Re: Was QEQM ever photographed with the Crown pearls Archived Message
Posted by Arthur  on October 19, 2014, 6:19 pm, in reply to "Re: Was QEQM ever photographed with the Crown pearls"
Bob, Queen Victoria's Fringe Brooch was not designated as Crown heirloom by Queen Victoria: Hugh Roberts, in The Queen's Diamonds, mentions (page 48) that the brooch was bequeathed to King Edward VII/Queen Alexandra in 1901, and was inherited by Queen Mary in 1926 after Queen Alexandra's death. It is only then that it may have be included in the Royal Collection (or designated as Crown heirloom), since Queen Mary did not retain it until her own death in 1953, but handed it over to Queen Elizabeth at George VI's accession in 1936.
Besides that, I agree that the three Queens Consorts (Alexandra, Mary, Elizabeth) wore several jewels designated by Queen Victoria as Crown heirlooms (the opal/ruby parure, Prince Albert Brooch, the Coronation cockade, the three diamond bow brooches...).
And it would be strange to reserve the use of the Crown heirlooms only to reigning Queens (at the exclusion of Queens Consorts), whereas until the change of the succession law in 2012, gender equality was not the rule in succession (in other words, a reigning King with a Queen Consort was the "normal" situation, and a reigning Queen with a Prince Consort was the exception, only in the eventuality the previous King only had daughters). Such a provision would have meant that the Crown heirlooms would have remained locked in the safes for decades. Queen Victoria would certainly not have wanted that...
--Previous Message--
:
: I think I was thinking of pearls as more
: personal (regardless of any heirloom
: consideration) and of course those queens
: consort wore the jewels that went with the
: job, so to speak.
:
: Alexandra was certainly not short of pearls
: herself.
:
:
: --Previous Message--
: Nellie,
:
: Although your logic is a reasonable
: assumption, I don't think it is the case.
: Both QM and QA wore many of the jewels QV
: wore frequently and left to the Crown. For
: example the GIV diadem, Queen Adelaide
: circlet, the coronation collet necklace, the
: fringe brooch, etc. Maybe those aren't
: "closely associated" with QV, but
: there are many photographs of her wearing
: many of those.
:
:
: I think the more plausible reason is that
: both QA and QM had MANY strands of pearls to
: choose from, and didn't need to
: "resort" to wearing those two
: strands.
:
: Bob
:
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:
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