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    Queen Astrid's Wedding Gifts Archived Message

    Posted by Ella Kay on December 2, 2015, 1:03 pm

    This month I'm writing a series of articles at The Court Jeweller on Belgian royal brides. Today the first installment was published, on the civil and religious weddings of King Leopold and Queen Astrid. You can read the entire post here.

    I used contemporary news articles from the Times, the New York Times, and the Washington Post for the majority of my research; many of these included syndicated information from the Associated Press. The articles mentioned various bejeweled wedding presents, some of which were apparently displayed in Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg's drawing room:

    -- the pearl and diamond tiara made by Andersson (gift from the people of Stockholm)
    -- a diamond necklace (gift from Astrid's uncle, King Gustaf V of Sweden)
    -- a diamond and emerald brooch (gift from Astrid's father, Prince Carl of Sweden)
    -- a "family heirloom" necklace of rubies (gift from her mother, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden)
    -- an emerald and diamond necklace (gift from Astrid's parents)
    -- a tiara set with diamonds and a single large emerald (gift from Leopold's parents, King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians)
    -- the Nine Provinces Tiara (gift from the Belgian government, presented to Astrid in February 1927)

    I'm especially interested in any information that anyone has about the emerald and diamond tiara from the Belgian royals. The newspaper description -- "a diamond tiara with a huge emerald in the centre from the Belgian King and Queen" (NY Times) -- does not seem to fit the emerald and diamond necklace/tiara that Astrid received from them (usually said to have been a gift on the birth of King Baudouin).


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