Dutch Royal Jewels of the Past

[Josefine]

here is a link of queen wilhelima and a blog post about the diamond Queen of Holland
A Touch of Dutch Sparkle

 

[IloveCP]

This sapphire parure is magnificent!

Pic

Too bad it's been taken apart. It really is stunning.

 

[Josefine]

it must been a while ago to see so many dutch tiaras from the voults at the same time as we saw last night

 

[Marengo]

I am reading the new biography of prince Frederik of the Netherlands (1797-1881). On page 93 it describes the wedding of Princess Marie (daughter of prince Frederik and princess Luise of Prussia & sister of queen Louise of Sweden & Norway) to the prince of Wied. It says about the wedding reception:

'each time the bride had her dress admired, on which in the morning -according to tradition- all crown jewels of the Orange family were pinned by Queen Sophie, who collected them personally from the vault and brought them to Huize de Paauw'.

Now I never heard about about this wedding tradition. But I suppose they could have meant the old crown parure? Sadly the gravure of the wedding is not very detailed.

The author did not mention a source, though earlier on the page he describes some impressions of the wedding by the wife of the Prussian abassador in The Hague. The author of the biography is a professor at the university of Leiden and formerly in Nijmegen, so I am sure the information is correctly described.

Edit: I found an obscure newspaper from 1871 which speaks about 'a diamond cross on the chest and on the veil a light crown of diamonds'. That doesn't seem to confirm the story above. The Java-bode only speaks of 'expensive headgear', which isn't very helpful either. Note that the reputation of prince Frederik & his family as a sensible, cosy family which perfers to stay at home and had a bourgeois lifestyle (as opposed to the main line & their antics) was a popular topos to describe the prince. This may also have led the author of the first article to mention a light crown.

 

[CyrilVladisla]

Queen Emma's Pendant​

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/541909767636606151​

The Stuart Tiara
The Stuart Tiara | The Court Jeweller

 

[IloveCP]

Queen Wilhelmina's Wedding Gift Parure | The Court Jeweller

I dislike this tiara. I don't like the design.

 

[SLV]

Neither do I. It wasn't proportioned right.

 

[Countessmeout]

I am often sad when pieces of royals jewels are broken up, but sometimes its for the best. And definitely was here.

This was not an attractive piece. Both the tiara and necklace proportions were off and definitely not the most attractive. It is better that was broken down to some pieces that could be used by other members on a regular basis.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Queen Wilhelmina's Wedding Gift Parure | The Court Jeweller

I dislike this tiara. I don't like the design.

I can understand why it was dismantled its enormous and the design wasn't nice either.It must have been uncomfortable to wear given its size.

 

[Marengo]

Exiting news about the Dutch jewel collection. The long lost Mellerio Iris brooch has been spotted... on a picture from 1999!

A while ago Edwin Fellner of the dutchroyaljewels instagram account posted an article about an Iris brooch, which -together with a lot of other jewels- was ordered from Mellerio by King Willem III for his young bride Emma. Mr. Fellner and Josine Drogendijk of the modekoninginmaxima blog found a photo and a drawing of the piece in the archives of the court jeweller.

There were however no photos of Queen Emma or any of her descendants wearing the brooch up to now. A poster at the modekoningin blog found a clear photo of Queen Juliana at the wedding of her grandson Prince Maurits. And she is wearing the Iris as a pendant on a necklace:

https://www.modekoninginmaxima.nl/mellerios-grote-onbekende-irisbroche-opgedoken/

She wears it together with another melerio brooch: an anchor with a blue and a yellow sapphire.

More info in Englisg on Mr. Fellner's instagram:

https://www.instagram.com/dutchroya...d&ig_rid=343f24a7-d886-4519-b2e5-9fd3c650cb49

 

[An Ard Ri]

Is the jewel still with Dutch RF following the death of former queen Juliana in 2004?

 

[Marengo]

Eric Schoonhoven has researched the story of the Dutch sapphire tiara and has written down his findings on his own website:

https://erikschoonhoven.com/a-dutch-tiara-after-a-french-example-by-oscar-massin/

Earlier he already discovered that the tiara was not made by Mellerio.

He now has found letters between the jewel broker Emmanuel Vita Israël and Count Dumonceau, private secretary to the King Willem III, including some alterations suggested by Queen Emma.

The article also includes a photo of Princess Margriet, wearing the tiara without the middle/top plume.

 

[Tilia C.]

That is a really interesting article, thanks for the link, Marengo.
So Princess Margriet has worn this tiara without the central plume. Not, a successful look, tbh, it never looks good when the central part of a tiara is 'dented'. But anyways, it's exciting to see this old picture of Margriet wearing it.


According to the article, the tiara can also be worn in a smaller version as a hair comb. I'd love to see that look once in a while! And the article explains, why the tiara had long been thought to come from the jeweler Mellerio, and that the design is inspired by gothic architecture. A really interesting to read.

 

[An Ard Ri]

That is a really interesting article, thanks for the link, Marengo.
So Princess Margriet has worn this tiara without the central plume. Not, a successful look, tbh, it never looks good when the central part of a tiara is 'dented'. But anyways, it's exciting to see this old picture of Margriet wearing it.

