Thank you Arthur. You have given me so much to think about. I had not looked at HM's bracelet previously.
--Previous Message-- : Thank you, Beth1. : : Queen Elizabeth is indeed wearing the : Greville diamond tiara in its original : kokoshnik shape. : : She is also wearing: : - the Greville diamond drop earrings : - the pearl and diamond brooch presented to : Queen Victoria as a Diamond Jubilee Gift by : the Gentlemen and Ladies of the Queen's : Household in 1897 : - an interesting emerald, pearl and diamond : bracelet, presented as a wedding gift to : Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen : Alexandra) by the Ladies of South Wales. : Ursula has a page about this bracelet on her : excellent website: : http://www.royal-magazin.de/england/queen-alexandra/bracelet-south-wales.htm : I would love to see this bracelet in HQ : picture! : : : --Previous Message-- : A fascinating train of thought and argument, : thank you Arthur. As Nellie said yesterday, : photographs are so valuable. I think that it : is highly probably that QEQM is wearing the : Festoon necklace. Your photograph also : highlights another occasion when QEQM wore : the Greville tiara prior to its alteration. : : --Previous Message-- : Hello, : : It is commonly accepted that the “King : George VI’s Festoon Necklace”, so often worn : by Queen Elizabeth II, was made for her, on : her father’s request. : : : : In The Queen’s Diamonds , Hugh Roberts : writes (page 292): “ The necklace was : commissioned by King George VI for Princess : Elizabeth in 1950, using a total of 105 : loose collets that had passed to the King as : heirlooms of the Crown. They were among the : 154 loose collets that Garrard had marked : with a ‘C’ (for ‘Crown’) in 1911, and which : Queen Mary used for extending existing : collet necklaces ”. Significantly, this : necklace appears in the chapter dedicated to : Queen Elizabeth II’s jewels, and not in the : chapter dedicated to Queen(-Mother) : Elizabeth’s jewels. Roberts also mentions : that Garrard shortened the necklace in 1953 : by removing ten diamonds (which means the : initial necklace had 115 collets, since in : its current form it has 105 collets which : can be easily counted on the HQ picture : published in the book). : : The list of the jewels designated as : “heirlooms of the Crown” by Queen Victoria : (as published in Lord Twinnings’ Crown : Jewels of Europe , later copied in the : appendix of Vincent Meylan’s Bijoux de : Reines ) indeed included 154 unmounted : collet diamonds. : : I have nevertheless come to the conclusion : that Roberts is probably wrong when he : writes that the necklace was made “ for : Princess Elizabeth ” (i.e. the future Queen : Elizabeth II). : : First of all, I find it strange that the : King would present his daughter with a jewel : made of stones explicitly identified as : “heirlooms of the Crown”, which should : consequently be worn exclusively by the : Sovereign or the Queen Consort. When the : necklace was made in 1950, Princess : Elizabeth was only the heir apparent, and : she could have theoretically stepped back in : the order of succession, had the King : fathered a son. : : Second, I do not remember of pictures of the : then Princess Elizabeth wearing this : necklace under her father’s reign. I think : that Queen Elizabeth II wore this necklace : for the first time during her Royal Tour of : the Commonwealth (New-Zealand, Australia, : Ceylon...) in 1953-1954. Please, correct me : if I am wrong on this point. : : And finally, we have a picture showing Queen : Elizabeth (later the Queen-Mother) wearing : the necklace in 1950. The picture was taken : on March 8, 1950, during the Return Dinner : given at the French embassy by the French : President Vincent Auriol at the end of his : State Visit to Britain. Though the : characteristic triangular diamond motives : are hidden under the Queen’s fur stole, we : can clearly see the three rows of diamonds : at the front, and one single row at the : back. I am 99% sure the Queen is wearing the : Festoon Necklace on this picture. Next to : it, I post another picture of Queen : Elizabeth II, in the same angle, for a : better visual comparison. : : : : So my guess is that this Festoon Necklace : was not made for the then Princess : Elizabeth. It is rather an “heirloom of the : Crown”, like the stones it is made of, at : the disposal of all Queens (whether Queens : Consort or reigning Queens). : : What do you think? : : Arthur : : : : : : : :
on July 18, 2014, 7:32 am, in reply to "