Anthemion Tiara - wedding tiara of Sophie Rhys-Jones, now Duchess of Edinburgh (edited)

Posted by Nellie on January 14, 2024, 2:49 am

There is a posting on the History of Famous Jewels and Collections message board entitled Anthemion Tiara. The posting questions who it was who discovered the origins of this tiara. I remember well the evening of my discovery and can still recall my excitement when the match of elements dawned on me. It was so obvious when I happened on the pic below of the fitted case and empty frame of the regal circlet. (More on this later.) I recall my feelings and the thrill it was to draft a posting for this RJWMB, after the tiara had been discussed quite a lot for some time. When ready, I posted and announced the find headed something like "Sophie's tiara solved." There is more to my story - and I will provide more. Below is the tiara as worn by Sophie for her wedding. [Important edit: the tiara has been altered since that wedding version and because the lower central element here does not match the one in the HFJCMB first pic I wonder if that pic and story relate to the work for the later alteration of the tiara rather than to the making of the wedding version.] Below is from the two-volune Jewellery by Shirley Bury Below is my transcription of a page from a Garrard ledger published in The Royal Jewels by Suzy Menkes

Re: Anthemion Tiara - wedding tiara of Sophie Rhys-Jones, now Duchess of Edinburgh (edited)

Posted by Nellie on January 14, 2024, 3:29 am, in reply to "Anthemion Tiara - wedding tiara of Sophie Rhys-Jones, now Duchess of Edinburgh (edited)"

Re: anthemion tiara - sundry images for reference purposes

Posted by Nellie on January 14, 2024, 4:16 am, in reply to "Re: Anthemion Tiara - wedding tiara of Sophie Rhys-Jones, now Duchess of Edinburgh (edited)"

This numbered image was produced by me. Note the shape of 1. Shape 5 is for the honeysuckle brooch setting of the Koh-i-nǔr, with a band over to hold it in place, Ignore the red numbers. It was pointed out to me that the four spaces in the bottom of the case were to hold four of the cross and fleur elements, with bands over to hold them securely in place. There would be another similar tray underneath for the other four elements. We see all eight elements fitted to the band of the circlet. Next, this photoshopped image was produced by Laurent. Note how the lower central element of the wedding version does not fill shape 1. The original shape 1 element was to hold the Koh-i-nǔr. Note that the caption to Plate 173 says the fitted case was provided for work done for Queen Alexandra in 1902 - when presumably the Koh-i-nǔr could still be fitted to shape 1, but that is presuming. We never did figure precisely how it was set there. Next, this pic is useful for details.

Possible wearings by Queen Victoria in Paris

Posted by Nellie on January 14, 2024, 4:58 am, in reply to "Anthemion Tiara - wedding tiara of Sophie Rhys-Jones, now Duchess of Edinburgh (edited)"

The following is from my notes c2009, but my discovery was in 2007. We know Queen Victoria wore the Regal Circlet at least once with this set of elements including the K. It was for the ball at the Hotel de Ville in Paris in 1855. Queen Victoria's diaries state that she wore the diamond diadem with the Koh-i-Noor on it during the 1855 Paris visit. The ILN reported "The Koh-i-noor diamond was flashing in her heavy diadem..." These pics are the most likely that I ever found at the time.

Re: Possible wearings by Queen Victoria in Paris

Posted by Nellie on January 14, 2024, 8:20 pm, in reply to "Possible wearings by Queen Victoria in Paris"

Re: Possible wearings by Queen Victoria in Paris

Posted by Beth on January 14, 2024, 11:25 pm, in reply to "Re: Possible wearings by Queen Victoria in Paris"

I am sorry to see that Nellie has misunderstood my post. I was not questioning who made the initial discovery. I was asking who made the discovery. I was going to post the relevant images here but Photobucket is being disobliging at present, so could I ask people to read my post here https://mb.boardhost.com/historyroyaljewels/msg/1705215229.html I said that I would do another Instagram post when I had the information. Now that I have it, I will do the post. I am not sure what Nellie is questioning when she wonders if the jeweller's image refers to the tiara as set for the wedding or to how the tiara has been changed. (I thought I made it very clear that this was the wedding tiara setting!) Or if she is saying everyone else is wrong because it clashes with information written in 2 magazines. Our information about jewels is never static. Knowledge evolves as people discover new things. The information has been in the public arena previously. The jeweller posted it in his Instagram account in 2019 & it was published in the local media in June 2019 & in 1999. Here are two links https://www.instagram.com/p/ByuVDzoFjVu/ https://www.instagram.com/p/By4ijvPFf1T/ Photobucket has come back online so here are the 2 relevant images

Post done on Instagram to acknowledge Nellie's Identification

Posted by Beth on January 15, 2024, 12:59 am, in reply to "Re: Possible wearings by Queen Victoria in Paris"

Link to Instagram post & the images I used

Posted by Beth on January 17, 2024, 9:13 pm, in reply to "Post done on Instagram to acknowledge Nellie's Identification"

I apologise for the delay in posting this information. I lost power & hence my internet connection. Here is the link to the Instagram post I did to acknowledge that Nellie initially found the information https://www.instagram.com/historyfamousjewels/p/C2HI0crPpmU/?img_index=1 Below are the images I used

Thank you Beth n/t

Posted by Nellie on January 18, 2024, 2:14 am, in reply to "Link to Instagram post & the images I used"