In 1985, the renowned jewellery author Suzy Menkes wrote her pivotal book ‘The Royal Jewels’.
Through her research, she compiled an extensive list of jewels that Queen Victoria had designated ‘as belonging to the Crown and to be worn by all future Queens in right of it‘
These were to be known as ‘The Heirlooms of the British Crown’
After the ‘Hanoverian Claim’, Queen Victoria needed to replenish her jewellery collection. Prince Albert was a keen designer and he collaborated with the Crown jeweller on many pieces for his wife. During the Great Exhibition of 1851, Albert had been very impressed by the displays of the Indian jewellers. As such, he designed an ‘Oriental’ style tiara, featuring lotus flowers within seventeen Mughal arches with a matching necklace, earrings & brooch. The set featured 2,600 diamonds and opals, a favoured gemstone of Albert.
Upon Victoria’s death in 1901, the set became an Heirloom of the British Crown, passing to Queen Alexandra. Despite the gem’s beauty, the new queen had the opals removed due to the widespread superstition that they were bad luck, a belief that originated in Sir Walter Scott’s 1829 novel Anne of Geierstein. Some speculate diamond traders may have furthered this notion to boost diamond sales, as opals are softer and more susceptible to damage, which also contributed to their ‘unlucky’ reputation. Using gemstones from and Indian necklace given by Sir Jung Bahadore in 1876, Alexandra had the ‘unlucky’ opals replaced with Rubies.
The set was not used with any frequency until 1937 when Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother became consort to King George VI. As most of the major tiaras we associate with the British monarchy were still the personal possessions of her mother-in-law Queen Mary, The Oriental Circlet was the grandest tiara available to her at the time.
Although the set became the legal property of her daughter Queen Elizabeth II when she acceded to the throne in 1952, Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was allowed to keep the Rubies as an informal ‘lifetime loan’ – Elizabeth II famously saying ‘Mummy will give it back one day’.
Interestingly, this lack of Ruby jewels would prompt to Queen to create a new tiara using stones from one of her wedding presents – The Burmese Ruby Tiara.
The Queen Mother would continue to wear the jewels for the rest of her life.
As promised the set returned to Queen Elizabeth II after her mother’s death. She wore the The Oriental Tiara once in 2005 but became quite fond of the Necklace and Brooch
The Oriental Tiara has yet to be seen on Queen Camilla but at a State Banquet for South Korea in 2023 she wore the Crown Ruby Necklace.