Previous Message

The Royal Watcher's Blog has an article about this pearl and diamond tiara worn by Queen Louise of Denmark:
https://royalwatcherblog.com/2023/09/29/queen-louise-of-denmarks-pearl-and-diamond-tiara/

The tiara was one of Queen Louise's few personal jewels, and she wore it quite often throughout her life - especially as the Danish Crown jewels could not be carried outside Denmark, though a few occasional exceptions were made, such as on the picture posted by JohnPete: the picture was taken in July 1893 in London, on the occasion of the wedding of Queen Louise's grandson Prince George of Great-Britain and Ireland (later King George V)'s wedding to Princess Mary of Teck (later Queen Mary).

The whereabouts of the tiara are unknown. And as Queen Louise was the mother of many children, there are a lot of options for the whereabouts of this jewel.

One sure thing is that this tiara is definitely not the pearl and diamond tiara now in the possession of Princess Benedikte of Denmark, dowager Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. Princess Benedikte inherited her tiara from her mother, Queen Ingrid, who had received it from her grandmother Queen Sofia of Sweden, wife of King Oscar II. As Queen Sofia was a contemporary of Queen Louise and was photographed several times with the now Princess Benedikte's tiara, we can conclude with certainty that these are two different tiaras, and that even the pearls are different.

As for the other jewels worn by Queen Louise:

- I am quite sure that two of the "brooches" pinned on her corsage (on the brim of the sash of her Russian order of Saint Catherine) are the earrings matching the big diamond necklace of the Danish Crown jewels. I have unfortunately no clue about the other brooches;

- regarding the jewels pinned on the velvet choker, I think that the diamond element pinned on the right side of her neck (the one just under her right earring) could be a diamond element from Queen Alexandra's (Queen Louise's daughter) wedding diamond tiara (pictured below), namely the base of the "fleurs de lys" of the tiara, without their top ornament. The shape as a "double curve" looks convincing to me. We know from photographs that Queen Alexandra's wedding tiara was a very versatile piece and that its various elements could be detached and/or replaced by other elements.
If I am right, that would suggest that Queen Alexandra had lent her mother some pieces of jewelry to help her to make a more glittering appearance at her grandson's wedding (remember that King Christian IX and Queen Louise were not very rich, at least for the royal standards of the time, whereas Queen Alexandra had plenty and plenty of jewels at her disposal).





- as for the central brooch on the velvet choker (the one with a pendant), I think I can see a little diamond bow between the brooch and the pendant. It reminds me a picture of a similar-looking brooch, whose stones were (if I rightly remember) pink topazes. But this is a bit far in my memory, and I can't find this picture again, so I can not elaborate further.

Here is a larger picture of Queen Louise, from the same photo session, but with a slightly different angle:



Here is a (posthumous) portrait of Queen Louise, by Danish painter Laurits Tuxen. The late Queen is depicted with exactly the same jewels and dress as the ones worn on the picture above (only the sash of the Russian order of Saint Catherine was replaced with the pale blue sash of the Danish order of the Elephant). This painting has the advantage of being in colour, but unfortunately, the picture is not of high quality enough to see much more details: