I think Arthur might be correct - edited Archived Message
Posted by Beth on June 6, 2016, 3:38 am, in reply to "Re: Another unknown (to me) jewel of Queen Mary"
What a good knowledge (and memory) of the British royal jewels you have Arthur! The similarities between the jewel which Princess Helena (Princess Christian) wore in the 1875 Angeli portrait and that of Queen Mary in the 1928 Taylor portrait are striking. From the Royal Collection (Princess Helena by Angeli) https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/search#/5/collection/405364/princess-helena-princess-christian-of-schleswig-holstein-1846-1923 Edit: to include Queen Mary's portrait
I initially thought it might be possible that there were two similar but different jewels, as the style reminded me of the necklace which Queen Victoria gave to her daughter, the later Empress Frederick, as a wedding present. According to the Royal Collection site that jewel was given to QV by the Queen of Oude. (Probably during the Indian Queen's visit to Britain in 1856-7.) As the Queen of Oude was on a "begging mission" politically, I strongly suspect that a significant amount of jewellery was given by her to Queen Victoria, and so it is not only possible, but probable, that several jewels in a similar style exist or existed. Empress Frederick with her necklace from the Queen of Oude. On the spur of the moment I decided to see if I could find any photos of Princess Helena with this jewel. Luckily, I found one on my initial search in the National Portrait Gallery, UK. http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portraitLarge/mw167537/Princess-Helena-Augusta-Victoria-of-Schleswig-Holstein?LinkID=mp02122&search=sas&sText=Princess+Helena&wPage=2&role=sit&rNo=55 In the photo above the jewel appears to be worn as a brooch (but I could be wrong again!) Although the details of the brooch/pendant in the photo are indistinct, I think the jewel in the photo shows a very similar outline to the pendant worn by Queen Mary. I think that Arthur is correct and that Queen Mary was depicted with the jewel worn by Princess Helena (Princess Christian), although it is always possible that 2 very similar jewels existed. Has anyone read any of the biographies available? They may shed some light on whether such a jewel was left to Queen Mary. I did a quick check on the UK wills site but, despite searching under several possible surnames, I didn't find anything, so probably Princess Helena's (Princess Christian) will was sealed like others since the death of Queen Mary's brother, Francis of Teck.
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