Kent Jewels

[james]

I like the Kent diamond fringe tiara. I think fringe tiara's in general, including the George III tiara which the Queen and Princess Anne both wore on their wedding days and which is practically identical to this one, are very beautiful. The Kent tiara is quite romantic as it seems to have been adopted as the family's wedding tiara. After Princess Marina was given it as a wedding present and wore it on her wedding day in 1934 her daughter Alexandra wore it to her wedding in 1963 and her daughter-in-law Princess Michael, it's present owner, wore it to her wedding reception in 1978. Although Lady Helen Windsor wore the tiara her mother the Duchess of Kent wore on her wedding day (which was a gift from the Duchess' parents) I believe that Princess Michael's daughter, Lady Gabriella Windsor, will choose this tiara when she marries.

 

[james]

Princess Alexandra wearing her copy of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee necklace. Queen Elizabeth wears the original which has a crown above the central diamond and pearl cluster.

 

[james]

http://pro.corbis.com/images/0000312146-008.jpg?size=67&uid={1714cdf5-735c-4908-aa73-e322af09f90e}

The Duchess of Kent in her Pearl and Diamond fringe tiara, which was a wedding gift from her parents, pearl and diamond drop earrings, choker and bracelet.

 

[james]

The Duchess in the famous Cambridge Sapphires inherited from Queen Mary.

 

[wymanda]

Such a shame that the Duchess sold the original tiara, it was much more impressive than the insignificant one she had made from parts of the original necklace.

 

[Eliza]

why did she sold it?

 

[lashinka2002]

These are beautiful pics, I haven't seen any of them.
Thanks

 

[Warren]

Duchess of Kent

Here are a couple of tiara pics...
.

 

[Warren]

Princess Michael Tiara

And here is Princess Michael of Kent...
.

 

[wymanda]

why did she sold it?

I did hear that they had money problems but, then again, maybe the original tiara was a little Grand for her tastes.

The sale of such historical pieces still makes me wish that HM would set up some sort of family foundation to protect the jewels.

 

[EmpressRouge]

I love fringe tiaras, too. They are so elegant, regal yet simple at the same time. What it is intersting about the Kent fringe tiara and sets it apart from other tiaras made in the kokoshnik style is that this one does not dismantle to become a necklace. (source: Tiaras: A History of Splendor by Geoffrey Munn).

 

[james]

Princess Michael wearing the Cartier "Cherries" brooch given to her by the Duchess of Windsor as a wedding gift whilst the Princess honeymooned in Paris with her husband in July 1978.The brooch compromises numerous cabochon rubies; uncut emeralds and brilliant diamonds and was worn by the Duchess of Windsor in the 1950's and 60's as a pendant on a large gold chain. Princess Michael recieved other pieces from the Duchess on the same visit including huge cabochon emerald earrings (below) due to the close relationship Prince Michael established with the Windsors in the 1960's.

Princess Michael in her pearl and diamond festoon tiara and a necklace and earrings made of pink cameos and diamonds.
Princess Michael in large yellow and white diamond earrings and matching diamond brooch will yellow diamond centre stone.
Princess Michael in necklace and earrings of seed pearls, diamonds and aquamarines.
Princess Michael in large pearl drop and diamond earrings and pearl choker with diamond and pearl cluster centre.

 

[auntie]

Are all pss Michael's Jewellery real? Did she inherit it from Princess Marina, or are they newly bought?

 

[iowabelle]

I think a lot of Princess Michael's jewelry belonged to Princess Marina. Princess Michael is pretty good at wearing the pieces in an unusual way or combining them with other things.

 

[branchg]

http://pro.corbis.com/images/0000312572-004.jpg?size=67&uid={ca32fb46-3dc0-4c56-ad37-60110ee508c8}Princess Michael in large yellow and white diamond earrings and matching diamond brooch will yellow diamond centre stone.

Those are citrines, not yellow diamonds....LOL! If Princess Michael had diamonds that big, she could retire forever.

Are all pss Michael's Jewellery real? Did she inherit it from Princess Marina, or are they newly bought?

She has number of beautiful and valuable jewels that belonged to Princess Marina and the Duchess of Windsor. However, she also has many less expensive pieces which she designed herself using semi-precious stones and materials. Princess Michael is known to be very creative.

I did hear that they had money problems but, then again, maybe the original tiara was a little Grand for her tastes.
The sale of such historical pieces still makes me wish that HM would set up some sort of family foundation to protect the jewels.

All of the pieces sold were first offered to the Queen in case she wished to retain them for the royal collection. She declined and they were disposed of.

 

[HMQueenElizabethII]

Some of Princess Michael's i have just found:

 

[florawindsor]

All of the pieces sold were first offered to the Queen in case she wished to retain them for the royal collection. She declined and they were disposed of.

if HM wants to keep them, does she have to pay for them?

 

[auntie]

I should think so, these jewels were a present from Queen mary, to Princess Marina, who gave\inherited them to the present Duchess/Princess Michael.

 

[james]

http://pro.corbis.com/images/42-15928006.jpg?size=67&uid={6efc8766-20c6-4a28-834a-0d5d53e2e699}

Wearing the huge diamond, emerald and sapphire brooch from Cartier which was a gift to Princess Marina from her husband to mark Prince Michael's christening, October 23rd 2005.

