Royal Jewels

[AGBF]

Funeral arrangements for Prince Friso of the Netherlands have been finalized. His funeral will be on Friday, August 16, and it will be private. I read several blogs about the topic and am not sure that the blogger who wrote this, Trond Norén Isaksen, has all the information straight although he is considered an expert on Dutch royalty. (He is Norwegian and if he wrote, originally, in Norwegian, the English translation may not be perfect.) Most of what he says has been verified from other websites. This is just an excerpt of what he wrote:

"The funeral of Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, the younger brother of the King of the Netherlands who died yesterday at the age of 44, will take place privately in the Stulp Church in the small village Lage Vuursche in the municipality of Baarn on the coming Friday. Carel A. ter Linden, a priest who is close to the royal family, will officiate.
Following the funeral service in the church, the Prince will be buried in the local cemetery, rather than in the New Church in Delft, where members of the royal family have traditionally been laid to rest in the vault. The village is close to Drakesteyn Palace, where the Prince lived during his early childhood and to which his mother, the former Queen Beatrix, is due to return to in the near future.
Although the Prince was no longer a member of the royal house the government has decided that flags shall be flown at half mast on public buildings throughout the realm on the day of the funeral.
A public memorial service will be held at a later date."

AGBF

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Funeral arrangements for Prince Friso of the Netherlands have been finalized. His funeral will be on Friday, August 16, and it will be private. I read several blogs about the topic and am not sure that the blogger who wrote this, Trond Norén Isaksen, has all the information straight although he is considered an expert on Dutch royalty. (He is Norwegian and if he wrote, originally, in Norwegian, the English translation may not be perfect.) Most of what he says has been verified from other websites. This is just an excerpt of what he wrote:

"The funeral of Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau, the younger brother of the King of the Netherlands who died yesterday at the age of 44, will take place privately in the Stulp Church in the small village Lage Vuursche in the municipality of Baarn on the coming Friday. Carel A. ter Linden, a priest who is close to the royal family, will officiate.
Following the funeral service in the church, the Prince will be buried in the local cemetery, rather than in the New Church in Delft, where members of the royal family have traditionally been laid to rest in the vault. The village is close to Drakesteyn Palace, where the Prince lived during his early childhood and to which his mother, the former Queen Beatrix, is due to return to in the near future.
Although the Prince was no longer a member of the royal house the government has decided that flags shall be flown at half mast on public buildings throughout the realm on the day of the funeral.
A public memorial service will be held at a later date."

AGBF

The information is correct and can also be found on the Royal House's website - Het Koninklijk Huis, although Mr Isaksen gives some more details

Bobby

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Do you mean that The Duchess and Prince William have not been invited to enough "tiara" events, Danny? Or do you mean that she has dressed down as has Princess Charlene? I am not sure at whom the criticism is being directed: the British government for the role it is assigning the younger royals at this time or the Duchess, herself, for her style.

Deb

To whoever the criticism is, I don't think it's deserved. Unless The Duchess & The Duke start attending high profile state events and royal gatherings (State banquets, Scandinavian weddings and birthdays, the Royal Caledonian Ball just to name a few examples), chances are that we won't see Her Royal Highness wearing one soon, unless we look at her wedding photos.
As we have commented here before, it is not up to a guest to decide that they want to wear a tiara at an event. They must be invited to an event where wearing one would be appropriate (white tie or black tie with tiaras dresscode). Our modern society, in which there are less and less tiara events, isn't helping, I'm afraid. Even some State/official events don't give us a slight glimpse of tiaras anymore... Look at the Cambridges' tour of Malaysia, the Waleses' tour of Scandinavia, the Diamond Jubilee last year... Even the Belgian enthronement... Yes, we have the odd formal photographs, a couple of State Visits and that's all... And then look at photos from film premieres, formal evenings at various institutions, finner parties, etc. from 40-50 years ago... A whole different world of dazzling ladies and dressed-up gentlemen... Not to mention the late Victorian and Edwardian eras!
Those were the days, these are the days...

