Diana, Princess of Wales Jewellery 1: November 2002-September 2007

[CasiraghiTrio]

Thank you, corazon. Please ignore my post in the Camilla thread. I posted it before you put these pictures up. Sorry. Thanks again. I do not like this "new" tiara of Diana's nearly as much as the Spencer tiara. I think the Spencer tiara is my favorite of all. It is so elegant without being gawdy at all. Some of the tiaras tend to be too much fuss. The Spencer tiara has just the right amount of glitz to make it beautiful, but still very tasteful.

 

[Lady Jean]

I think it's only a headpiece / headband made of cloth to match the gown. Beautiful pictures, though.

 

[Lady Jean]

The gown and its matching hairband are in the auction book, item #26. The description reads, " A matching hairband is encrusted with simulated drop pearls, paste, and gold." The body of the hairband is probably silk satin like the dress, since it shines in the flash in the first picture.

 

[Squidgy]

They are nice pictures Corazon. Thank you.

I agree with Lady Jean - this is a headpiece, not a tiara. It is made of cloth with some fake pearls (or something else) sewn onto it.

Diana wore a similar headpiece a few months earlier in May 1986 in Canada.

Photo: Rex

 

[sara1981]

im not sure about British Royal Jewels?

but i knew Camilla wores Diana's necklaces but im little disappointment about it and im sure Prince William wanted kept his mother's jewels for his future wife's jewels

Sara Boyce

 

[Warren]

im not sure about British Royal Jewels?
but i knew Camilla wores Diana's necklaces but im little disappointment about it and im sure Prince William wanted kept his mother's jewels for his future wife's jewels.
Sara Boyce

Sara, Camilla has NOT worn any of Diana's jewels. Camilla has a necklace which is similar to one Diana wore, and that is all.

 

[branchg]

All of Diana's jewels, with the exception of Queen Mary's Lovers Knot Tiara and the Cambridge emerald choker, were left to Princes William and Harry for their future wives to wear. The tiara and emerald choker were returned to the Queen.

The Spencer tiara was loaned to Diana since her brother was young at the time of her marriage and not yet married. But it belonged to him as the tiara was a bequest from his grandfather after his death in 1975. He asked Diana to return it once he married Victoria, as she had the Lovers Knot tiara to wear and was separated by then.

 

[Incas]

Seriously, what woman would want to be caught wearing Diana's things? There will be endless photos comparring the wearers. If William or Harry could part the jewels, they would probably be reset.

 

[tiaraprin]

Seriously, what woman would want to be caught wearing Diana's things? There will be endless photos comparring the wearers. If William or Harry could part the jewels, they would probably be reset.

I don't think it would be awful if William's or Harry's wife wore Diana's jewels. I think it would be expected that they would wear them because they belong to the boys. Unless William and Harry marry women that are completely hated, I do not think there will be too many comparisons.

 

[MoonlightRhapsody]

All of Diana's jewels, with the exception of Queen Mary's Lovers Knot Tiara...

Why would the Lovers Knot Tiara go back to the queen when she gave it to Diana as a wedding present? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Diana retained that tiara even after her divorce. I would think that since her death that the tiara would go to one of her sons since it was hers.

 

[tiaraprin]

Why would the Lovers Knot Tiara go back to the queen when she gave it to Diana as a wedding present? Correct me if I'm wrong, but Diana retained that tiara even after her divorce. I would think that since her death that the tiara would go to one of her sons since it was hers.

The tiara was designated by Queen Mary to become part of the Crown Collection in her will in 1953. This means that it is to be worn by future Queens or lent out at their discretion. Diana maintained the tiara because she was still the mother of the future king after she divorced. Upon her death, the tiara and other Crown Collection jewels were returned to Her Majesty. This is the accepted form for any female member of the family who is gifted something from the Crown Collection.

 

[Squidgy]

The Spencer tiara was loaned to Diana since her brother was young at the time of her marriage and not yet married. But it belonged to him as the tiara was a bequest from his grandfather after his death in 1975. He asked Diana to return it once he married Victoria, as she had the Lovers Knot tiara to wear and was separated by then.

Yes, and even after Charles Spencer married, Diana still frequently borrowed the tiara, and was wearing it as late as November 1993 (see picture below). In this picture, she is also wearing the Art Deco-style chocker, which was a wedding present from the Queen. This choker was originally part of Queen Mary's famous Cambridge and Delhi Durbar Emerald collection. The antique emerald and diamond bracelet she sports on her right arm was a wedding gift from Charles. The emerald & diamond drop earrings were also a gift from Charles. Charles also gave her a diamond & emerald ring for Christmas 1981. Although I'm not sure if she wore it on this occasion, she did often wear it when she was wearing her emerald jewels.