I agree it looks far nicer with the central plume and did not know that it had been worn by Princess Margriet previously

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

I agree it looks far nicer with the central plume and did not know that it had been worn by Princess Margriet previously

Queen Máxima wore it without the central plume (aigrette) as well, but "the gap" was filled: picture.

 

[Marengo]

The article explains that the plume was taken out to highlight that she was not a reigning Queen. I am not sure if I understand the logic. Neither was Queen Emma -though she had been a regent- and neither was Juliana when she started wearing it. But at the same time I am not sure what other reason there was to remove the plume.

 

[Stefan]

It is also said that the tiara in it's full form is only worn by dutch Queens. But Beatrix wore it already in the full version before becoming Queen and so did Juliana. From the version without plum i like the one worn by Máxima better but the best version is the full one.

 

[An Ard Ri]

From the article was there also seems to be a Marian connection to the original tiara?

 

[SirGyamfi1]

I recall Anna Pavlovna had jewels she gave to her sons who didn’t have children. One of them gambled, lost money and spent time in the brothels of Paris and a few years ago the emerald necklace was at auction at Sotheby’s or Christie’s. The second son was better at keeping his money and jewels but didn’t have children.

 

[Stefan]

I recall Anna Pavlovna had jewels she gave to her sons who didn’t have children. One of them gambled, lost money and spent time in the brothels of Paris and a few years ago the emerald necklace was at auction at Sotheby’s or Christie’s. The second son was better at keeping his money and jewels but didn’t have children.

I think that were the sons of Willem III. and Sophie of Württemberg not the one of Willem II. and Anna Pavlovna as both of her surviving sons had been married.

 

[Marengo]

Indeed, and Willem III made sure that the young widow of his brother Hendrik - Marie of Prussia- gave back all the jewels and most other assets before returning to Germany after her 2nd marriage to Albert of Saxe-Altenburg.

Queen Anna left most of her jewels to her daughter Sophie. As the Weimars already had a substantial collection -also due to a Russian marriage- the family ended up with one of the most impressive jewel collections in Germany.

 

[Duc_et_Pair]

Indeed, and Willem III made sure that the young widow of his brother Hendrik - Marie of Prussia- gave back all the jewels and most other assets before returning to Germany after her 2nd marriage to Albert of Saxe-Altenburg.

Queen Anna left most of her jewels to her daughter Sophie. As the Weimars already had a substantial collection -also due to a Russian marriage- the family ended up with one of the most impressive jewel collections in Germany.

Queen Anna apparently was of the opinion that daughters inherit jewels and sons buy jewels. There is some logic in that, as ladies seldom had an own source of income. It were the spouses whom had the resources for an appropriate lifestyle.

 

[An Ard Ri]

Were the Van Kempen Tiara and Parure of Queen Emma broken up and reused?
Queen Emma’s Van Kempen Tiara - The Royal Watcher

 

[Marengo]

It was broken up to create the Stuart parure. Some claim the upper part of the tiara (with the sunbursts) supposedly still is in the vaults. I remember seeing it in the late 90s/early 2000s at an exhibition [could be one dedicated to 100 years of Wilhelmina's enthronement in 1998]. Wilhelmina only wore the upper part of the tiara.

But I am now less sure if that was not a paste re-make. I can't imagine them having these diamond sunbursts in the vault and not using them for 125 years. It's a nice looking tiara which would have been a good match with Beatrix' puffy hair. Not sure if it works well with nothing behind it.

 

[Stefan]

But I am now less sure if that was not a paste re-make. I can't imagine them having these diamond sunbursts in the vault and not using them for 125 years.

Máxima would probably have them brought out

 

[muriel]

Máxima would probably have them brought out

Very fair point!

That said, Maxima has not used the Festoon necklace / tiara for almost 2 decades. I am surprised she hasn't remodelled or altered it in some way to make it more usable from her perspective.

 

[Marengo]

It seems indeed a waste of some very good diamonds. She and Margriet tried the festoon tiara version of this necklace but that was not a great beauty - and that is an understatement. Perhaps they can indeed alter the necklace or simply use the diamonds for something else. Though I would love to see it on her once, just to see what it looks like in higher definition photos.

 

[muriel]

It seems indeed a waste of some very good diamonds. She and Margriet tried the festoon tiara version of this necklace but that was not a great beauty - and that is an understatement. Perhaps they can indeed alter the necklace or simply use the diamonds for something else. Though I would love to see it on her once, just to see what it looks like in higher definition photos.

I think the Festoon might work better as a necklace, perhaps with a collet collier attached, quite like Queen Juliana used it.

 

[Marengo]

i imagine it may work best when broken up and used for something else... preferable a nice new emerald tiara . Otherwise a 'simple' riviere perhaps, though they already have many of those. But indeed: the necklace looks less bad than the tiara does. Let's hope HM will use it soon, though personally I am more curious about the stomacher of the Mellerio rubies.