Countdown to the Royal Wedding - Coloured Stone Brooches

Welcome to the Gracie Jewellery countdown to the Royal Wedding- Part 7
8 Days to go.

Queen Mary's Russian Brooch
Queen Alexandra's sister, the Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia, gave Princess May of Teck (the future Queen Mary) this brooch of a large square cut diamond and a square cut cabochon sapphire set in a scroll frame of round diamonds as a wedding present in 1893.

Queen Elizabeth wears the brooch in 1974

Queen Mary's Emerald Brooch I
Part of the Cambridge Emeralds, this cabochon emerald is surrounded by 2 rows of diamonds with an emerald drop

Queen Elizabeth wears one of her favourite brooches in 1979

The diamond and emerald scroll brooch also belonged to Queen Mary

The Prince Albert Brooch
A large oblong sapphire surrounded by twelve round diamonds was given to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert on February 9, 1840 at Buckingham Palace. It was the day before their wedding and Queen Victoria wrote in her diary "dearest Albert came upstairs to her sitting room and gave her four fans and a beaufiful sapphire and diamond brooch."

Queen Victoria wears the Prince Albert brooch on her wedding day.

Next time - Coloured Stone Necklaces

from the book - The Queen's Jewels by Leslie Fielding

Happy Birthday Queen Elizabeth April 21, 1926

Elizabeth Taylor - Her Jewellery

Update: the jewellery auction has now taken place. The results are here.

By now we've all heard that Christie's Auction House will be selling Elizabeth Taylor's jewellery collection.

Elizabeth's engagement ring from Mike Todd. A magnificent 29.4-carat diamond she called her skating rink.

The Cartier ruby and diamond necklace she received from Mike Todd while expecting their daughter, Liza. A bracelet and pair of earrings completed the set.

The original pair of these earrings were purchased on the Place Vendome-the famous Paris jewellery street. They were actually "paste" but Elizabeth loved them. A few months later Mike Todd surprised Elizabeth by having the pair made up with real diamonds.

The Bulgari Emerald and Diamond necklace Richard Burton gave her while they were working on the movie "Cleopatra". The pendant is actually a brooch and was an engagement gift from Richard Burton in 1962.

Richard Burton later purchased this matching ring. The set also included earrings and a bracelet.

Richard Burton purchased The Taj Mahal from Cartier for Elizabeth's 40th birthday. It is set with an engraved heart-shaped diamond within a mount of red stones and jade and suspended from a woven-gold chain enhanced by cabochon rubies.

The Krupp Diamond - a 33.19-carat diamond purchased from Harry Winston. Richard Burton paid $305,000. for it in May 1968.

Red is for Wales. Richard Burton kept telling Elizabeth he was going to buy her a ruby-the most perfect ruby in the world. Elizabeth received this for Christmas one year.

La Peregrina. One of the world's finest examples of a pear-shaped pearl. It had been discovered by a slave in the 1500's. Richard Burton gave this to Elizabeth in 1969.

Just a few months after giving Elizabeth the Peregrina, this 69.42-carat diamond came up for auction. Cartier won it by paying $1,050,000. (that's one million fifty thousand). Richard purchased it from Cartier before the ink was dry on the cheque for- are you ready- $2million. The diamond was orginally set in a ring but it was "too big" so they had Cartier design a necklace. The necklace part are pear- shaped diamonds. In this picture Elizabeth is wearing her largest diamonds -the Krupp and Taylor-Burton - and her smallest diamond, the ping-pong ring. She won this playing ping-pong with Richard Burton.

These are just a few of the wonderful pieces Elizabeth owned. Lucky Lady!

all pictures from the InStyle excerpt from the book Elzabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry

Next time - The Royal Jewels