All About Royal Families

Elizabeth II's first tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary , who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. Leslie Field, author of The Queen's Jewels, described it as, "a festoon-and-scroll with nine large oriental pearls on diamond spikes and set on a base of alternate round and lozenge collets between two plain bands of diamonds".  At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969.  The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread appearance in portraits of the monarch on British bank...

Royal jewelry and especially tiara's mostly have a wonderful and sometimes surprising history. In this blogpost we take a closer look to the Vladimir Tiara . The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, sometimes the Diamond and Pearl Tiara, was bought, along with a diamond rivière, by Queen Mary from Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, mother of the Duchess of Kent, in 1921 for a price of £28,000.  Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna and her mother Source picture: Wikipedia The grand duchess, known after her marriage as Princess Nicholas of Greece, inherited it from her mother, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who received it as a wedding gift from her husband in 1874. It originally had 15 large drop pearls, and was made by the jeweller Carl Edvard Bolin at a cost of 48,200 rubles. Princess Mary of Teck wearing the Vladimir Tiara. More about Princess Mary of Teck on this link . Source picture: Wikipedia During the Russian Revolution in 1917, the tiara was hidden with other jewels som...

The crown of the crowns ...  During the covid pandemic, I really missed the bling moments of the royal families.  I started reading books about royal jewelry and I began to interest me in the  history of this famous pieces. So, I hope you'll enjoy next blog post about the Imperial State Crown. Escpecially during this year of the Platinum Jubilee of The Queen, I hope to  catch up with some special jewelry posts.  St Edward's Crown, used to crown English monarchs, was considered to be a holy relic, kept in the saint's shrine at Westminster Abbey and therefore not worn by monarchs at any other time. Instead, a "great crown" with crosses and fleurs-de-lis, but without arches (an open crown), was a king's usual headgear at state occasions until the time of Henry V, who is depicted wearing an imperial crown of state with gold arches (a closed crown). Arches were a symbol of sovereignty, and by this point in history, the king of England was being celebrated as rex in...

On 5 February 1972 , Mary Elisabeth Donaldson was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.  Source picture: Hasse Nielsen Family Mary was born the youngest of four children to Scottish parents, Henrietta (née Horne), an executive assistant to the vice-chancellor of the University of Tasmania, and  John Dalgleish Donaldson, a mathematics  professor Her paternal grandfather was Captain Peter Donaldson (1911–1978). Mary was named after her grandmothers, Mary Dalgleish and Elizabeth Gibson Melrose, and was born and raised in Hobart, Australia.  Mary has two older sisters, Jane Stephens and Patricia Bailey, and an older brother, John Stuart Donaldson. Her mother died from complications following heart surgery on 20 November 1997 when Mary was 25. In 2001, her father married the British author and novelist Susan Horwood. Education In 1974, Donaldson started schooling in Clear Lake City Elementary School in Houston, Texas, where her father was working and moved to Sandy Ba...

During the covid pandemic I really missed the tiara moments of the royals, though I found some solace in beautiful books. One of them was published on 1 December 2021 and written/collected by photographer Chris Jackson. The book came just in time for Christmas and New Year. It is a collection of the most beautiful pictures of Queen Elizabeth II during the two most recent decades of her reign. It also mentions the highlights of the royal year in the United Kingdom. The book is devided into 7 chapters: - An extraordinary reign; - Duty and Dignity; - Global Icon; - Never out of fashion; - Family First; - Horses and Highlands; - Passing on the Baton. This is a wonderful book for the royal collection.  I hope there will be plenty of more royal books and souvenirs for the Platium Jubilee.  Who is Chris Jackson? Chris Jackson is Getty Images Royal Photographer . From private shoots with HM The Queen to The Prince of Wales, Duchess of Cornwall and the Duke and Duchess of Cam...

Recently I bought a royal book from the library in Sint-Niklaas. I received a hint from a wonderful colleague and he discovered a real treasure. It is a book about Princess Marie-José of Belgium, who became the last Queen of Italy and her royal wardrobe.  Source picture: Bookcover Who was Princess Marie-José of Belgium? Princess Marie-José of Belgium was the third child and only daughter of King Albert I of Belgium and Queen Elisabeth (born Duchess in Bavaria). Her brothers were the  later King Leopold III of Belgium and Prince Charles (Regent of Belgium). Princess Marie-José was born on 4 August 1906 in Ostend (Oostende). During the First World War she was evacuated to England and later she attended the College  of Santissima Annunziata in Florence, Italy. On 8 January 1930, Princess Marie-José of Belgium married Crown Prince Umberto of Italy. They would have 4 children. She became president of the Red Cross in Italy. During World War II, Princess Marie-José became a dip...

You can never get enough watches even in this modern, digital time. I'm fond of Swiss watches. I wore Swatch by myself but there are lots of other magnificent brands such as Chopard. Besides watches Chopard sells lots of beautiful jewelry such as necklaces, earrings and of course tiara's. This brand still has its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland and it also has a nice royal history. Due to its lovely history Chopard is mentioned on this blog. Chopard Shop in Rome Italy Some royal history In 1860, the 24-year old Louis-Ulysse Chopard (1836-1915) founded its watch manufactory in Sonvilier Switzerland. He specialized himselves in making ultra-thin, high-precision pocket-watches intended for daily wear. He traveled across Eastern Europe, Russia and Scandinavia to find customers. He even became a supplier to Tsar Nicholas II. Tsar Nicholas II In 1904 Karl Scheufele I (1877-1941) bought a company in Pforzheim, Germany. He invented a special c...