Bobby

 

[AGBF]

As we have commented here before, it is not up to a guest to decide that they want to wear a tiara at an event. They must be invited to an event where wearing one would be appropriate (white tie or black tie with tiaras dresscode).

Yes. This is exactly what came to mind when I read Danny's posting. That is why I asked him what I did: whether he thought they were not being invited to enough events where the Duchess would be expected to wear a tiara (e.g. white tie events at which she and the Duke would be representing the UK) or whether he thought she was missing opportunities at which she might have worn one (as has Princess Charlene).

I have to admit that I felt a bit protective of the Duchess of Cambridge, because I do not feel that she has ever failed to dress up to a dressy event as Princess Charlene has sometimes done.

Deb

 

[AGBF]

Here are some photos that relate to Prince Friso's funeral, which was held yesterday. One is of the church yard where he was buried. One shows the Dutch flag at half mast. One shows the Dutch Royal Family in mourning. Princess Mabel and Princess Beatrix, his wife and his mother, flank his daughters. The young daughters of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, like Prince Friso's daughters, are dressed in white and are slightly behind his daughters. Prince Friso was said to be the favorite son of Princess Beatrix (formerly Queen Beatrix) and that she wanted him buried here to keep him close to her.

AGBF

 

[LadyMaria]

As we have commented here before, it is not up to a guest to decide that they want to wear a tiara at an event. They must be invited to an event where wearing one would be appropriate (white tie or black tie with tiaras dresscode).

Yes. This is exactly what came to mind when I read Danny's posting. That is why I asked him what I did: whether he thought they were not being invited to enough events where the Duchess would be expected to wear a tiara (e.g. white tie events at which she and the Duke would be representing the UK) or whether he thought she was missing opportunities at which she might have worn one (as has Princess Charlene).

I have to admit that I felt a bit protective of the Duchess of Cambridge, because I do not feel that she has ever failed to dress up to a dressy event as Princess Charlene has sometimes done.

Deb

I am inclined towards they are not invited to tiara wearing events, which is why we haven't seen Catherine in a tiara since her wedding. We have seen through her clothing choices that she has a great sense of what is appropriate. If the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had been designated to represent the BRF at Princess Madeline's wedding, I have no doubt she would have worn a tiara. I don't see her bucking the rules and not wearing a tiara just because she doesn't want to (yes, I'm looking at you Charlene).

Another aspect of this that has crossed my mind is that when you look at the weddings of the Crown Princely couples (Mary/Fredrick, Mette-Merit/Hakkon, Victoria/Daniel, Letizia/Felipe, etc.) they are not in the same age bracket as the "Crown Princely couple" of Great Britian. Charles and Camilla are so much older that they would be almost out of place. For those weddings, I think Edward and Sophie were a good choice to represent the BRF since they were closer in age to those getting married.

Now with the Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxumbourg married off, there's not much to look forward to with first-in-line-to-the-throne weddings in the near future, is there? We will have to wait for Crown Prince Christian or Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra or Crown Princess Estelle or Crown Princess Elisabeth or Crown Princess Leonor to grow up and get married in the future. There isn't really anyone in their age group in the BRF, so maybe William and Catherine will attend those weddings even though they will be a generation off from the brides and grooms.

Only time will tell...

 

[LadyMaria]

Here are some photos that relate to Prince Friso's funeral, which was held yesterday. One is of the church yard where he was buried. One shows the Dutch flag at half mast. One shows the Dutch Royal Family in mourning. Princess Mabel and Princess Beatrix, his wife and his mother, flank his daughters. The young daughters of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, like Prince Friso's daughters, are dressed in white and are slightly behind his daughters. Prince Friso was said to be the favorite son of Princess Beatrix (formerly Queen Beatrix) and that she wanted him buried here to keep him close to her.

