Re: Koh-i-noor mounted on the Regal Circlet [Edited] Archived Message
Posted by Beth on October 20, 2015, 3:51 am, in reply to "Re: Koh-i-noor mounted on the Regal Circlet"
It seems certain that Queen Victoria wore the Koh-i-noor in a tiara/diadem for the ball at the Hotel de Ville. Arthur has quoted from Bapst's first hand account and Nellie from Queen Victoria's journal. Both are impeccable sources. My question is - was Queen Victoria wearing the Regal Circlet? Neither of the two first hand accounts seem to support that deduction necessarily. Bapst's description (from Arthur's quote) was "She had on her head a high and heavy tiara in the centre of which the famous large diamond of the Crown of England, the Ko-hi-noor [sic] was sparkling." Nellie's quote from QV's journal is "my big diamond diadem with the Koh-i-noor in it." Neither description suggests to me that HM wore the Regal Circlet. It was neither high nor heavy; nor was it the largest of QV's diamond diadems. Obviously QV would not have worn the circlet with the fleurs de lys as that would not have been diplomatic and, if she wore it with the honeysuckle ornaments, I doubt Bapst would have described it as high and heavy. (think of the size of the elements in the Countess of Wessex's wedding tiara). Nor do I think it would constitute "my big diamond diadem" as Queen Victoria stated. As far as I can see most of the illustrations in the series of water colours, which the Municipality of Paris sent to Queen Victoria in 1856 to commemorate her visit, lack sufficient detail to determine which head jewel the Queen wore. Nevertheless, based on the quotes given by Arthur and Nellie, I would suggest that the Diamond Diadem would be more likely to fit both Bapst's and Queen Victoria's description. Depending on how the mechanism in the Diamond Diadem works, it might have been possible to insert the Koh-i-noor into the front cross. Edit: I believe that no matter how the front cross in the Diamond Diadem was initially constructed with modifications by skilled jewellers it would be possible to insert another gem - even one as large as Koh-i-noor although, unless the central cross was completely rebuilt, such a diamond would cover part of the cross - but that would have happened with the front cross of the Regal Circlet also, I think. One of the problems in imagining this is that we don't have clear photos of Queen Victoria's Regal Circlet with and without the Koh-i-noor to see how it all may have fitted.
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