Thank you all for the input. The royal family was constantly in mourning back in the early 20th century. The mourning period for Queen Victoria was a whole year, and the court often went into mourning for a couple or three weeks for continental royals distantly related to the British royals. Thus the royal ladies would have had lots of mourning jewellery which we hardly ever see today.
I wonder - seeing how this was such an important occasion for the young Australian nation - whether there might be any pictures in Australian archives?
--Previous Message-- : The Duke and Duchess of Cornwall of York : (later King George V and Queen Mary) toured : the Commonwealth for six months March to : October 1901, visiting Gibraltar, Malta, : Aden, Ceylon, Singapore, Australia, New : Zealand, Mauritius, Natal and Cape of Good : Hope, and Canada. : : The highlight of the tour was the opening of : the first Australian Federal Parliament in : Melbourne 9 May 1901. On the evening after : the formal opening there was a gala : reception, and the dress of the duchess was : described thus in The London Times: : ´The Duchess of Cornwall, who was dressed in : black, wore a tiara and a necklace of : amethysts, which belonged to Queen : Charlotte´. : : The royals were still in mourning for Queen : Victoria, who had died the previous January, : which explain the sombre colour of the dress : and the appropriate amethyst jewels. : : I wonder, however, if you have previously : read of an amethyst tiara (or other amethyst : jewels) from Queen Charlotte? There are not : many amethyst jewels in use today except the : Kent demi-parure. There was an amethyst : tiara which belonged to Queen Mary and was : later sold by a descendant (sometimes : wrongly described as sold by the late Queen : Mother). Others? :