Queen Mathilde Jewellery 1: Ending 2021


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Mbruno said:
Fabiola's jewelry pieces that have been worn by Mathilde over the last years (like the waterfall brooch, the diamond and pearl earrings, the ruby bracelet, and the Wolfers necklace/tiara) were allegedly given to Mathilde while Fabiola was still alive. She could have done the same with the Spanish tiara. In any case, I don't see a reason why Fabiola would leave a tiara she wore as the Belgian queen to her Spanish relatives. Leaving them real estate in Spain is a different matter.

Like everybody else, I have no idea on who now owns the Spanish tiara, but, if I were to guess, I would say it is either with the Hulpfonds van de Koningin , or it is now personally owned by King Philippe or Queen Mathilde. If it had gone back to Spain, I assume Fabiola's relatives would have already sold it or broken it off by now as they have no need for tiaras.
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Her Late Majesty's family have their own family jewels, including a tiara. It makes sense to return the Spanish wedding gift to Spain. There is opportunity to imagine many theories of what happened to Queen Fabiola's belongings, we may never know.
 
Duc_et_Pair said:
Why would it not be wearable? It is an extremely versatile diadem and -in the course of 60 years- relatively seldom worn.
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Well, because metal breaks. I know I have had pieces that broke, through casting flaws, pressure/stress or being bent. Or a combo of those.

If you have ever seen a magician bend a spoon, you have seen how even versatile bits of metal can break.
 
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AdmirerUS said:
Well, because metal breaks. I know I have had pieces that broke, through casting flaws, pressure/stress or being bent. Or a combo of those.

If you have ever seen a magician bend a spoon, you have seen how even versatile bits of metal can break.
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There are plenty of expertise jewellers in Brussels for reparation. The last outing of Queen Mathilde with the Nine Provinces saw a revamped, clean diadem, almost as if it has received an ultrasone cleaning. So the Belgian royals know the way to the jeweller ;-)
 
It is just that Mathilde has not (yet?) worn it.... And the late Q Fabiola´s death is several years ago now. I am still hoping hoping hoping that this beautiful Tiara is remaining with the main Royal Line. As it simply makes no "sense" in my eyes to gift a Royal Tiara (which has been a present to the Royals at their Wedding Day) may become something else' s property.
BYe Bine
 
Bine221 said:
It is just that Mathilde has not (yet?) worn it.... And the late Q Fabiola´s death is several years ago now. I am still hoping hoping hoping that this beautiful Tiara is remaining with the main Royal Line. As it simply makes no "sense" in my eyes to gift a Royal Tiara (which has been a present to the Royals at their Wedding Day) may become something else' s property.
BYe Bine
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It has not been seen anymore since roughly 10-15 years. But Máxima has managed to pop up with jewels not been seen anymore for 40-50 years.

So all chance that the diadem is still in Laeken. But... Máxima has an enormous collection. She had the choice to let pieces in the cassettes. Mathilde needs to borrow jewels from jewellers. That is the weird situation.
 
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Bine221 said:
It is just that Mathilde has not (yet?) worn it.... And the late Q Fabiola´s death is several years ago now. I am still hoping hoping hoping that this beautiful Tiara is remaining with the main Royal Line. As it simply makes no "sense" in my eyes to gift a Royal Tiara (which has been a present to the Royals at their Wedding Day) may become something else' s property.
BYe Bine
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I totally agree. Fabiola got that tiara as a wedding gift because she married the King of the Belgians. The tiara was not gifted to her as Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón , but as the queen consort of Belgium. I can't imagine that she would leave it to her Spanish family, which was not even that close to her BTW, rather than leaving it to Belgian Royal Family, or to her successor as queen.
 
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Mbruno said:
[....] The tiara was not gifted to her as Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón , but as the queen consort of Belgium. [....].
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That is not entirely correct. The wedding present was handed over by Señora María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdes, Madame Franco, to Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, on December 6th 1960.

A week later Doña Fabiola wore it for the first time, still as a Spanish citizen, on December 14th 1960. A day later she would marry the King of the Belgians. So it was very much a present of Spain, chosen by the spouse of the Spanish Jefe del Estado, given in name of the Spanish people to an illustrious daughter of Spain, still a Spanish citizen indeed.

