Re: Greville bequest - a question raised - Archived Message
Posted by Arthur on January 31, 2016, 4:27 pm, in reply to "Re: Greville bequest - a question raised - "
Franck, I am not sure to agree entirely with your comments. That a lot of jewels of the British Royal Family are not worn is a fact that everone can see: several jewels have resurfaced after decades in the vaults. For example, when I listed the emerald necklaces in the British collection, I realized that the Cambridge emerald choker, made for Queen Mary, was never seen between the late 1930s and 1981, when it was presented by Queen Elizabeth II to Princess Diana. And even several jewels which are worn on a regular basis may even appear publicly only once in two or three years (in other words, they appear regularly, but not frequently). Yet, I remain suspicious about book-writers' comments about the extent of Buckingham Palace's jewel vaults. How do they know? Did they visit these vaults? Leslie Field stressed that she had only minimal support from the Royal Household in her research for her book; Andrew Morton, who wrote the sensationalistic Diana: Her True Story, was certainly not welcome at Buckingham Palace; and our fellow poster Vincent made a very serious work thanks to his access to the archives or Boucheron, Van Cleef and Arpels and Mellerio dits Meller, but I would be surprised if he could get first-hand report about jewel storage at Clarence House (unless I underestimate Vincent's royal connections, who knows... ). I think that these comments sound more like rumours repeated again and again, but who lack solid and proven background. Regarding the historic jewels which have resurfaced again in the recent years (the diamond cockade, Queen Mary's Trophy-of-love dog collar, Queen Alexandra's amethyst, pearl and diamond sautoir...), it is easy to write retrospectively that we were "almost certain" that these jewels were in the vaults. Personally, until I saw these jewels, I had absolutely no certainty about their whereabouts. They could also have been dismantled, or bequeathed outside the main line of the Royal Family. Finally, we should also refrain from hasty conclusions about the attributions of "new" jewels worn by Camilla. As far as I know, no connection has been established between Camilla's sapphire pendant or aquamarine set (whose designs look quite modern, by the way) and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. The citrine (or orange topaz?) brooch worn once by Camilla in Ascot looks more antique, but no connection is proven with the Queen Mother either. All these jewels could be gifts to Camilla (private or official gifts), or personal purchases. So far, no option can be excluded. Only one thing is sure: the British jewel collection IS enormous! May be more or less enormous, but enormous anyway!
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