AGBF

I saw another picture of the family together on hellomagazine.com, and Princess Mabel (notice she still has a bow, bless her heart) was looking down at her daughters with an expression that just tore at my heart. It seemed to say, "my poor girls, growing up without their father." They've been through so much this last year and a half. I pray they will find peace now that this tragic situation finally has closure.

 

[prince.of.preslav]

I'm looking for a family photo of Queen Juliana & Prince Bernhard with their daughters (and Prince Claus?) take after of the Prinsjesdags. The family is sitting in a room in one of the palaces. As far as I remember, Juliana is sitting on a sofa and the daughters are staning befind. The biggest clue as to hich portrait I mean is that Queen Juliana is wearing her grandmother Queen Emma's sapphire and diamond pendant on a long chain and a few strands of pearls.

You can see a cropped image of QJ in the secong row of QJ pics here - Sapphire pendant

Thanks in advance!

Bobby

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Something interesting I just discovered As you might know, the Order of Sartorial Splendour has another pool for favourite tiaras and one of the sparklers shown on the blog grabbed my attention. It's a large kokoshnik composed of 5 rows of diamonds between two bands of smaller stones, topped by 19 diamond collets. The tiara is labeled as An auctioned Liechtenstein tiara, however, I had seen this one before - it is one of the Russian Imperial jewels auctioned by the Bolsheviks after the fall of the monarchy.
I'm pretty sure that this is the same tiara not only because of the unconventional design (a real wall of diamonds), but also because of the shape of the two largest stones (1st & 5th row). Apparently the kokoshnik was bought by the wealthy Liechtensteins and was sold by a descendant. I'm happy that the tiara is still intact. It must be one of the few remaining ones

(OoS photo)

(My files)

Bobby

 

[ediana]

Long time lurker here I've really enjoyed following this thread over the last several years!

I don't recall seeing this mentioned already, so I wanted to share that I ran across a wonderful documentary on YouTube about Royal jewelry. It was published just last month (looks like it was originally in Danish when it came out?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atSTBtKKD60

The first part, linked above, is about an hour long and goes into the history of the Danish and Swedish royal jewels. I watched this last night and it was just fascinating. There is a part 2, that I haven't watched yet, that looks like it covers some of the British & Russian jewels.

 

[AGBF]

Long time lurker here I've really enjoyed following this thread over the last several years!

I don't recall seeing this mentioned already, so I wanted to share that I ran across a wonderful documentary on YouTube about Royal jewelry. It was published just last month (looks like it was originally in Danish when it came out?): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atSTBtKKD60

The first part, linked above, is about an hour long and goes into the history of the Danish and Swedish royal jewels. I watched this last night and it was just fascinating. There is a part 2, that I haven't watched yet, that looks like it covers some of the British & Russian jewels.

I watched the entire video in one sitting, which I had not planned to do. I was truly fascinated by it and unable to pull away once I started to watch it. Thank you so much for posting the link, ediana! I am very glad you stopped lurking and began posting. Welcome!

Hugs,
Deb

 

[AGBF]

Since I watched the documentary on the Swedish and Danish jewels, I have had a question. When Queen Sylvia was interviewed she said that one parure had never been photographed all together until it was photographed for the documentary. Included in the parure was the tiara that she said was quite complicated to wear and that she never wore out of the country (with the exception of wearing it on one visit to Daisy in Denmark). In that parure were diamond earrings of 30 carats (I think each).

I went looking for a photo of Queen Sylvia wearing the parure, but couldn't find one. Then I found another photo of her in large earrings. Does anyone know if these earrings could be the ones that actually belong to the parure with the other, larger, tiara that she usually wears for more serious, state occasions (the Braganza Tiara).

Deb/AGBF

 

[AGBF]

I have posted a picture of the Swedish earrings, which I finally unearthed. They were part of the Brazilian collection but have been worn extremely infrequently, perhaps because they are so heavy. Queen Sylvia wore them once and Crown Princess Victoria wore them once. This is excerpted from a page on the Internet.