This means the diadem was private property of Doña Fabiola, which she received more than a week before the legal union with Baudouin. This means it belongs to the pre-marital private fortune of the late Queen.
 
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Duc_et_Pair said:
That is not entirely correct. The wedding present was handed over by Señora María del Carmen Polo y Martínez-Valdes, Madame Franco, to Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, on December 6th 1960.

Doña Fabiola wore it for the first time, still as a Spanish citizen, on December 14th 1960. A day later she would marry the King of the Belgians. So it was very much a present of Spain, chosen by the spouse of the Spanish Jefe del Estado, in name of the Spanish people to a Spanish citizen, a daughter of Spain indeed.
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Your timeline doesn't change my point: she was given the tiara because she was supposed to marry King Baudouin in a week or so. If she had not married the King, the Francos would not have given her a tiara.

Anyway, given the origin of the tiara (a present from a fascist dictator) and its doubtful quality (fake stones and all that), Queen Mathilde may be better off not wearing it at all. She needs a second (real) tiara though besides the Nine Provinces. Imagine a scenario where Mathilde is on a state visit to the UK: she would probably wear the Nine Provinces with the Wolfers necklace at the state dinner, but what would she wear at the Guildhall event ? If she had Queen Paola's tiara at her disposal, she'd be fine, but, otherwise, she'd have to wear the Brabant Laurel Wreath for example, which would be OK for a princess, but not for a visiting queen.
 
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I think the Spanish Wedding gift is fabulous, with an unsurpassed flexibility. When you see the floral wreath version you would not believe it is exactly the same diadem as the ducal coronet.

There were fake centre stones but they have been replaced. The lightblue aquamarines are real. The red stones are no rubies but garnets, but so is the "Black Prince's Ruby" in the British crown. The green stones are not emeralds but another green stone. But on itself nothing is fake. It are no plastic beads pretending something.
 
If Princess Marie Gabrielle of Savoie did not sell the Leuchtenberg tiara (gift from Charles Count of Flanders to his Sister Queen Marie Josée), the Queen of the Belgians should have one of the greatest tiaras.
 
maria-olivia said:
If Princess Marie Gabrielle of Savoie did not sell the Leuchtenberg tiara (gift from Charles Count of Flanders to his Sister Queen Marie Josée), the Queen of the Belgians should have one of the greatest tiaras.
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Why didn't the King of the Belgians buy it back ? According to Tiara Mania, it was sold at a Christie's auction in 2007. King Albert II could have made a bid although the final price was quite high (about 2 million US dollars).

I don't follow you logic though. If Princess Maria Gabriella had not sold it, it would not have come back to the Belgian RF anyway. Eventually, it would have been inherited by Maria Gabriella's daughter, wouldn't it ?

I don't blame Queen Élisabeth either for leaving that magnificent tiara to the Count of Flanders rather than to the main line. After all, she had already left her Cartier tiara to Léopold, which unfortunately was sold later by Princess Lilian, and leaving anything to his grandson, as Duc explained, would probably be difficult given Belgium's inheritance laws.
 
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Mbruno said:
Why didn't the King of the Belgians buy it back ? According to Tiara Mania, it was sold at a Christie's auction in 2007. King Albert II could have made a bid although the final price was quite high (about 2 million US dollars).
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Believe it or not but I suspect the monarchs of Europe have more pressing things on their minds than buying back jewels that once belonged to relatives of theirs. Especially in a country in the midst of political turmoil and being at the start of the worst recession to hit Europe since the twenties.
 
JR76 said:
Believe it or not but I suspect the monarchs of Europe have more pressing things on their minds than buying back jewels that once belonged to relatives of theirs. Especially in a country in the midst of political turmoil and being at the start of the worst recession to hit Europe since the twenties.
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King Juan Carlos is rumored to have bought back tiaras that once belonged to his grandmother to rebuild the family's collection. King Albert II bought an yatch. I don't know how much that cost, but he could have used the money to buy back historical pieces like a tiara that was worn by his grandmother and once belonged to Empress Joséphine.
 
