Posted by Arthur on March 11, 2015, 3:03 am, in reply to "Re: To Arhur"
Thank you, Karlimagnus.
Maria-Olivia, I have very little pictures of Princess Alix Napoleon wearing jewels and none of Countess de Witt.
Alix de Foresta, (Dowager) Princess Napoleon:
There is also a larger picture of Princess Alix Napoleon on page 48 of Christophe Vachaudez's book Bijoux des Reines et Princesses de Belgique.
According to Christophe Vachaudez, the diamond necklace worn by Princess Alix Napoleon on the two pictures above comes from her husband's paternal grandmother, Clotilde of Savoy, not from Clementine of Belgium.
Princess Alix Napoleon also wears sometimes a beautiful three-row pearl necklace with an amethyst clasp, and a pair of pearl and diamond earrins. I do not know the origin of these pearls:
Singa, Belgium has, as far as I know, an inheritance system based on the Napoleonic Civil Code, which gives equal rights to each child of a deceased person. As there did not seem to be an official Foundation, or Crown Jewels collection belonging to the Belgian State, the jewels were private property of the Belgian Kings or Queens, and therefore were part of the private estate which was to be shared among the children. Empress Charlotte of Mexico inherited the bulk of her mother's (Queen Louise) jewels, but the whereabouts of these jewels are unknown. The daughters of King Leopold II, of the (first) Count of Flanders, Queen Marie-Josée of Italy (daughter of Albert I) and Grand-Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg (daughter of Leopold III) each also inherited their share of their respective mother's jewels, thus depriving the Belgian Crown of nice jewellery pieces.
Yet, Queen Louise's last will mentioned a ruby parure which she considered being not hers, but the King's property (thus a kind of family jewels). And Queen Marie-Henriette bequeathed in her last will several of her jewels (notably the diamond tiara given to her by the Belgian ladies for her silver wedding) "to be joined to the jewels called 'Family jewels' or 'Crown jewels'". I do not know about the exact status of these 'Family/Crown Jewels'. Anyway, Leopold II ignored his wife's last will, and retained her jewels.
King Leopold II tried, in the last years of his life, to settle a Family Foundation, the Niederfüllbach Foundation, based in Coburg, in Germany. He gave to the Foundation the Family Ruby Parure mentioned above, a diamond riviere with pendants and silver plates. This was apparently perceived as a way to deprive his daughters, from which he was quite estranged, from their inheritance. The three daughters sued their father's decision, and could finally receive the jewels... unfortunately for the current Belgian sovereigns!
on March 11, 2015, 3:03 am, in reply to "