 

[Lady Marmalade]

Some of Princess Michael's i have just found:

I had to reply to this post as the lady in white and black is a very famous American socialite Nan Kempner who passed away sadly earlier this year. I remember reading so many fun stories about her....she was very open and straight forward and a real lady....a good match in a friend for Princess Michael..

 

[Sean.~]

She was oft pictured in PdV attending the European social scene with the likes of Lynne Wyette, Lily Clair Saran, et al.

In case anyone is interested (and if you can get your hands on it), Dominic Dunn had a brief on her funeral in last month's (?) Vanity Fair. It was a rather short piece in his "social diary". No mention on the Michael's being there, but she was good friends with many Euro aristos.

I'm so out of the loop I didn't even she past away until I saw the piece.

 

[Sean.~]

I like most of her pieces, but that one 'creation' she wore to Edward and Sophie's wedding was dowright scary.

 

[bernard lachaise]

Princess Mickael of Kent is incredible, she will make a glittering queen, imagine if she had the collection of Queen Elizabeth at her disposal it would be wonderful!!! But her jewelry collection is also interesting for a minor royal. What is the provenance of these jewels: what is inheritance or Prince and Princess Mickael bought some of the pieces (and did they have the money for that?).

 

[auntie]

First and foremost, she has inherited 2 of Princess Marina's tiaras, which she (Princess Marina)received from, I suppose King George V and Queen Mary as wedding gifts, the other major peices she has are also probably from her (a pearl chocker\necklace, if I'm not mistaken) some smaller peices and so forth. She did inherit some peices from Wallis Simpson, whom she was severely criticized for keeping up a friendship with, a brooch and earrings I think, and I'm sure she goes for some good quality custom Jewells!
After all thats been said, Queen Mary was a very generous mother in Law in deed, if you think of all the jewells that the Duchess of Kent, Gloucestour, Princess Michael, the Queens mother, (before becoming queen) received from her!

 

[james]

http://pro.corbis.com/images/AADS003646.jpg?size=67&uid={f87ae3a0-8010-4bde-9055-476e877c808c}
The book "The Queen's Jewels" (deceptive title as it details almost all of the jewellry owned by the British Royals) says that this choker and the matching bracelet, which is also owned by the princess, was a wedding gift from Queen Mary to Marina. The earrings are also described as large oriental pearls and are said to be worth a lot of money on their own. Apparently it's because the pearls are large and perfectly matched that make the earrings so valuable as this is quite rare. (Most of my info. comes from this book, I really recommend it).

http://pro.corbis.com/images/0000377892-011.jpg?size=67&uid={ad73ea6e-7073-4c51-8eae-19ac830f71bf}
It's been said that these ruby earrings were given by Wallis Simpson and Princess Michael never wore them in the Queen Mother's presence but that story has never been confirmed.

http://pro.corbis.com/images/0000292015-008.jpg?size=67&uid={b4db9680-e98a-49f7-a3c9-369f37c9abc0}
This large diamond cluster pendant was a brooch belonging to Tsar Nicholas II's mother and was bought from her by Queen Mary after the Russian revolution and passed to Princess Marina on her death. Princess Michael also wears it as a brooch.

http://pro.corbis.com/images/0000276745-010.jpg?size=67&uid={eed81cb1-365c-4a2b-9946-1907f61768dd}

http://pro.corbis.com/images/0000318796-015.jpg?size=67&uid={ea013079-f397-44ba-a133-4d553573ca77} [pic no longer available - Sept 07]
Wearing two sapphire and diamond Cartier clips and wearing them on either side of a pearl and sapphire necklace. These were purchased by Prince George for Princess marina in the 1930's.

http://pro.corbis.com/images/QV001221.jpg?size=67&uid={e9e72aad-2dd1-4243-8580-98af9d396ed1}
Large emerald and diamond brooch worn on a string of black pearls. Origin unkown. This brooch was worn a lot by the Duchess of Kent in the 1970's so probably belonged to Princess Marina.

 

[auntie]

In what year did Princess Marina die? it seems that Princess Michael received alot of jewells from her, or is it because she is ostentatious?(tastefully so)

 

[Elspeth]

Princess Marina died in 1968, before Prince Michael was married.

 

[auntie]

Thanks Elspeth, how were her Jewells dished out? wouldn't the present duchess received more?

 

[Elspeth]

The present Duchess may have received more; I don't know how the jewels were left. It might depend on whether any of her children were godchildren of ladies without descendents of their own and who might have inherited from their godmothers, like Prince Richard of Gloucester did from Princess Marie Louise. I assume in that case it was because Prince Richard was the younger son, so most of the Gloucester property and jewels would go to the older son. Of course, by the time the Duke died, Prince Richard's older brother was also dead so Prince Richard inherited everything from his father as well as inheriting from Princess Marie Louise.

I gather the Duke of Kent sold some of the family jewellery at one point, although I'm not sure why. There are also rumours (I'm not sure if they're substantiated) that Princess Michael has had paste replicas made of jewellery that she's sold so it looks as though she still has it.

 

[branchg]

The Queen's cousins are not particularly wealthy and she takes care of their expenses to ensure they have a life of dignity. Katharine, Duchess of Kent has her own private money from her father and Princess Alexandra's husband, Sir Agnus, left her a small fortune, but the rest of the family is far from rich.

The Duke of Gloucester inherited part of his mother's fortune, which was quite considerable as a Montagu-Scott, and is well-off. So, when it comes down to it, having a lot of valuable jewels, that no one wears often and are of minimal historical value, doesn't make sense when you could use the cash.