"That makes two times in 36 years since the King's wedding that they were worn in public - pretty amazing. Perhaps they hurt. Belonging to the jewels which Empress Amélie left her sister Queen Josefina as well, but not to the parure: The two rather enormous pear-shaped diamonds which remained loose in the vaults until Queen Silvia had them set as earrings in 1979."

Deb/AGBF

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Since I watched the documentary on the Swedish and Danish jewels, I have had a question. When Queen Sylvia was interviewed she said that one parure had never been photographed all together until it was photographed for the documentary. Included in the parure was the tiara that she said was quite complicated to wear and that she never wore out of the country (with the exception of wearing it on one visit to Daisy in Denmark). In that parure were diamond earrings of 30 carats (I think each).

I went looking for a photo of Queen Sylvia wearing the parure, but couldn't find one. Then I found another photo of her in large earrings. Does anyone know if these earrings could be the ones that actually belong to the parure with the other, larger, tiara that she usually wears for more serious, state occasions (the Braganza Tiara).

Deb/AGBF

The documentary was the first time that when the jewels Queen Josefina inherited from her sister Empress Amelie of Brazil were called a parure. I guess they call them a parure now because there is a tiara (the Brasiliansk diadem in Swedish, aka the Braganca tiara), a necklace, a brooch and earrings. However, there isn't a motif that unites the items, like in Queen Desiree's ruby parure in Denmark, to name but one example. Maybe in this case parure means that they entered the Bernadotte (Queen Josefina's) collection at the same time?

Anyway, back to your question - These are not the same earrings they showed in the documentary. The earrings in your photograph are said to have belonged to Queen Victoria (of Sweden). Exactly when and how they entered the family collection is unknown, and the fact thet Queen Victoria didn't wear earrings isn't helping either. I fact, Queen Silvia is just the first one to wear them in public. Neither Queen Louise, nor Princess Sibylla were ever photographed in them, not even Princess Lilian, who had access to quite a lot of the vault for many years (basically before Victoria started to wear the family jewels). In recent wears the pair has also been loaned to The Crown Princess and Princess Madaleine for special occasions.
In the documentary the two ways possible to wear the earrings are shown- the large diamonds hung on a single collet and above them is a line of large diamonds. We have seen both worn separately. Queen Silvia wore the line for her first Nobels, while The Crown Princess wore them a few years ago at one of the Representation dinners. Queen Silvia has worn the lage pear-shaped diamonds on a few occasions. Among them are the State Visit from Elizabeth II (together with the tiara and necklace) in 1983 (this was the first time HM wore the tiara in public), an official portrait, the 2006 Nobels and the State Visit to Denmark.

BTW, the photograph that you posted shows HM wearin' the necklace from the parure, thow the photo is not from a birtday (Queen Silvia is not the Sultan of Brunei ) It's a pic from the 2003 State Visit from Germany.

Bobby

 

[prince.of.preslav]

I have posted a picture of the Swedish earrings, which I finally unearthed. They were part of the Brazilian collection but have been worn extremely infrequently, perhaps because they are so heavy. Queen Sylvia wore them once and Crown Princess Victoria wore them once. This is excerpted from a page on the Internet.

"That makes two times in 36 years since the King's wedding that they were worn in public - pretty amazing. Perhaps they hurt. Belonging to the jewels which Empress Amélie left her sister Queen Josefina as well, but not to the parure: The two rather enormous pear-shaped diamonds which remained loose in the vaults until Queen Silvia had them set as earrings in 1979."

