Iberian Royal Jewels

[ashdean]

La Peregrina  which is now owned ( scince 1967)by Elizabeth Taylor...was the one which came via Joseph Bonaparte & the Ducal Abercorn family..La Pelegrina which is reputed to have left the Spanish royal family as the wedding present to a spanish infanta on her marriage to Louis XIV later was bought by Princess Tatiana Youssoupoff, brought out of Russia in 1919 by Princess Zenaida Youssoupoff it was sold by her son in 1952.It was auctioned again in Geneva on May 14th 1987 by Christies....I was able to attend the viewing  (my great friend the late Hans Nadelhoffer was in charge of Christes,Geneva) and handle the famous pearl..it was bought by a very famous American actress/singer....In October 1991  I was staying at the Willard hotel in Washington DC, by chance I saw the current Queen of Spain wearing the pearshaped pearl as she left the hotel after a diplomatic reception.This was no doubt the pearl that in 1967 at the time of all the publicity concerning the Taylor/Burton purchase..Queen Ena announced was the real Pelegrina

[Adalid]

I think you must mean "Peregrina" in your last line "...that Queen Ena announced was the real (sic) Pelegrina." 

[Adalid]

In an article describing the Parke-Bernet auction in which the Peregrina was sold to Richard Burton's lawyer on his behalf, the New York Times writes that "a disappointed bidder was Prince Alfonso de Bourbon Asturias," whose highest bid of $20,000 was not enough to secure the pearl.  Rayón and Sampedro, in their book mentioned above, mistakenly identify this bidder as "Alfonso de Borbón Dampierre," who was allegedly trying to obtain the pearl in order to present it to Ena, so that there would no longer be any doubt but that she had the real Peregrina. 

I have it on good authority that Dampierre (el Duque de Cádiz) made no such bid, either by telephone or in person.  Who then is this "Alfonso de Bourbon Asturias" mentioned in the NY Times?  Note the use of "Asturias" which, as you no doubt know, is used to designate the heir to the Spanish throne (i.e, "Prince of Asturias").         
         

[ashdean]

La Peregrina  which is now owned ( scince 1967)by Elizabeth Taylor...was the one which came via Joseph Bonaparte & the Ducal Abercorn family..La Pelegrina which is reputed to have left the Spanish royal family as the wedding present to a spanish infanta on her marriage to Louis XIV later was bought by Princess Tatiana Youssoupoff, brought out of Russia in 1919 by Princess Zenaida Youssoupoff it was sold by her son in 1952.It was auctioned again in Geneva on May 14th 1987 by Christies....I was able to attend the viewing  (my great friend the late Hans Nadelhoffer was in charge of Christes,Geneva) and handle the famous pearl..it was bought by a very famous American actress/singer....In October 1991  I was staying at the Willard hotel in Washington DC, by chance I saw the current Queen of Spain wearing the pearshaped pearl as she left the hotel after a diplomatic reception.This was no doubt the pearl that in 1967 at the time of all the publicity concerning the Taylor/Burton purchase..Queen Ena announced was the real Pelegrina

Yes I did mean that Queen Ena announced she owned the  real PEREGRINA..