All That Glitters:
Wander Art’s Favorite British Crown Jewels
We’re a bit late wishing Queen Elizabeth II a jolly 96th birthday, but we are most certain she forgives us. What we can never miss on, however, is an excuse to talk about the bling-bling. In fact, this month Wander Art Space already spoke fondly of high-end jewellery, yet we couldn’t help but take it up a notch. Lo and behold – our top seven British Crown Jewels: obnoxious, startling, subtle - but always timeless.
7. The Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara is now a well-recognised royal headpiece thanks to Princess Eugenie, who endorsed it for her 2018 wedding to Jack Brooksbank. The emerald-encrusted diamond tiara has rarely saw light - undeservingly so. It was designed by Boucheron in 1919 - the jewellery maker was inspired by the Russian kokoshnik tiaras, common to the Romanovs’ court.
6. Princess Diana had a soft spot for experimenting with the royal jewels. Remember the so-called ‘revenge dress’ she wore the day after Prince Charles confessional interview came out? You might also remember the pearl choker necklace she accessorised the look with - a large sapphire nested within two rows of diamonds. Well, the sapphire was originally a sapphire brooch that belonged to Queen Mary. The brooch, ironically, was a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother). Diana, however, wore the necklace on numerous other occasions.
Princess Diana wearing sapphire choker necklace on the day Prince Charles’ tell-all interview about affair with Camilla came out. 1994
5. Hands down the cutest piece to ever grace a British royal’s head is Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara - a more humble replica of the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara, which Queen Mary commissioned to Garrand, a London-based jewellery maker, since she was not able to inherit the desired original. The tiara - a beautiful symphony of diamonds and pearls - was loaned to Princess Diana as a wedding gift from Queen Elizabeth II; though seemingly fragile, the tiara was so heavy that it reportedly gave the late Lady D constant headaches. It can now often be seen on Kate Middleton, the Duchess of Cambridge.
4. The story of the Cambridge Emeralds is indeed an adventurous one - The Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, miraculously won approximately forty gems during a 1818 charity raffle in Frankfurt. In the next decades, the stones were passed down as family inheritance to a point where they almost escaped from the British royal family - Queen Mary had to claim them back from her late brother’s mistress, Countess of Kilmorey. The precious gems have since been featured as part of several suites and dazzling pieces and were famously worn by Princess Diana as a choker, which she then repurposed as a headband. The famous emeralds often accompanied our pick #3 - the Vladimir Tiara.
3. The elegant Vladimir Tiara is one of Elizabeth II’s favourite diadems, and no wonder - not only is the headpiece exceptionally beautiful, it is also versatile: it can be worn both with or without the droplets of gems - or, on occasion, pearls. Vladimir Tiara was initially a smuggled relic of the Romanov family - British King George V and Russian Tsar Nicholas II were cousins. The tiara was, in fact, one of the precious items of Russian nobility that escaped the sad fate of being broken down and sold by the Bolsheviks, and instead ended up with the British royal family, becoming Queen Elizabeth’s apparent favourite headdress.
2. Cullinan Diamonds – originally just one precious stone of over 3106 carats, the Cullinan Diamond was the largest gem-quality diamond known to the humankind. The diamond in the rough was discover in 1905 and gifted to King Edward VII by the Transvaal people of South Aftrica on the occasion of his 66th birthday. The Cullinan was eventually cut into nine nonetheless impressive stones – Lord of the Rings much? – and almost one hundred smaller diamonds, all owned by the British Crown and featured in various precious jewellery pieces. One of the nine large diamonds, Cullian I, named ‘Star of Africa’, a pear-shaped gem of 530 carats and the world’s largest top-quality white cut diamond – decorates George V’s Sovereign Sceptre. Meanwhile, Cullinan II – a diamond measuring at *only* 317 carats – decorates our #1 pick.
Cullinan Diamonds, from I to IX
1. William Shakespeare famously wrote: “Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown”. In the case of the Imperial State Crown, the phrase takes on quite a literal meaning. Our number one pick is the ultimate wreath called upon to crown British royals – Queen Elizabeth wore it to her coronation in 1953. The headdress itself, made of gold, silver and platinum, is decorated with 2,868 diamonds, 273 pearls, 17 sapphires, 11 emeralds, and 5 rubies, among which are aforementioned Cullinan II and the famous ‘Black Prince’ ruby an irregular 170 carat stone. While ‘Black Prince’ was believed to had already been in possession of Henry VIII, the Imperial State Crown in its modern design was first worn in 1838 by Queen Victoria for her - you’ve guessed it - coronation. Royal af.