Deb/AGBF

The first part of the quote (Boris, RJWMB) is about the line/bar of diamonds, which is also shown is the documentary, but probably don't belong to the Brazilian parure, as a very similar set was worn (with pearl drops) by Queen Louise (nee of the Netherlands), who died before Empress Amelie's diamonds came to Sweden.
The second part I've always taken with a grain or two of salt... Although Boris is a most knowledgeable poster when it comes to Bernadotte jewels, there is someting I've always found unreliable. Look at the setting of the pear-shaped diamond. Do you think a jeweller who respects himslef would make such a setting these days? No. This is a typical collet, if you ask me. And collets were made like this in the 19th century And don't say that more metal was used because of the weight of the stones... Look at the delicate setting of Granny's chips, which are much, much larger

Bobby

 

[AGBF]

Bobby-

I had hoped you would respond to my question, and you did, thank you! But I am still confused! In the video, Queen Silvia said that the pear shaped diamond earrings she showed with other parts of what I believe was the Braganza parure were 30 carats. When have these earrings (the ones in the video, I mean) been worn-either by her or by Crown Princess Victoria? I realize that she chooses, usually, to wear other earrings and necklaces with the Braganza tiara.

Deb/AGBF

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Bobby-

I had hoped you would respond to my question, and you did, thank you! But I am still confused! In the video, Queen Silvia said that the pear shaped diamond earrings she showed with other parts of what I believe was the Braganza parure were 30 carats. When have these earrings (the ones in the video, I mean) been worn-either by her or by Crown Princess Victoria? I realize that she chooses, usually, to wear other earrings and necklaces with the Braganza tiara.

Deb/AGBF

In my first post about your question I said - In the documentary the two ways possible to wear the earrings are shown- the large diamonds hung on a single collet and above them is a line of large diamonds. We have seen both worn separately. Queen Silvia wore the line for her first Nobels, while The Crown Princess wore them a few years ago at one of the Representation dinners. Queen Silvia has worn the lage pear-shaped diamonds on a few occasions. Among them are the State Visit from Elizabeth II (together with the tiara and necklace) in 1983 (this was the first time HM wore the tiara in public), an official portrait, the 2006 Nobels and the State Visit to Denmark.

You can see what I call a line of diamonds and the drop-shaped diamonds in this screenshot:


Crown Princess Victoria has ONLY worn the top part/the line once - the 2007 Day After gala for the Nobel laureaths, Queen Silvia has also worn them once - during the 1976 Nobels:


The huge drops are only worn suspended from the diamond stud, and only by Queen Silvia. Indeed, there isn't any photo that suggests any family member has worn them together.
Here Queen Silvia wears the drops and the large collet necklace at Daisy's 60th birthday in 2000 - Photo1, and at the State Banquet in 2007, with the tiara from the set - Photo22

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Yesterday Princess Christina, Mrs Magnuson & Thor Magnuson's son Gustaf married his long-time girlfriend Vicky Andrén at Ulriksdal Palace Chirch. Among the (female) guests were Queen Silvia, Queen Sonja and Crown Princess Victoria.
Princess Christina wore her pearl and pick stone pendant necklace and earring - Photo
Queen Silvia wore Princess Sibylla's two-row large pearl necklace and her fav pearl bracelet - Photo
Queen Sonja wore her modern/Art Deco emerald bead set with a longchain (from Queen Maud?), matching bracelet and ring - Photo
The Crown Princess chose to wear some jewels from her personal collection. The hair pins are quite spectacular, almost like real - Photo Earrings and a glimpse of hunky CP

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Queen Silvia wearing the tiara, necklace and large pear-shaped diamonds from the Brazilian parure during the Japanese State Banquet - Photo

 

[high_em]

Re: Jenna's ring

hey ladies! and everyone!
i just wanted to let you all know...that my new sapphire ring is here! oh, merry christmas it is! here is a pic of it..7.5 carats...i just posted many great pics of it up on my little thread, sithathoriunet''s jewels ..........enjoy!

This is amazing! I'm in love with your ring Jenna. Trying to outsource a large stone but having some issues. Did you create your setting as well? Can you direct me where to go? Presently I am setting a 12mm black diamond that i sourced out from india. I'm just scared to buy from anyone if I don't know them.

