Archives for February 2015
Jewel History: Famous Royal Pearls (1890)
These pearls and other jewels, the whole being worth about 160,000 pounds, were awarded to the late King George of Hanover [3] in 1857, after a dispute of twenty years, as they had been claimed by the Queen [4] on the death of William IV. Part of them were brought originally from Hanover and the remainder had been the private property of Queen Charlotte, who left them to her son, Ernst, Duke of Cumberland, afterward King of Hanover.
A commission, consisting of Lord Wensleydale [5], Vice Chancellor Wood (afterward Lord Chancellor Hatherley) [6], and Mr. Lawrence Peel [7], was appointed by Lord Palmerston [8] to investigate the matter, and they unanimously awarded nearly all the jewels to the King of Hanover, a decision which greatly annoyed the Queen and Prince Albert.
George III, by his will, left Queen Charlotte all the jewels she had been given, and they were valued at 200,000 pounds; but many of them were seized by George IV and disappeared during his reign, as did a number of the crown jewels, including the celebrated Stuart sapphire, which was given by Cardinal York [9] to George III. George IV presented it to Princess Charlotte on her marriage, but after her death Prince Leopold was obliged to return it, and a few years afterward it reappeared in the headdress of Lady Conyngham [10].
1. Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1811-1890), the wife of Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany.
2. Ernst August of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland (1845-1923); his British titles were revoked in 1919.
3. George V of Hanover (1819-1878) was the last king of Hanover and a grandson of George III of the United Kingdom.
4. The queen referenced here is Queen Victoria (1819-1901).
5. James Parke, 1st Baron Wensleydale (1782-1868) was a British judge who participated in the judicial function of the House of Lords.
6. William Wood, 1st Baron Hatherley (1801-1881) was Lord Chancellor for four years. Intriguingly, he was the son of Sir Matthew Wood, one of the few public allies of Caroline of Brunswick.
7. Sir Lawrence Peel (1799–1884) was a British judge who spent much of his career in India.
8. Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (1784-1865) was prime minister twice during Victoria’s reign.
9. Henry Benedict Stuart, Cardinal Duke of York (1725-1807) was the son of James Francis Edward Stuart, “the Old Pretender.” Henry was the last Jacobite heir to claim the British throne; he was also a Roman Catholic cardinal, and the Vatican referred to him as the “Cardinal Duke of York.” He bequeathed the Stuart Sapphire, which traditionally first belonged to King Alexander II of Scotland, to George III. Today, the 104-carat sapphire is set in the Imperial State Crown.
10. Elizabeth Conyngham (1769-1861) was the last mistress of George IV. The king bequeathed all of his jewels to her; however, Elizabeth refused to accept the bequest.
Sundays with the Queen: The Duchess of Gloucester’s Pendant Earrings
Many of the grandest pieces of jewelry made their way into Queen Elizabeth II’s collection thanks to her jewel-mad grandmother, Queen Mary. Today’s earrings, the Gloucester pendants, are no exception, although their history can be traced back generations further than even Mary herself.
The earrings were made at some point during the first half of the nineteenth century. Jewel historians like Sir Hugh Roberts don’t pinpoint a particular maker, although it’s generally agreed that they were made by an English jeweler. The earrings originally belonged to Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh. She was one of the daughters of King George III, and also his last surviving child. She did not have any children herself, so when she died in 1857, she bequeathed the earrings to her niece, Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge.
The earrings that Mary Adelaide received were larger than the ones that the Queen wears today. Along with the pearls pendants surrounded by the elaborate diamond frame, the earrings also featured a detachable stud with a central pearl surrounded by a cluster of diamonds. The earrings also had another setting: the diamond frame could be removed, leaving just the pearl drops suspended from the studs.
Mary Adelaide later became, of course, the Duchess of Teck, and the mother of Queen Mary. Mary’s the one who inherited the earrings from her mother in 1897, several years before she became queen. She also apparently preferred to wear just the stud portion of the earrings. In 1947, as her granddaughter, Princess Elizabeth, was leaving for a tour of South Africa, Mary gave her the pearl clusters. Elizabeth wore them later that year on her wedding day.
When Mary died in 1953, the pendant portion of the earrings were also left to Elizabeth. By that point, a separate diamond stud had been attached to the earrings. The Queen has made them an important part of her jewel rotation, often wearing the pendants with two other diamond and pearl pieces: the Vladimir Tiara and Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace.
The earrings are made of typical nineteenth century materials: gold and silver along with the diamonds and pearls. Because of this, I’d expect them to be significantly heavier than some of the Queen’s newer pendant earrings (like the platinum-set Greville chandelier earrings, for example). I’m guessing that’s one of the reasons that HM tends to select other earrings for white-tie occasions these days, leaving the Gloucester pendants in the back of the jewelry box for now.
- « Previous Page
- 1
- …
- 3
- 4
- 5
- 6
- 7
- …
- 13
- Next Page »