Countdown to the Royal Wedding - Royal Wedding Gowns

Welcome to the Gracie Jewellery countdown to the Royal Wedding- Part 14

1 Day to go

Queen Victoria 1840

Princess Alexandra - the future Queen Alexandra - 1863

Princess May of Teck - the future Queen Mary - 1893

Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyons - the future Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother -1923

Princess Elizabeth - now Her Majesty The Queen - 1947

Princess Margaret Rose - Countess of Snowdon - 1960

Princess Anne - The Princess Royal - 1973

Diana - Princess of Wales - 1980

Sarah Ferguson - The Duchess of York - 1986

The Hon. Serena Stanhope - Viscountess Linley - 1993

Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones - Lady Sarah Chatto - 1994

Sophie Rys-Jones - Countess of Wessex - 1999

Camilla Parker-Bowles - The Duchess of Cornwall - 2005

Autumn Kelly - 2008

Next time - The Royal Invitation

The Countdown to the Royal Wedding - Pearls

Welcome to the Gracie Jewellery countdown to the Royal Wedding- Part 10

5 Days to go

Queen Alexandra loved pearls and always wore a pearl choker to hide a scar on her neck

The Queen Anne and the Queen Caroline Necklaces
These 2 strands of large lustrous graduated pearls with pearl clasps are always worn together. The top strand of forty six pearls weighs 1,045 gramms and is said to have belonged to Queen Ann, the last of the Stuart monarchs.

Queen Caroline wife of King George II had a great deal of valuable jewellery including four very fine pearl necklaces. After wearing all of them at her Coronation the fifty best pearls were made into a single strand necklace. These are at the bottom of the picture. This strand weighs 1,429.2 gramms. Both necklaces were given to Princess Elizabeth when she married. The Princess wore both strands when she married Prince Philip.

Strands of pearls are favourite day time jewellery of both the Queen and the Queen Mom.

Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee Necklace
In 1887, the "Women of the British Empire" each gave between a penny and a pound to provide a celebratory memorial for the Queen's fifty years on the throne. Part of the money raised was used to commission a large equestrian statue of Prince Albert but the rest of the money was spent on this necklace, which was presented Queen Victoria on June 24, 1887. The design is of graduated diamond trefoils, each with a pearl centre. The centre piece is a quatrefoil of diamonds with a a pearl centre and drop pendant. Surmounting it is a pearl and diamond crown. It is possible to detach the centre piece and wear it as a pendant. Queen Victoria left the necklace to the Crown in 1901. There are at least three necklaces of this design in existence. Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Mrs Angus Ogilvy, was given one as a wedding gift by her husband in April 1963, and it only lacks a crown on top of the quatrefoil to be indistinguishable from the Queen's.

Queen Mary's Pendant Earrings
These earrings were converted by Queen Mary from a pendant necklace. Each has an oval pearl suspended from a collet diamond hanging in an ornate frame of scroll design, set with diamonds.

The Queen wears the necklace and earrings in Nepal on a State visit in 1986

Queen Alxandra's Dagmar Necklace
In 1863 King Frederick VII of Denmark had the crown jeweller in Copenhagen design this necklace in the Byzantine style as a wedding gift for his daughter, Princess Alexandra, later Queen Alexandra of England. It had 118 pearls and 2,000 diamonds. Festoons connecting gold medallions, with a large diamond in the middle of each, surround a centre piece of diamond set scrollwork. The two large pear-shaped pendant pearls on either side were so valuable they had been exhibited at the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace in 1851. This is shown in its original case. Hanging on a gold loop from the centre piece is a cloisonne enamel facsimile of the 11th centry gold Dagmar Cross.

The Queen attending a dinner at the German Embassy in London in 1958. She has removed the cross and the two large pearl drops the the Dagmar necklace.

Queen Alexandra's Triple Drop Necklace and Brooch
Made by Garrard and given to Princess Alexandra by the Prince of Wales as a wedding present in 1863. The necklace has eight circular clusters of diamonds with a large pearl in the centre of each, connected by festoons of diamonds. From each of the three front cluster hangs a pear shaped pearl. Shown in its original case.

Princess Alexandra wearing the brooch in 1896.

Queen Elizabeth wearing the brooch in 1972 while on a State visit to France, reportedly the only time she has worn it.

Queen Mary's Kensington Bow Brooch.
In July 1893, the committee of the Kensington Wedding-Gift Fund representing the inhabitants of Kensington presented her with this bow-shaped diamond brooch with a large oriental pearl drop. It was made by Collingwood and Company. She wore the brooch at King Edward VII's Coronation and at her own in 1911.

The Queen inherited the Kensington bow brooch in 1953. Here she wears it in 1986 when she attended a dinner given by the President of West Germany during his State visit to Great Britain. Her six-row pearl necklace set with different sized diamond plaques and the matching earrings were a gift to the Queen from the Amir of Qatar on her 1979 visit to the Gulf States.

The Duchess of Cambridge's Pendant Brooch
A baroque pearl in a diamond set mount hangs from a diamond pendant below a large round pearl framed by fourteen brilliant cut diamonds. The Brooch belonged to Queen Mary's grandmother, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge. It was inherited by her younger daughter, Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. She died intestate in 1897 and her jewellery was divided among her four children, this brooch being part of Queen Mary's portion.

Queen Elizabeth inherited the brooch in 1953 and wears it here on her 48th birthday on April 21, 1974

The Duchess of Teck's Corsage Brooch
This corsage jewel is typically Victorian in design. The brooch consists of a large pearl set in a circle of diamonds enclosed in a diamond plaited scroll frame with twelve collet stones set around the edge. A U-shaped chain of large collet diamonds ends in three pendant drops.

Queen Mary gave this brooch to Queen Elizabeth as a wedding gift and she wore it here as she arrived in Nepal in 1961

The large diamond and sapphire brooch pinned on Diana, Princess of Wales, dress was a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother. This blue velvet dress with a collar made from antique lace that belonged to Queen Victoria, was designed especially for this brooch. But Diana didn't wear brooches to often.

Diana had this spectacular pearl choker made with the brooch as the centre piece. If given the choice of one piece of Royal jewellery to call my own, this would be my pick. Absolutely stunning.

Next time - The Crown Regalia

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

Countdown to the Royal Wedding -Diamond Brooches

Welcome to the Gracie Jewellery countdown to the Royal Wedding - Part 3
12 Days to go.

The Queen's Ivy Leaf Brooches
The then Princess Elizabeth was on a royal tour with her parents of South Africa on her 21st birthday April 21, 1947. Her parents gave her this twin pair of Cartier ivy leaf brooches, each covered with pave-set diamonds and a large round brilliant diamond in the centre.

Queen Victoria's Bow Brooch
In May of 1858 Garrard made a set of three bow brooches, two large and one small, out of 506 diamonds supplied by Queen Victoria.

Queen Mary's True Lover's Knot Brooch

A large diamond bow in a "true lover's knot" design with scalloped edges and pendant tassels.

The King William IV Brooch
In 1830 King William IV took six large brilliant cut diamonds a several smaller stone from a diamond-studded Badge of the Order of the Bath that had belonged to his father King George III. Queen Victoria wore this brooch and left it to the Crown in 1901.

Queen Mary's Dorset Bow Brooch
Made by Carrington and Company and presented as a wedding gift to Queen Mary in 1893 by the County of Dorset.

The Cullinan V Heart Brooch
The centre stone is is the 18.8 carat heart-shaped Cullinan V diamond. The platinum setting and the positioning of the collets in the brooch were all expressly designed to accentuate the shape of the stone. Made for Queen Mary in 1910.

The Cullinan VII and Cullinan VIII Brooch
The Cullinan VII is an 8.8-carat marquise-cut stone. The Cullinan VIII is a 6.8-carat brilliant cut diamond. Queen Mary had this brooch made.

The Cullinan
The Cullinan III and Cullinan IV known as the Lesser Stars of Africa, were set as a brooch by Queen Mary in 1910. It is the single most valuable item owned by Queen Elizabeth, who inherited the pieces of jewellery made from the Cullinan cleaving on the death of her grandmother, Queen Mary, in 1953. The pear drop of 94.4 carats hangs from a square cut stone of 63.6 carats. The Queen calls this brooch "Granny's Chips".

Queen Mary set the 9th Cullinan chip, a 4.4-carat pear shaped diamond in a ring with a claw setting.

You may read more about the Cullinan Diamonds here

Next time Diamond Necklaces

From the book The Queen's Jewels by Leslie Field

Royal Wedding Countdown - Tiara's

Today we start with the tiara's. Because what is a princess without a tiara!

The Russian Fringe Tiara.

Solid diamond bars in the shape of a peasant headdress. This was a gift to Princess Alexandra from the Ladies of Society on her Silver Wedding anniversary in 1888.

Queen Alexandra of Denmark was married to King Edward VII

Queen Mary. Born Princess May of Teck married King George V in 1893.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon) was married to King George VI

The Bow Knot Tiara. This tiara was made for Queen Mary by Garrard in 1914, using pearls she had been given as a wedding present.

The tiara originally had a top row of pearls. Do you see the pendant pearls on her necklaces? These were some that were on the top row.

Queen Elizabeth gave this tiara to Diana, Princess of Wales as a wedding gift.

The Diamond Fringe Tiara. This can also be worn as a necklace.

It was first worn by Queen Victoria in 1839. In this painting she holds her son Prince Arthur circa 1851.

A young Queen Mary

Princess Anne wore it on her wedding day as did her mother Queen Elizabeth.

The "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" Tiara. In 1893 a committee was formed to raise money from the "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" to purchase a wedding gift for Princess May of Teck. This tiara was purchased from Garrards.

Queen Mary gave this tiara to Queen Elizabeth as a wedding gift.

The scroll tiara is one of a half dozen tiara's the Queen Mother wore as the Duchess of York just after her marriage in 1823 to her accession to the throne in 1936. She gave it to Queen Elizabeth but she has never worn it in public.

Queen Elizabeth loaned the tiara to her sister, Princess Margaret in 1962

and then her daughter, Princess Anne in 1973.

Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother wore this tiara in the style of the day.

She gave the tiara to Princess Margaret.

Princess Michael of Kent wears the diamond tiara she inherited from her mother-in-law, Princess Marina of Greece,who married George VI's brother, the Duke of Kent in 1934.

The Duchess of Gloucester in the diamond and turqouise suite, given to her by here mother-in-law, Pricess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. These were given by Queen Mary to the former Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott married her son Prince Hnery, Duke of Gloucester in 1935.

These are just a few of the Royal Tiara's.

Next time, a Royal Lady in Pink

pictures from the Queen's Jewels by Leslie Field