According to the lot notes published by Sotheby's, "By family tradition, these jewels were given by the Prince Regent, later King George IV (1762-1830), to his mistress, Mrs Fitzherbert. (...) These jewels were passed down through the generations, from daughter to daughter, to the present owners".
At her death in 1837, "Mrs Fitzherbert left her jewels to her daughter, who passed them on to her daughter, Caroline, who became Countess of Portarlington. Caroline left her personal treasures to her daughter, Lady Constance Leslie, who married Sir John Leslie of Glaslough.
Constance died in 1925 leaving the jewels to her American daughter-in-law, Leonie (née Jerome) [Sir Winston Churchill's maternal aunt].
Leonie Leslie developed a deep friendship with Arthur, Duke of Connaught, and was invited with her husband to escort him on a state visit to India for the 1911 Durbar. The jewels converted into a tiara/necklace was loaned by Constance as a fitting item for the tour.
Shane, Leonie's eldest son, married an American, Marjorie Ide in 1912, she was brought for an audience with Pope Pius X in the same year wearing the tiara. Leonie died in 1944 and her jewellery, stored at Castle Leslie in Ireland during the war, passed to Shane and his wife, Marjorie.
Marjorie Ide was a life-long friend and confidante of fellow American, Wallis Simpson and shared many trans-Atlantic liner crossings, before and after the war, discussing complications of marrying into European society. During this period the tiara was mainly worn as a necklace.
Marjorie Leslie died in 1951 leaving the jewels to her daughter Anita. They were worn at a celebration in Downing Street when the Queen attended Winston Churchill's 80th birthday in 1954 and again in 1965 to his state funeral in St Paul's cathedral.
The last Royal occasion when the tiara was worn was by Jane Leslie-King (née Forbes) the present owners wife, to a ball given by the Welsh Guards to celebrate the engagement of The Prince and Princess of Wales in 1981".
Still according to Sotheby's notes, Anita Leslie published in 1960 Mrs Fitzherbert a Biography; on plate 10 following page 112, the jewels are illustrated in what was possibly their original state, the six graduated jewels as a bracelet and the seventh jewel possibly as a brooch.
Sir John Leslie, pictured on the picture posted by Brock, was born in 1916; he is the eldest son of Sir Shane Leslie and Marjorie Ide; Anita Leslie was his sister. He never married or had children. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_John_Leslie,_4th_Baronet
Samantha Leslie, pictured next to Sir John Leslie, could be the daughter of Sir Desmond Leslie (the younger brother of Sir John and of Anita Leslie); she was born in 1966 and would be 40 on the picture (if the picture was taken in 2006). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Desmond_Leslie#Marriages_and_children
on November 17, 2014, 9:51 am, in reply to "