![Princess Leonor of Spain (L) stands with her grandmother former Queen Sofia after attending the traditional Easter Sunday Mass of Resurrection in Palma de Mallorca on April 1, 2018](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia13.jpg?resize=1200%2C800&ssl=1)
Happy Easter, magpies who are celebrating today! Let’s delve today into a particularly seasonal topic: the fun and festive Easter egg pendants worn by Queen Sofia of Spain.
![Queen Sofia of Spain leaves Palma de Mallorca Cathedral after Easter Sunday Mass on April 12, 2009 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia02.jpg?resize=1200%2C1666&ssl=1)
When she married the future King Juan Carlos of Spain, Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark changed both the spelling of her first name and her religion. Because she is now Roman Catholic, she’s celebrating Easter today, but Sofia was raised in the Greek Orthodox religion (which celebrates Easter next Sunday). That tradition has a special focus on the Easter egg. Queen Sofia is pictured above wearing several necklaces with egg pendants in Palma de Mallorca on Easter Sunday in 2009.
![Queen Sofia of Spain leaves Palma de Mallorca Cathedral after Easter Sunday Mass on April 12, 2009 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia01.jpg?resize=1200%2C731&ssl=1)
Here’s a closer look at the tangle of necklaces and pendants from April 2009. As dedicated readers will know, royals from Greek and Russian Orthodox families have often owned jewels and art objects made to resemble elaborate eggs. In particular, Fabergé has produced eggs in various sizes for royals for more than a century. These include both small pendants and larger bejeweled eggs. (Here’s a closer look at one of the small royal pendants that sold at auction several years ago.) Many have guessed that the eggs on Sofia’s necklaces are probably from Fabergé, perhaps a mix of vintage pieces and newer pendants (as Fabergé continues to sell them today).
![Spanish Princess Letizia, Queen Sofia, Prince Felipe and King Juan Carlos I pose for a family picture with the two Prince's daugthers Leonor (R) and Sofia after the traditional Easter Mass of Resurection in Palma de Mallorca on April 4, 2010](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia03.jpg?resize=864%2C1216&ssl=1)
On Easter Sunday in 2010, Sofia wore the pendants bunched together, resting just below the neckline of her pale pink jacket. If you look closely, you’ll be able to spot many of the same pendants worn the previous year. It seems likely to me that Queen Sofia receives these pendants as gifts, perhaps to mark Easter every year, just as her Romanov ancestors did before her.
![Spains' Queen Sofia and Princess Letizia talk as they leave the traditional Easter Mass of Resurection in Palma de Mallorca, on April 24, 2011](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia04.jpg?resize=990%2C1542&ssl=1)
On Easter Sunday in 2011, Queen Sofia wore the pendants placed on a longer chain. She’s worn them in this form for nearly every Easter Sunday mass since. The longer necklace shows off the pendants much more successfully, but it’s also often partially hidden inside her jackets.
![Spanish Royals Princess Letizia, Princess Sofia, Queen Sofia and Princess Leonor attend Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 8, 2012 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia05.jpg?resize=1075%2C1245&ssl=1)
When Sofia arrived for mass on Easter Sunday in 2012, she wore two necklaces with egg pendants: the longer necklace, plus a second, shorter necklace with several bunched-together eggs.
![Queen Sofia of Spain attends Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on March 31, 2013 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia06.jpg?resize=1185%2C1536&ssl=1)
The eggs were a bit tangled together as she arrived at the cathedral in Palma de Mallorca on Easter Sunday in March 2013.
![Spanish Royals (L-R) Princess Letizia of Spain, Princess Leonor of Spain, Queen Sofia of Spain and Princess Sofia of Spain attend the Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 20, 2014 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia07.jpg?resize=1200%2C854&ssl=1)
Sofia went for a two-necklace format again on Easter Sunday in April 2014. She’s pictured here with her granddaughters, Princesses Leonor and Sofia, as well as their parents.
![Princess Sofia of Spain (L) and Princess Leonor of Spain (R) attend the Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 20, 2014 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia08.jpg?resize=1200%2C776&ssl=1)
The two princesses were awfully cute back in 2014 (and still gorgeous almost a decade later!), but look behind them to see a good view of the two egg necklaces worn by Queen Sofia for Easter that year. There’s a longer necklace with evenly-spaced pendants, and then several more eggs mixed with other pendants on a shorter necklace.
![King Juan Carlos of Spain, Princess Leonor of Spain and Queen Sofia of Spain attend Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 20, 2014 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia09.jpg?resize=963%2C1410&ssl=1)
And here’s one more view of the way she wore the necklaces in 2014.
![Princess Leonor of Spain (L), Princess Sofia of Spain (C) and Queen Sofia (R) attend the Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 5, 2015 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia10.jpg?resize=1200%2C1821&ssl=1)
On Easter Sunday in 2015, Sofia went with a variation on the two-necklace theme: the longer, sautoir-style necklace, and then a second necklace with a single light blue egg pendant.
![Princess Sofia of Spain and Queen Sofia of Spain attend the Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on March 27, 2016 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia16.jpg?resize=1040%2C1384&ssl=1)
It was back to the shorter bunch of egg pendants for Easter Sunday in 2016.
![Spain's Queen Sofia poses before attending the traditional Mass of Resurrection in Palma de Mallorca on April 16, 2017](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia11.jpg?resize=1200%2C1706&ssl=1)
She went with a single long necklace of egg pendants, layered with additional other necklaces, for Easter Sunday in 2017. (Love the bright pink outfit with the colorful eggs!)
![Queen Sofia and Princess Leonor of Spain attend the Easter mass on April 1, 2018 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia12.jpg?resize=1200%2C1803&ssl=1)
The long necklace of egg pendants was tucked beneath the ruffled collar of her jacket for Easter Sunday mass in Palma de Mallorca in April 2018.
![Queen Sofia attends the Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 21, 2019 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia14.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
We most recently saw Queen Sofia attend Easter Sunday mass publicly in Palma de Mallorca in April 2019. She wore a lovely yellow and white jacket for the occasion, but her egg necklace was tucked beneath it, giving us just a few glimpses of the bejeweled pendants.
![Queen Sofia attends the Easter Mass at the Cathedral of Palma de Mallorca on April 21, 2019 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/2022-0417-01-sofia15.jpg?resize=1200%2C1654&ssl=1)
Here’s another angle, showing the other side of the necklace, with its green-blue-gold color scheme.
Last year, when I gave a talk in Richmond, two of the lovely ladies from the group hosting me gifted me a gorgeous egg pendant necklace of my very own. (Richmond, of course, is the home of an excellent collection of Fabergé. One of these days, we’ll talk about that in more detail here.) I’m wearing my necklace today. Does anyone else have an egg pendant in their collection?
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