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.
Like her Oriental Circlet and her Emerald Parure, Queen Victoria’s Sapphire Coronet was commissioned by her husband Prince Albert in 1840, shortly after they were married.
The Coronet was made by jeweller Joseph Kitching. The jewellery firm of Kitching & Abud was founded in 1824 and registered at 14 Dover Street in London. In 1837 they were appointed ‘’Jewellers to the Queen’’ and received many commissions from the Royal household including official gifts, presentation pieces and Orders
The Coronet is mounted with diamonds set in silver, with 11 step-cut sapphires of octagonal and calf’s head shape, set in gold. The piece was designed to match a sapphire and diamond brooch that Albert gave to Victoria the day before their wedding. The design of the coronet was based on the Saxon Rautenkranz – acknowledged as Prince Albert’s coat of arms – although the gemstones are believed to have come from jewellery previously given to Victoria by King William IV and Queen Adelaide.
A ‘Small Coronet’ of diamonds and sapphires first appears in Queen Victoria’s private account book in 1842 under the heading “For Jewellery for myself.” While the maker of the piece was not recorded, the queen noted its cost as £415. The coronet was part of a larger purchase that also included a pair of matching diamond and sapphire earrings—which Queen Victoria paid for half of, with the other half possibly paid by Prince Albert—and a brooch and bracelet set of sapphires and diamonds.
The Coronet gained prominence when Queen Victoria chose to wear it for her official 1842 portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. This iconic painting, now displayed outside the V&A’s Jewel Room
After Albert’s premature death in 1861, Victoria went into a permanent state of mourning, rarely venturing out in public or wearing her jewels. It was only after a disagreement over her daughter’s dowry that she agreed to attend parliament in person in 1866. Instead of the Imperial Crown, she chose to wear the Sapphire coronet.
When she died in 1901, Victoria did not leave this jewel to be an Heirloom of the British Crown. Hence it was not worn by Queen Alexandra or Queen Mary (but she had her own suite of Sapphires).
The Coronet did not resurface again until 1922 when King George V and Queen Mary gave it to their only daughter, Princess Mary on her marriage to Viscount Lascelles. Initially Princess Mary wore it low on her brow in the bandeau style of the 1920s.
Later in life, she wore it more traditionally atop her head.
Princess Mary died in 1965 and the Coronet became the property of her son, George Lascelles, 7th Duke of Harewood. Members of the family continued to wear the tiara, even using it a wedding tiara in 1992.
The family decided to sell the Coronet, and by 2016, its new owner wanted to sell the piece to an anonymous foreign buyer. Unusually, the British government halted the sale and imposed a temporary ban to stop the coronet leaving the country. It was felt that the Coronet was an important historical item and a mark of British craftsmanship and therefore should be kept and displayed in Britain.
Fortunately, in 2017, the Coronet was acquired by the Victoria and Albert Museum. It was purchased by hedge fund tycoon William Bollinger and is now on public display.