Thanks, Baxter, for your sharp eyes and deductions. The date in the Garrard's ledger is indeed very disconcerting. Who should have commissionned an alteration of a Crown jewel, in a period (King Edward VIII's reign) when there was no Queen Consort, and why?
It could be that Queen Mary, since there was no Queen Consort to whom she should hand over the Crown's heirlooms, retained them during Edward VIII's reign, and decided to turn Queen Adelaide's Fringe Tiara back into a necklace - after all, she had her own Russian-style Fringe tiara made in 1919, as well as Queen Alexandra's Peeresses Kokoshnik (inherited in 1925), so she did not need Queen Adelaide's Fringe mounted as a tiara anymore.
Or you might be right, Baxter, and the fringe necklace mentioned in Garrard's ledger could be Princess Victoria's necklace, bequeathed by her to the then Duchess of York (later QEQM).
Well, sometimes, when we want to clear a mystery, the mystery becomes finally event thicker!...
--Previous Message-- : : All very interesting and well put.....I've : learnt a lot. Thanks. : : : : --Previous Message-- : : There is proof that the Queen Mother had : access to a fringe necklace while Consort. : Roberts quotes the Garrard ledger describing : the work done on Queen Adelaide's fringe for : QEQM: "Arranging all diamond Russian : type of tiara for wear as a diamond necklace : with concealed snap at back." However : what makes no sense to me is the date - 24 : March 1936. Why would the then-Duchess of : York be altering a piece of Crown jewelry : just two months after the death of George V? : Certainly the abdication was not a forgone : conclusion at that point. : : The answer could be that the entry in the : Garrard ledger was not for the Crown fringe, : but instead for one which had been inherited : from Princess Victoria who had just died the : previous December. That still does not : explain why neither fringe made an : appearance on the Queen Mother until 1953 : nor which one was worn during her widowhood. : Perhaps that is something that will remain a : mystery, such as why the Queen Mother had : the Diamond Diadem altered in 1937, but : never apparently wore it. : : :
on September 1, 2014, 5:43 pm, in reply to "