Italian Royal Jewels - Crown & Private propertyArchived Message
Posted by Carlo on September 16, 2012, 9:40 am
In Italy, after the union of the whole country under the Savoia Royal Family in 1861, it was King Umberto I and Queen Margherita who started a new collection of Crown Jewels, a collection of jewellery for the exclusive use of the queens of Italy. The Crown of the Kingdom of piedmont & Sardinia, along with the rest of the Crown jewels were seized by the revolutionary French army, when they invaded Piedmont in 1795. The following Kings of Piedmont and Sardinia, then the kings of Italy, never thought to put back together a new collection of official jewels, of course they all had plenty of private jewels, very nice ones. As I said, it was only during the reign of King Umberto I and his Queen, Margherita, that a new collection of Royal Jewels was started. In 1946, just before leaving Italy on exile, HM King Umberto II of Italy, entrusted the big casket containing the collection of Crown jewels to the Minister of the Royal House, Falcone Lucifero, after having photographed the jewels and made a detailed list. The envelope containing the official inventory of the jewels read: "A chi di diritto" or "To those entitled", because it was unclear to whom they belonged. Here is Queen Margherita wearing the big pearls and diamond Crown tiara, diamonds necklaces and stomacher (the centre stone of the stomacher is a valuable pink diamond). A close up of the tiara: Queen Elena wearing the same jewels, plus a long diamonds collets sautoir:
Here is the casket containing the Italian Crown jewels, since June 1946 in the vaults of the Banca d'Italia. What a pity not to exhibit them in a museum.
on September 16, 2012, 9:40 am