(Thanks Warren, for the tip.)

Photo: T. Graham

 

[Incas]

I believe Charles Spencer married Victoria Lockwood in September, 1989. The stories about him asked for the Spencer tiara back surfaced much later. I think it was after he refused Diana a cottage on his family grounds in the mid 1990's. The two had a fallout after that and he asked for the tiara back.

 

[Lady Jean]

The Saudi Arabian suite did not contain black pearls. Those are cabochon cut (not faceted, smooth top) sapphires in the center of the earrings.

 

[sassie]

The Saudi Arabian suite did not contain black pearls. Those are cabochon cut (not faceted, smooth top) sapphires in the center of the earrings.

I was refererring to the choker having black pearls, not the earrings. The earrings with the detachable pendant drops, though, are from the Saudi Arabian parure, as seen in this picture (sorry, don't have a larger version) of the parure on display with the other weddings gifts in 1981.

 

[corazon]

why diana used band only 2 times? in australia and for the official visit to england of queen beatrix and prince claus.

 

[kelly9480]

Spencer didn't ask for the tiara back from his sister. The Spencers keep their tiaras in a vault in London. Any time Diana wanted to wear it, she had to ask the head of the family if she could use it, and the head of the family had to authorise it's removal from the vault (for insurance purposes). It didn't remain with Diana. It remained (and remains) in the vault for security.

Diana received an amethyst demi-parure of a necklace, bracelet and earrings as a wedding present. I never read who gave them to her, but they were amethysts and they were a wedding present.

The suite from the Sultan of Oman are sapphires, not jet. They were listed as sapphires in the Morton Windsor Wealth book and she wore them with her blue gowns (though because they are so dark, they didn't seem to show up well).

Like all of Diana's other wedding presents (that were gifts to HRH The Princess of Wales), they went back into the royal family's vault after her death so that William and Harry could have them for their wives. Diana had a number of pieces that were gifts to her as a person rather than her as PoW, and these pieces have either gone into the vault for safekeeping for her sons (the majority of the pieces), to her sons directly, or been sold (Swan Lake suite).

Diana's jewellery was estimated (by a professional), based on the worth of the stones alone, not their royal provenance, to be worth about L2million in Andrew Morton's mid-1980s book about the Windsor wealth. Nowhere near $40 million and that book came out after Diana had received her best pieces. A lot of the gems Diana received from the Windsors were older pieces that would have to be recut significantly to get the sparkle modern jewellery lovers prefer, but that would require a loss of carat-weight, thereby decreasing the worth of the piece.

 

[iowabelle]

I'm not convinced that Diana ever owned the Swan Lake suite. I think I had read that it had been loaned to her and worn just once before her death. Maybe someone has better information on that?

 

[Squidgy]

I'm not convinced that Diana ever owned the Swan Lake suite. I think I had read that it had been loaned to her and worn just once before her death. Maybe someone has better information on that?

I agree Iowabelle. I think the necklace was only borrowed. From what I've read, Diana helped to design the necklace with Garrard's in the Spring of 1997. She wore it that one night, then returned the necklace to the jewellers. According to the article posted below on BBC News, Diana returned the necklace because Garrard's needed to do work on the matching earrings. The article mentions that an unnamed English businessman bought the necklace after he was discretely informed by Garrard's that the princess had returned it. So to me it sounds like she just borrowed it.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/568818.stm

 

[branchg]

Like all of Diana's other wedding presents (that were gifts to HRH The Princess of Wales), they went back into the royal family's vault after her death so that William and Harry could have them for their wives. Diana had a number of pieces that were gifts to her as a person rather than her as PoW, and these pieces have either gone into the vault for safekeeping for her sons (the majority of the pieces), to her sons directly, or been sold (Swan Lake suite).

The Swan Lake suite was on loan to Diana at the time of her death and was sold by the jeweler. She had intended to purchase it, but never had the chance to do so.

Most of Diana's jewels were gifts to her as POW and, by tradition, these were her personal property to dispose of as she wished. The pieces that were given to her by The Queen and The Queen Mother were returned and will be given to Prince William when he marries.

The rest of her jewels belong to William and Harry for their future wives.

