Dutch Royal Jewels of the Past

[Marengo]

Here a drawing of jewels belonging to Prince Hendrik of The Netherlands. The last one to use this parure was his second wife Princess Marie of Prussia. The pieces were not inherited by his wife but went back to the Orange-Nassau´s. The parure was broken up and used to create a new parure.

Pic from the RJW message board, posted by Magnolia.

[Prince of Chota]

Wow. That is quite a shame about the parure being taken apart. It was simply magnificent. Something about the pieces of that period is so unmatched in magnificence.

[Thomas Parkman]

And, knowing the O-Ns like I do to create something hideous. I think they have one of the ugliest collections of cjs on the planet. Not all of it is bad, of course, but they do have some real gemstone pluguglies. the parurue presented above looks absolutely magnificent. they did know how to lay it on with a cement shovel back then, unabashed splendor with no wimpish apologies to the sensitivities of the socialists, republican kill joys or the great unwashed masses. It is appalling that these goodies were taken apart and no doubt "improved". cheers.

[Marengo]

Originally Posted by Thomas Parkman

And, knowing the O-Ns like I do to create something hideous. I think they have one of the ugliest collections of cjs on the planet. Not all of it is bad, of course, but they do have some real gemstone pluguglies. the parurue presented above looks absolutely magnificent. they did know how to lay it on with a cement shovel back then, unabashed splendor with no wimpish apologies to the sensitivities of the socialists, republican kill joys or the great unwashed masses. It is appalling that these goodies were taken apart and no doubt "improved". cheers.

Well, I don't think the house of Orange feared the republicans that much, their distaste for elaborate jewelry IMHO more derives from the Calvinistic nature of the country/royal family. However, we can not accuse the late Queen Juliana for that, she did her best to revive the splendour that was only equalled by her russian anscestor Queen Anna Pavlovna.

[Thomas Parkman]

Yes, good Queen Anna Pavlovna was a Romanov with all the taste and means to present incredible concoctions expressing that fabulous Romanov splendor. My favorite story, and I hope I have the right queen here, her palace burned down and with it all her fabulous collection of jewelry and Papa, I forget which tsar-Paul I or was it Nicholas I????, replaced the whole lot of it. With goodies just as big, massive and gorgeous. All I can say is hooray for Juliana. Of course these Calvanists were the type who put charcoal behind the diamonds in their setting so they wouldn't shine too much. People are funny. cheers.

[Prince of Chota]

There are some Dutch pieces that I'm not incredibly fond of, but there are also some very nice ones. Maxima showcases them in a light that many haven't seen in the many years of Beatrix Helmet Hair.
As far as pieces that are mysterious, someone needs to break the Stuart Diamond Tiara out of the vaults...

[Marengo]

Well Thomas, I don´t think Anna´s father gave her new jewels, as he already died before Anna got married, let alone her living in Brussels. Some of her jewels were stolen too, also in Brussels. Add the fire in the palace in Brussels to that and one wonders why on earth Anna and hubby were plotting to get the Belgian throne for themselves during the split-up of the two countries .

I think her brother must have given her new jewels, she was always very close to Nicholas I. However in the end he wasn´t the overgenerous type. After Willem II died he wanted his money back and his sister send him some lovely Rembrants and some other dutch masters, who are today still on display at the Hermitage.

[Empress]

Does the stuart or holland tiara ever come out of the vaults for the current ladies of the royal house? I can't seem to remember seeing it.

[Mandrake]

Originally Posted by Marengo

Well Thomas, I don´t think Anna´s father gave her new jewels, as he already died before Anna got married, let alone her living in Brussels. Some of her jewels were stolen too, also in Brussels. Add the fire in the palace in Brussels to that and one wonders why on earth Anna and hubby were plotting to get the Belgian throne for themselves during the split-up of the two countries .

I think her brother must have given her new jewels, she was always very close to Nicholas I. However in the end he wasn´t the overgenerous type. After Willem II died he wanted his money back and his sister send him some lovely Rembrants and some other dutch masters, who are today still on display at the Hermitage.

