Posted by Annie on June 25, 2015, 7:41 pm, in reply to "Re: from Bury"
Royal jewels are certainly a facinating subject, just as one story seems to be true, another version turns up! As Nellie says I am happy to just enjoy these jewels whatever the provenance however it makes for an interesting discussion. Just a few points: When Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mother) became Queen, Queen Mary said she was a little sad to be handing over the jewels of which she had been the caretaker for so many years & let Queen Elizabeth chose any of the jewels from the "Crown collection" she wanted to wear which included the Oriental Tiara & rubies. 2. If these jewels were ,left to Queen Mary by Queen Alexandra such as the Cullinan VI diamond, Queen Mary would have probably kept them for her own use. 3. When Edward VII was Prince of Wales he went on a long state tour of India in 1875 & came home with a huge load of magnificent & very opulent presents, including things like a solid silver bathtub, swords & armour all set with precious stones etc & three weighty trunks of jewels. Apparently the gifts were so lavish to cause him a bit of embarassment as he only had return gifts of gold watches, snuff boxes & medals. According to (Suzy Menkes 1985)rubies from this haul were used to set in the "Crown Rubies". Her source was from Twinings Papers in Goldsmith`s Hall & the Royal Library at Windsor. Many of these Indian gift jewels were remade into various settings for Queen Alexandra & apparently some were crafted in Paris. 4. Your information re Queen Victoria`s rubies from Bury is very interesting Nellie, so are these, some of those rubies? or did QV give them to one of her daughters? (with the strawberry tiara) I am looking forward to the reply from Garrard. My main computer is being repaired so I don`t have my usual picture collection on hand. Cheers Annie : :