformed the original necklace into two brooches and a pair of earrings, and also modified the stomacher. Furthermore, she commissioned the alteration of an existing sapphire necklace to perfectly complement the newly inherited pieces. Even the tiara underwent a transformation, becoming convertible so it could also be worn as a necklace. To complete the set, Queen Mary added two bracelets, possibly crafted from sections of the original necklace.
Queen Mary presented the parure as a wedding gift to her goddaughter, Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, upon her marriage to Queen Mary’s son, George, the Duke of Kent, in 1934. It was the most impressive piece Marina received along with her mother’s Pearl Bandeau Tiara, and Diamond Bow Brooch.
As a dedicated member of the British Royal Family, Princess Marina regularly wore the parure – either the complete set or selected pieces – when fulfilling her duties at important state functions and attending various royal events throughout Europe.
Upon Princess Marina’s death in 1968, the parure, along with the majority of her jewellery collection, was inherited by her eldest son, Edward, the Duke of Kent. His wife Katharine, Duchess of Kent wore the parure on several occasions during the early years of her marriage.
Regrettably, financial considerations led the Duke and Duchess of Kent to sell significant parts of the original parure. This included the original tiara, the necklace, the stomacher, and likely one of the bracelets and/or brooches.
However, they retained some pieces, including a newly fashioned Sapphire Button Tiara, which the Duchess of Kent did wear a few times.
However, for reasons unknown, the entire suite has now left the Kents and is in the ownership of Moira Fine Jewellery, London
The Hanoverian claim was an important court case that lasted from 1837 – 1857. Featuring two royal families, the outcome of this case prompted Queen Victoria to establish one of the first jewel foundations, ‘The Heirlooms of the British Crown‘.
In 1714, George I, Elector of Hanover became King George I of Great Britain after the death of his childless cousin Queen Anne. For the next 123 years, Hanover and Great Britain were ruled in a personal union by George’s descendants. In 1837, this connection was broken when Queen Victoria ascended to the British throne. Salic law (the law where women cannot inherit) still existed in Hanover so her uncle, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland became King of Hanover.
Ernest began to lay claim to the numerous important jewels in the British collection, claiming that the jewellery worn by the Hanoverian kings of England and their queens derived largely from German sources and that the existence of the Hanoverian Crown Jewels had been recognised since the reign of George II. He also claimed that his mother Queen Charlotte had left her own jewels to the House of Hanover in her will and were thus part of the claim.
During the reign of George II, jewels from the British collection were sent to Hanover, apparently for safe keeping during the Jacobite Rebellion. In 1752, while visiting his German kingdom, George had the collection inventoried. It contained ‘the jewelled Garter Star provided by Queen Anne for her husband Prince George of Denmark, two Georges (Badges of the Order of the Garter, one of which was set with brilliants costing £4,500), a diamond agraffe or clasp for the hat, buttons, rings, a pair of diamond shoe buckles, a jewelled sword and a large spinel presented to William III in 1698 by Peter the Great’.
Also included in this inventory were his wife, Queen Caroline’s jewels – three pearl necklaces (including one that had belonged to Queen Anne) ten dress of sleeve clasp, at least six being set with brilliants, a brilliant girdle, a diamond-set fan, stay buckle and three pairs of earrings, the most important of which cost £7,00 and £5,000, a pair of pearl and diamond earrings with drops, rings, a drop shaped stone and a stomacher or bodice ornament set with several large diamonds, the most expensive costing £18,000 and the next £5,800. A third large stone in the stomacher was taken from the Queen’s wedding ring, two more were purchased by her and two were gifts of George I. Pearl drops adorning the stomacher had been presented by George I’s Queen.
When he succeeded his grandfather in 1760, George III called for the jewels to be sent back to London. He then consulted with three lawyers to establish ownership. Some pieces were deemed to be of property of Hanover (having been bought with German funds) but George III bought them back from his relatives using £54,000 paid from the British Civil List.
These pieces were then remade into Bridal jewellery and given to his new wife Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1761. Queen Caroline’s stomacher was dismantled a remade into a bodice for Queen Charlotte, described as ‘the Ground net of small brilliants on that a large pattern of natural flowers, the large diamond which cost £18,000 had lustre equal to its price’.
During her time as Queen, Charlotte added further to her collection, most notably a selection of large diamonds known as the Arcot diamonds, a ‘gift’ from the Nawab of Arcot. But she made sure to keep these jewels separate from the ones she had been given on her wedding day.
In 1804, she as asked Rundell, Bridge & Rundell to make an inventory of her jewels. In her words the jewellery ‘found at my arrival in the year 1761’ comprised a ‘great brilliant necklace, consisting of twenty-six large stones’ , ‘a large cross’ (of six brilliants), a pair of three-drop brilliant earrings’ ‘two large single drops, one small rosette of brilliants, with a clasp in the middle smaller, without a drop; and two brilliant bows’, ‘the great nosegay (aigrette) of diamonds’, ‘the great diamond stomacher’ and ‘the great pearls which the King calls family pearls’ among which were a pair of diamond and pearl earrings and a set of diamond and pearl bows,
By trying to keep her personal and royal jewels separate, Charlotte inadvertently caused the basis for the ‘Hanoverian Claim’. In her will, she left her wedding jewellery to ‘the House of Hanover, to be settled upon it and considered as an heirloom in the direct line of succession to that House’
Regardless of this, when she died in 1818, her son George IV ignored her will, seizing his mother’s jewels that she had bequeathed to her daughters saying ‘‘the Queen had not the power of disposing of the jewels, as they were the property of the Crown of England”. He then proceeded to dismantle many jewels in order to make new pieces for his mistress, Lady Conyngham. Thankfully, Rundell’s kept immaculate records and they were able to keep track of the major stones that were being remounted.
George IV was succeeded by his brother William IV in 1830. His wife, Queen Adelaide continued to modify the jewels by removing diamonds from Queen Charlotte’s stomacher and having them set in her coronation crown, also possibly using four Arcot diamonds in the main fleur-de-lis motifs. Afterwards, she had the stomacher diamonds set into a Regal circlet, which was inherited by Queen Victoria on her uncle’s death in 1837.
Despite what she referred to as ‘our tiresome dispute with the King of Hanover’, Victoria continued to wear and modify the jewels. The Regal Circlet was altered in 1852-3 to incorporate the legendary Koh-i-Nur diamond. Further stones were taken from Queen Charlotte’s stomacher and incorporated into the Oriental Tiara
Ernst Augustus died in 1851 and Victoria had a much better relationship with son and successor stating ‘‘George of Hanover is behaving in a very amiable, friendly way, proposing a compromise, which must be met in an equally friendly spirit . .” but by 1857, the commissioners had finally reached their judgement. They decided that the claim was substantiated to some, but not all, the jewels that belonged to Queen Charlotte.
The difficult task of finding said jewels then began. Rundell, Bridge & Rundell’s had gone out of business and only some of their records were passed along tot the new Crown Jeweller, Garrard. The family pearls had been re-strung so many times it was impossible to trace their origins and no one could locate precisely where the jewels that had once belonged to Queen Caroline had gone.
Some diamonds from George II’s shoe buckles were traced to a necklace of Charlotte’s but the jewels that eventually passed to Hanover were a set of diamond bow brooches, three-drop and single-drop earrings, a small pearl necklace, a necklace pendent cross, nuptial crown and nosegay (aigrette), in addition to the stones from the stomacher.
Losing these jewels prompted Queen Victoria to safeguard her own collection. In her will, she designated certain pieces as ‘The Heirlooms of the British Crown’ and since her death in 1901 they have remained within the British Royal Family, continuing to be worn by its Queens.
One lot featured an exquisite diamond bow brooch, which once belonged to her grandmother, Queen Elena of Italy. Described in the catalogue as:
Can also be worn as a pendant Rose and old-cut diamonds, 18k gold and silver (French and customs marks), circa 1850 Main diamond: with an approximate weight of 6.0 carats Remaining diamonds: with a total approximate weight of 11.50-12.50 carats Size/Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.6 cm Gross weight: 57.2 grams
Queen Elena was originally a Montenegrin Princess, daughter of King Nicolas I. Born in 1873, she was educated at the Smolny Institute in St Petersburg, Russia. Her sisters had both married into the Imperial family and were later blamed for introducing Grigori Rasputin to the Tsarina Alexandra. Elena would go on to marry Victor Emmanuel of Italy in 1896, becoming Queen in 1900.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, the Communists seized the Imperial family’s possession, including their vast jewellery collection. Some Romanov’s did manage to get their jewels out of Russia but any that remained were sold to fund the new regime in the famous auction of 1921.
To accompany this sale, the Communists produced an impressive catalogue with high quality photographs and descriptions to encourage buyers.
In Part Three of the Catalogue, Plate 58 (LVIII), there is a selection of brooches, buckles, button, and dress ornaments.
There is no record of who bought this brooch. Many dealers and collectors bought pieces and sold them on not wanting to disclose their dubious provenance. But given the dimensions and the carat weights mentioned in the Russian catalogue and the Christie’s description are extremely similar, there is the tantalising possibility that a Jewel belonging to Catherine the Great may have briefly resurfaced only to be lost to us once again.
Queen Victoria reigned over the United Kingdom and the British Empire for 67 years and although she spent much of her life in mourning, the young queen had a deep passion for jewellery. She established one of the first jewellery foundations with “The Heirlooms of the British Crown” and her personal collection held significant sentimental value.
For her Coronation in 1938, Queen Victoria was given a personal gift of a large number of diamonds by Sultan Mahmud of Turkey. The following year, the Queen commissioned the Crown Jeweller Rundell, Bridge & Rundell to create a necklace and earrings using some of the diamonds. Because of the provenance of the stones, Victoria referred to the set as “my Turkish diamond necklace and earrings”.
The necklace featured three diamond rosettes – one large and two smaller ones – connected to each other by three strands of diamonds. At the back, two large oval diamonds connected via two rows of diamonds to the smaller rosettes on one side, and to the clasp on the other. The clasp itself featured a massive diamond in a frame of smaller stones. The earrings were equally elaborate and featured two small rosettes connected to each other with three rows of diamonds.
Alongside a Sapphire brooch that had been given to her the day before, Victoria chose to wear her Turkish diamonds on her wedding to Prince Albert.
Victoria would wear her Turkish Diamonds to important occasions in her early reign, often pairing them with the George IV Diadem
After Albert’s premature death in 1861, Victoria went into a permanent state of mourning, rarely venturing out in public or wearing her jewels. If she did, she would only wear her most sentimental pieces. Here she is pictured wearing her Turkish Diamonds alongside her Coronation Earrings
When she died in 1901, she did not designate the Turkish Diamonds as an Heirloom of the British Crown. Instead, the set was split up, with the earrings going to Queen Alexandra.
These earrings would be inherited by he daughter, Queen Maud of Norway and are still worn by the Norwegian Queen Sonja today.
The necklace was given to her third and favourite son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn. It was likely among the wedding gifts to his wife, Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia. The Duchess of Connaught wore the necklace to several important historic events, including two coronations: the coronation of Nicholas II in 1896, and the coronation of George V in 1911.
Nevertheless, the necklace remained with the family until it was auctioned as part of the “collection of His Grace The Duke of Fife” in July of 1970. The magnificent necklace was sold for £23,000 (between £350,000 and £450,000 in today’s money). Its current owners are unknown.
