Re: Greville bequest - a question raised - Archived Message
Posted by Dawn on January 31, 2016, 8:38 pm, in reply to "Re: Greville bequest - a question raised - "
Speaking of the Cambridge emerald and diamond choker, I just finished looking through my picture file to count how many times Princess Diana had worn this choker from her wedding day to her death. It's about 17 separate times (not counting any time she may have worn it at receptions or other places where she was not publicly photographed) she was shown to have worn this choker. The earliest time she wore it was in October 1981 and the last time she wore it was about two months before she died in 1997. As one of you already said, it has not been worn ever since her death by any royal family member. It seems to me while looking through my picture file that she wore her 18th-birthday-gift choker more often than the Cambridge emerald and diamond choker. --Previous Message-- : 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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