these Art Déco bracelets were bought separately by the Duke of York (later King George VI) from Cartier, as gifts for his wife “in 1924 and 1925” (Field) or “at Christmas and on birthdays in 1923 and 1924” (Munn). Leslie Field calls them “Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother’s Quartet of Bracelets”, basing herself on a picture showing four bracelets (one with emeralds, one with rubies, one with diamonds and one with sapphires):
Yet, Field is partly wrong, since this quartet is actually... a quintet! As shown in Angela Kelly’s book Dressing The Queen (page 85), there are actually two diamond bracelets:
These bracelets are visible on the Queen-Mother’s portraits in the 1920s:
It was also possible to adapt three bracelets on a tiara frame (the mounts to turn them into a bandeau were supplied by Cartier in 1925). Queen(-Mother) Elizabeth (then Duchess of York) is pictured in Geoffrey Munn’s book Tiaras, A History of Splendour (pages 152-153) wearing the bracelets as a bandeau during a ballet performance at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 27 June 1933:
Queen(-Mother) Elizabeth has worn the bracelets before WW2, but I have not seen her with them in her late years (though I may be wrong, as I usually do not focus very much on bracelets...). The Queen-Mother may have presented the bracelets to her daughter at some time – I really doubt Queen Elizabeth II would have asked her mother to lend her some jewellery, while she had so many jewels at her own disposal.
The Queen has been seen with some of these bracelets in the 1970s, as shown on Bryce’s picture of the Silver Jubilee’s Royal Variety Performance. She has also worn one of the bracelets (the ruby one, I think) in 1972 in Versailles during her State Visit to France:
I have also spotted the bracelets (the emerald and the two diamond ones) on Queen Elizabeth II’s right arm during the return dinner offered by Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi during his State visit to Britain in 2005:
--Previous Message-- : Well spotted, Nellie! : : Field mentions that the Queen is wearing the : ruby bracelet and one of the diamond : bracelets. : : Here is a slightly larger and watermark-free : version of the same picture, from the Daily : Mail (full article here: : : http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2117434/Dame-Edna-Everage-creator-Barry-Humphries-reinvented-comedy-TV-chat-shows.html : ) : : : Caption: A right royal hello: Dame Edna : greets The Queen when she was among the : stars appearing at a Gala Variety : Performance in aid of the Queen's Silver : Jubilee Appeal in 1977. : : : Off topic (because not jewel-related): This : article from the Daily Mail also includes : a funny picture of Dame Edna with... Queen : Victoria (well, her wax figure at Madame : Tussaud's...): : : : Who said the Queen should never be touched? : : --Previous Message-- : : Field has a pic from the same event and : identifies the bracelets as the diamond and : ruby ones of the Queen Mother's. : Looking at that I pic I have to agree, : though I cannot tell which pair it is, in : black and white. : : : --Previous Message-- : I came across this photo from the (guess) : 1980's. : I initially thought that HM was wearing some : of Queen Elizabeth's Cartier Coloured : bracelets which seemed odd to me. : Upon closer inspection, I think that these : are more likely Queen Mary's Indian Bangles. : What do you think ? : : : : : Cheers! : Bryce : : : : : : : :
on July 22, 2014, 2:23 pm, in reply to "
