Windsor Jewels Pt 7

[TampaBay]

I know I have this before but I am very surprised that Kate Middleton has not yet worn Diana'a Sapphire and Pearl choker.

Do you think maybe Harry inherited this piece as William got (or took) the engagement ring for Kate?

TampaBay

[Eric_Lowe]

I think the Connaught necklace and diamond star tiara would be nice for Kate...

[ashdean]

I think the Connaught necklace and diamond star tiara would be nice for Kate...

They are long gone from the royal collection...

[Svetabel]

I think the Connaught necklace and diamond star tiara would be nice for Kate...

They are long gone from the royal collection...

Ashdean, could you please provide info how much long? Which years?

[ashdean]

I think the Connaught necklace and diamond star tiara would be nice for Kate...

They are long gone from the royal collection...

Ashdean, could you please provide info how much long? Which years?

The "Turkish necklace" given by Victoria to the Duchess of Connaught passed to her son Prince Arthur whose widow passed it on to her nephew the current Duke of Fife.It was sold without a provenance by him in the early 1970s...I have more details but not at hand....The Sunray/star tiara was not unique...The Duchess of Albany seems to have had a similar one but not worn on such a high frame.

[Eric_Lowe]

Are the huge diamond stars from the tiara still in the Royal Collection ? They were "on loan"to the Duchess, so if Queen Alexandra or Queen Mary had not dispose it, it should still be there...

[ashdean]

Are the huge diamond stars from the tiara still in the Royal Collection ? They were "on loan"to the Duchess, so if Queen Alexandra or Queen Mary had not dispose it, it should still be there...

I do not think those stars were ever part of the main royal collection.They have never been worn in any form by any royal lady scince..indeed the only diamond star worn by our current beloved Queen was a legacy from a friend the late Lady Jardine.
One must REMEMBER....Queen Victoria's loan  SUPPLEMENTED the Duchesses collection...so the stars were not part of the Queens collection.

[Eric_Lowe]

So were they sold or still in the Swedish or Ramsey family ?

[ashdean]

As they have not appeared in either family (a great deal of jewelry was sold after Lady Patricias death and was illustrated in the sales catalogue...they seem to have already been long gone...perhaps reset....Lady P had numerous multistone modern clips etc in her sale which could have been result of ugly oldfashioned peices being dismantled...the same goes for the huge daisy made from some of Crown Princess Margarets gems for her daughter Ingrid in the 1930s.....but this is mere speculation and the truth we never be known..

[Eric_Lowe]

Thanks for info. Always appreciate good leads. Without info we could only speculate. I wonder if Alexandra Fife (who married Luise's son) may have got it ?

[primrose]

Has anyone ever seen a photo of this tiara?

There is a photograph of the Duchess of Connaught wearing this tiara in The Last Courts of Europe, A Royal Family Album. She is seated with a group of women, next to GD Alexandra Josifovna, and her ball gown is different from the earlier photo but she seems to be wearing the same jewels.

[Eric_Lowe]

is there a point to this ?

[Svetabel]

Primrose,

yes, thanks, I know the photo, I meant some other occasion (not the Coronation).

[Eric_Lowe]

I wonder what jewelry Luise bought in from Prussia ?

[CountessKate]

I wonder what jewelry Luise bought in from Prussia ?

I wouldn't have thought she would have brought anything particularly outstanding by the royal standards of the time, judging by Queen Victoria having to add to her collection to compete with the Romanov coronation attendees.  The splendid Royal-magazin.de website details her wedding gifts, and those from her parents and grandfather seem fairly modest, at least compared to some of her sisters-in-law: http://www.royal-magazin.de/england/connaught/connaught-wedding-bracelet.htm - Queen Victoria and the Emperor Wilhelm I and Empress Augusta contributed what seems to be the most imposing jewellery, the former the diamond tiara and the latter a four-strand necklace of pearls.  Her immediate family gave brooches and bracelets, no grand parures.  She may have inherited some jewels from her grandmother who died in 1877 though there is no evidence supporting this, similarly she may have inherited some jewellery at her mother's death in 1906 but again there's no evidence.  Neither her father nor grandfather seemed the sort to shower their wives or daughters with jewellery so it's not obvious that there would have been a lot to go around.