Anna's mother had a lot of the burned jewels replaced, not her father. Many diamonds could be recut, but the russian court jeweller had a lot of trouble finding new pear-shaped pearls. The great drama was ofcourse when her jewels were stolen.

And btw. I believe the worst thing that ever happened to Dutch Royal Jewels was when Queen Emma got her 'hands on it' after Willem III died. She ordered the horrible Stuart Parure and Emerald Parure, demolished the Van Kempen parure (that probably was a resetting of an early 19th certury piece) and had the star tiara of Queen Sophie demolished for the Peacock parure.

Although resetting of jewels was common practice I do believe these newly created tiara's are probably the ugliest ever owned by the Oranjes (except the Peacock parure)

[Marengo]

I agree with you with that Mandrake. I always wondered why Queen Emma had the Old Crown parure demolished. Though it wasn t too elegant it certainly was a lot nicer than the present Stuart parure (which replaced the old crown parure).

The emerald tiara isn´t a winner either, especially the new version with pearls is odd. BTW, don´t the emeralds date back to Louise of Brunswick, or maybe even her mother Princess Wilhelmina?

[Marengo]

Here another curious piece, the Amsterdam parure, given by the city of Amsterdam to Queen Wilhelmina upon her enthronement in 1898.




Pic. originally posted by Marianne on the Royal Jewels MB.

[Marengo]

And two more of the Amsterdam parure:





Personally I think it is a pity that they have broken up the necklace and tiara. The necklace isn´t too bad and the tiara could work if it would have been slightly altered.If the removed the upper, sort-of triangular par, it wouldn´t have been too bad IMHO. The stones themselves seem exquisite btw.

[Kelly]

Absolutely wonderful piece!!! The necklace seems quite heavy though. What did they make of this?

[scooter]

Perhaps back in the 1800's the dimensions of these pieces worked better when ladies wore their very long hair in very high 'up' hairstyles. The proportions for these pieces are just completely off for the shorter 'fluffier' type styles worn by the last 25 years worth of Royalty in most countries. While lovely works of art, they are too tall/narrow/upright.

[Mandrake]

It seems it is uncertain whether or not the necklace of the Wedding-gift parure survived Juliana's eagerness for earrings and brooches. The tiara was demolished and from the stones jewellery sets for al four of Juliana's daughters were made. I find it rather insulting that this gift from the people was dismantled. The Dutch design might seem a bit odd today but that style was very en voque in 1901, and the tiara was a monument for dutch jewellers craftmenship. Those earring that were made out,, well they are nice, but I suppose Steltman Jewellers could have provided some néw pieces as well. That Juliana wanted to give her daughters something personal from their grandmother is okay, but a existing brooch would have been suitable as well!

[Marengo]

Well, personally I don´t have to high hopes of seeing the necklace ever again. Didn´t the royal family somewhere in the 60-ties or so sell some items? I recall a story of a courtier who walked through London and saw a piece of jewelry in the window of a shop that belonged to the Queen. He thought that the piece was stolen and called Soestdijk Palace, only to be informed that they actually sold a few pieces. I don´t have too many hopes for the Peacock tiara and necklace either, I wouldn´t be surprised if Irene sold them to pay for her ex-husbands Carlists, the chateau Lignieres or for her own nature initiatives. It would be odd for Margarita to wear a tiara at her wedding closely associated with the van Vollenhoven brides while your own mother has a rather magnificent piece in the vault (albeit with Rubies, so maybe not that suitable for a wedding).

The Amsterdam tiara can never be recreated again btw, the jeweller received the frame as a payment, which he melted down.

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On the other hand, you never know with the Orange-Nassau´s. The Queens daughter-in-laws made her dust of some pieces that we hadn´t seen for ages either, so....

[magnik]

Few are on this site:
http://www.royaldutchjewels.nl/