The Manchester Tiara, fit for a duchess
Readers of this blog know already that I love big jewelry or bling. My admiration for the Manchester Tiara was therefore endless. The Tiara is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. But what is the history of this wonderful bling? Fit for a duchess The Manchester Tiara once belonged to Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester. The Duchess was a celebrated society figure, belonging to the intimate circle of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, formerly the Prince of Wales. Shortly before her death, she entertained King Edward and Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia, while the Tsar was on a visit to England. However she wasn't born to become such an important woman. Or perhaps she was. Birth Consuelo Yznaga was born in 1853, in New York City, as the second of four children of diplomat Antonio Modesto Yznaga del Valle and wife Ellen Maria Clement of Ravenswood Plantation. Her father was from an old Cuban family that owned a large plantation and sugar mills in the vicinity