Arthur thank you very much for your research and for this wonderful display of pics of this formidable Queen.
--Previous Message-- : I wonder if Hugh Roberts could have wrongly : interpreted the comments in Garrard's : ledger, as far as the Lesser Stars of Africa : (i.e. the Cullinans III and IV) are : concerned. : : Let's sum up what we know: : : - on 20th May 1911 , the Illustrated : London News publishes pictures of Queen : Mary wearing the "Durbar" tiara, : in an all-diamond version, with the : Cullinans III and IV set at the front of the : tiara. This picture is from that same photo : session: : : : : So this picture, and the ones posted by Beth : at the beginning of this thread, dismiss two : commonly shared errors: : 1) that the Durbar tiara was first worn for : the Delhi Durbar in December 1911 : 2) that the Durbar tiara was altered in : order to take the Cullinans III and IV only : in 1912, as erroneously written in Hugh : Roberts' The Queen's Diamonds . : : : - on 11th December 1911 , the Delhi : Durbar took place. Queen Mary wore the : Durbar tiara for the first time in public, : and for the first time in the emerald : version (with the Cambridge emeralds topping : the tiara, including one of the emeralds : replacing the pear-shaped Cullinan III). The : large square Cullinan IV had been removed : and replaced by a circle of small diamonds, : surrounding a square diamond: : : : : : : - Queen Mary wore the tiara in the same : version, probably at the same time as the : Delhi Durbar (judging from her physical : aspect): : : : : : - in 1912 , Queen Mary wore the Durbar : tiara for the first State Opening of : Parliament following the Coronation. The : tiara was still topped with the Cambridge : emeralds, but the Cullinan IV was set again : at the front of the tiara - except that it : was not set horizontally (with the angles at : N/S/E/W), but diagonally (with the angles at : NW/NE/SE/SW): : : : : : - on the following two pictures (undated, : but visibly from the pre-WW1 years), Queen : Mary wears the tiara in the same setting: : : : : : : - on 12th March 1922 , Queen Mary wore : the Durbar tiara during a State visit to : Belgium (or a Belgian State visit to : Britain?). The tiara was in all-diamond : version again (which matches with Hugh : Roberts' comments that " the emeralds : had been removed permanently from this tiara : in 1922 "), and the Cullinans III and : IV are set at the front of the tiara. But : the setting is different from the version : seen above in May 1911: : - as explained above, the square Cullinan IV : is set diagonally, and not horizontally : - while in 1911 the Cullinan III was sharply : protruding above the top line of diamonds of : the Durbar tiara (which gave, to be honest, : a weird and unelegant look to the tiara), in : 1922 the Cullinan III sits slightly lower, : so that the top of the pear-shape sits in : due line with the top line of diamonds of : the tiara: : : : : : - on the following pictures, dated 1927 : by the Royal Collection, Queen Mary wears : the Durbar tiara again with the Cambridge : emeralds, and with the Cullinan IV set : diagonally at the front of the tiara: : : : : : : - on 26th February 1947 , during the : Royal Tour to the Union of South Africa, : Queen Elizabeth wore the Durbar tiara, in an : all-diamond version. The Cullinans III and : IV had been removed (Queen Mary had retained : them), and the tiara was ornated with the : setting of small diamonds already worn in : December 1911 at the Delhi Durbar: : : : : : From all this visual evidence, we should : conclude that the alterations mentioned by : Roberts, from Garrard's ledgers at the date : of 19th March 1912 and 14th May 1912, did : not consist in adapting the Durbar tiara : " to take either or both of the two : Lesser Stars of Africa ", as the : Cullinans III and IV could be mounted onto : the tiara as soon as May 1911. But I wonder : if the alterations mentioned could have : consisted in changing the setting of the : Cullinan III (lower than in 1911) and of the : Cullinan IV (diagonal setting, instead of : horizontal). : : What do you think? : : : :