 

[Boris]

It's definitely a demi-parure of cabochon- (round) cut amethysts in the most desirable dark, rich lilac shade. The wrong info originates from Suzy Menke's book which unfortunately full of mistakes on newer jewels.
My guess is that Diana's amethysts might have been a gift from an Arab ruler during the Wales' 1986 tour through 4 Arab countries, because the set did only appear after that - during the 1987 tour of Germany, I believe -, and it seems to be of modern design.
Matching all those cabochon amethzsts in color is quite an achievement, and I always loved the set - Diana wore the matching bracelet & earrings right until shortly before her death with a matching lilac Versace gown in Chicago.

 

[sassie]

Would anyone happen to know the origin/history of this particular necklace? I've looked through all my books, but can find nothing among the Queen's jewels that resembles this, so am not sure if the Princess borrowed it from the Queen's collection, or if it belongs to the Spencer side, or if it was loaned to her by a jeweler. I don't believe she wore it more than once.

 

[ayvee]

velvet choker

Does anybody know how the get the bracelet to stick onto the velvet choker in the first picture?

I remember reading in one of the royalty magazines way back when - so I don't have the actual source of info; just my memory - that the bracelet was actually sewn onto the velvet fabric. I actually tried doing this with a bracelet and the thread went through the setting on the back of the bracelet so you can't see it over the bracelet. Hope that helps.

-ayvee

 

[Wayne]

I was under the impression that the earnings from the Duchy of Cornwall covered the Charle's and Diana's personal needs including their clothes? Please correct me if I am wrong.

 

[michelleq]

I believe that this is the Delhi Durbar Tiara. If I remember correctly she had this made when she went to India. I believe that she couldn't take the Crown Jewels out of the Country. Correct me if I am wrong.

 

[Elspeth]

You're correct, it was the Delhi Durbar tiara made for Queen Mary to attend the Durbar in 1911. I think King George's Crown of India was made because the Imperial State Crown wasn't allowed to leave the country; I'm not sure whether Queen Mary could have taken her coronation crown, but she had this tiara made to wear at the Durbar instead. It's the closest thing the royal family has to a crown among the tiaras worn by the royal ladies.

No, Diana never wore it. The only tiara she wore from the royal collection was the lovers' knot tiara. The Delhi Durbar tiara would have been too big for her; even with Camilla's big hair it's rather imposing.

 

[Melania]

Why did Diana only wear one tiara from the collection? Didn't she have access to all of the tiaras, or most of them if she wanted?

 

[Elspeth]

The Queen gave her the lovers' knot tiara for a wedding present; she also wore the Spencer tiara. It's possible that as the years went on, the Queen might have given her other tiaras, but since the Wales marriage started getting shaky after a fairly short time, the Queen or her advisors might have thought that it would be safer not to hand over too many major pieces of royal jewellery.

It's also possible that wearing the Spencer tiara rather than a royal one for most occasions was Diana's way of letting the royals know that she was an outsider and an independent agent.

 

[Cordonez]

Diana's Rings

I am trying to learn about the rings that Diana wore with her engagement and wedding ring. If you look closely at some of the pictures that were in the 80's (I think) she appears to have several other plain rings on her ring finger. Does anyone know about them? Sorry I don't have a close up pic.
Thanks

 

[sassie]

She had a number of rings that she wore occassionally.

One was an emerald and diamond ring that Charles gave her for their first Christmas together, and she wore it in the family portraits that were taken by Tim Graham for William's first Christmas.
It's hard to find a clear picture of it, but it looks like a cabochon emerald set in a pointed gold band.

The silver band with channel set diamonds was one she wore as a single girl on her right hand, and then occassionally after her marriage and divorce on her left. It was a Spencer family ring, according to the Althorp House office.

Along with the square cut aquamarine, which she commissioned from Garrard the summer of 1997.

There was another ring-gold, with a sort of lattice design set with small diamonds, that she wore on her left hand watching Charles play polo (wearing the green and white striped coatdress). That ring was a gift from a Middle Eastern potentate, I believe, but Diana was only seen wearing it that one time, she later either sold it or gifted it to an unnamed person, and it was auctioned off on eBay after her death.

The other aquamarine ring in the picture above, I am not sure about. I don't recall Diana ever wearing it on any other occasion. It looks to be pear shaped. The diamond band is her Spencer ring.

She wasn't one for wearing different rings that often, so it's hard to say what she might have had in her collection.