I've loved Princess Diana since I was a little girl and re-creating her ring would be so cool.
Hope to hear from you soon,

Olga

 

[SRGdiamonds]

I got my Diana ring last year. I had it made also. I love mine. I love Diana also, she was amazing

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Re: Jenna's ring

hey ladies! and everyone!
i just wanted to let you all know...that my new sapphire ring is here! oh, merry christmas it is! here is a pic of it..7.5 carats...i just posted many great pics of it up on my little thread, sithathoriunet''s jewels ..........enjoy!

This is amazing! I'm in love with your ring Jenna. Trying to outsource a large stone but having some issues. Did you create your setting as well? Can you direct me where to go? Presently I am setting a 12mm black diamond that i sourced out from india. I'm just scared to buy from anyone if I don't know them.

I've loved Princess Diana since I was a little girl and re-creating her ring would be so cool.
Hope to hear from you soon,

Olga

Jenna no longer posts on this forum.

 

[Imdanny]

I'll take that as a no.

 

[laurensmama]

Hi Danny,

Did I miss something? I am not sure what your previous comment refers to. Just checked the forum, have been so busy lately. Trying to think of a new topic for discussion, since we are coming out of the slow summer royal season. Hello to all.

 

[laurensmama]

In light of the recent society weddings, how about a discussion of the jewels of some of the aristocratic houses across Europe? I think we have discussed a little bit about some of them. While not exactly royalty many of these houses have connections to the various royal houses. Alas some of these families have had to sell pieces over the years, but a number of them still have very interesting collections. Besides of a love for sparkly things, I so enjoy hearing the history of family pieces. Maybe we could start with a country and a few of the more prominent families and open vaults across Europe?

 

[prince.of.preslav]

Hi Danny,

Did I miss something? I am not sure what your previous comment refers to. Just checked the forum, have been so busy lately. Trying to think of a new topic for discussion, since we are coming out of the slow summer royal season. Hello to all.

I guess that Danny's comment reffers to his question on the previous page if The Duchess of Cambridge has worn a tiara since her wedding.

Bobby

 

[prince.of.preslav]

The new Dutch Queen knows how to keep us royal jewellery watchers entertained! Yesterday at Prinsjesdag (the opening of the Dutch Parlament), HM wore the jewels from Queen Wilhelmina's Borneo set - the large prong as brooch and the two smaller ones as earrings (Pic). Today she dazzled in Orange-Nassau aquamarines (and opals) in Spain (Pc1, Pic2). Note that these drops are now original to the clusters. Instead, they belong to a separate set of aquamarine earrings

 

[prince.of.preslav]

State visit from Vietnam to Denmark - Tonight we saw the Palmette tiara (with collet necklace and long floral earrings), two wedding tiaras with new earrings and a lovely floral tiara with some diamond and emerald jewels. See who wore what here - http://www.dr.dk/tv/se/statsbesoeg-fra-vietnam/statsbesoeg-fra-vietnam#!/

 

[prince.of.preslav]

A delightful photograph of HRH Princess Claire of Luxembourg wearing one of my favourite floral tiaras and the the wedding earrings of her mother- and sister-in-law - Link
More lovely photos can be seen here - Religious Wedding Of Prince Felix Of Luxembourg & Claire Lademacher

 

[LadyMaria]

A delightful photograph of HRH Princess Claire of Luxembourg wearing one of my favourite floral tiaras and the the wedding earrings of her mother- and sister-in-law - Link
More lovely photos can be seen here - Religious Wedding Of Prince Felix Of Luxembourg & Claire Lademacher

While at my Crown Prince's tennis tournament yesterday, I couldn't help but wish a few times I was at home watching this wedding (especially after his meltdown in his third match...we still need to work on losing with dignity ). It looks like it was beautiful, as expected. One thing that struck me while looking at the pictures is the beaming smiles on the bride and groom. I don't think I saw a single "solemn" look. Their faces lit things up more than the beautiful jewels!