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Mbruno said:
King Juan Carlos is rumored to have bought back tiaras that once belonged to his grandmother to rebuild the family's collection. King Albert II bought an yatch. I didn't know how much that cost, but he could have used the money to buy back historical pieces like a tiara that was worn by his grandmother and once belonged to Empress Joséphine.
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Apparently he'd rather have a boat than a tiara.
 
King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth bought the Leuchtenberg tiara for Charles future wife. He never married.
The relationship between the two brothers was that bad that he gave his tiara to his Sister at the end of his life.
Sadly Queen Marie José was to old for wearing tiaras and we never saw the tiara on any Savoie Royal.
We lost two important tiaras because of hate between our Royals since Generations.
 
I still not understand "the whole estate of the late Queen is transferred to the foundation Hulpfonds van de Koningin". That is a charity of the Queen. It enables Queen Mathilde to help people in crisis with some cash, with hand-outs.

But... the estate of Queen Fabiola was also her personal properties, her dresses, hats, shoes, jewels. Her cars. Her art collection. Her porcelain, her silverware, her crystalware. Her library, her archives. Her countless gifts, her Orders, her souvenirs. But also her real estate in Belgium, France and Spain. Her investments and her savings.

It is lovely that the Hulpfonds van de Koningin received it all, but WHAT can they do with it? They provide Queen Mathilde with cash to help people in need. You can not hand over Fabiola's handbag or salad bowl or diamond collier to a homeless begging for money. That is the unclarity in this story. Has the Hulpfonds to sell the properties, amongst these the Spanish Wedding Gift (offer it to the family first?) to obtain cash which they need?
 
JR76 said:
Apparently he'd rather have a boat than a tiara.
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It seems the belgian royals are not much interested in Jewels and therfore not in buying back peaces that have left the Family (like King Juan Carlos and King CArl Gustaf have done it).
Otherwise Queen Mathilde could also do like Crown pricness mary and byuing a unknown antique peace at an smaller auction instead of borrowing Jewels from jewellers.
 
I don't know how rich King Philippe is. The bulk of the private wealth will be with his father, King Albert II. We tend to forget that. The same with Princess Beatrix, Grand-Duke Jean and King Juan Carlos. They have adbicated but are very much alive of course. The main wealth of the family will be with them, not with the new monarchs.
 
:previous:Maybe if King Albert still has his yacht he bought and is not using it at this stage of his life then perhaps he could sale it and help fill the vault of missing jewels that should be in the Belgium Royal Family, after all in the future there will be an heir, Princess Elizabeth who will need some jewelry.
 
I agree. Albert II has children, grandchildren and a great-grandchild. Fabiola has no any descendants. It lies more in line that Albert "cares" for sparklers for his issue than Fabiola had to care about glittering diamonds for the daughters to the children to one of her late husband's siblings.
 
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I am no expert, but judging by the constant polemics (at different levels) going on in Belgium against royalty, especially when it comes to dotations and spending of the public money, I think Philippe and Mathilde want to avoid any complain from their subjects or any attack from political parties (NVA in particular). It's not a bad thing to borrow jewellery after all, IMO: it allows Mathilde to sport every time something different as well as "advertising" Belgian jewellers all over the world. If only they would lend her some proper tiara occasionally....
As for Queen Fabiola's tiara, I hope it has been put aside specially for Elisabeth to wear on due time, when she'll come of age. Pity though that Q. Paola seems to have given her beautiful bandeau to Astrid's family, when she has a granddaughter who will be queen herself one day. It speaks volume of the bad relationship among the members of this pretty dysfunctional family.
 
 
The Pearl Drop Earrings on February 20th are stunning,I'm not sure what sort of design is on the brooch.
 
 
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Princess Larisa said:
Queen Mathilde’s jewellery the past 5 days:
March 6:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXtUfQZW4AA3sue?format=jpg

March 7:
http://0.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:133593630:1800x650:w?v=5a817e8d&m=dkdijolf
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DXtVPzfX0AIslid?format=jpg

March 9:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DX3R4zPX4AAwoJ3?format=jpg

March 11 in Canada:
https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...m-speak-with-scott-brison-picture-id930576664

March 12 in Canada:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYGm1T7XcAAuCs9?format=jpg
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DYGmx71XcAAoE0R?format=jpg
http://0.t.cdn.belga.be/belgaimage:133766451:1200x312:w?v=5aa6a696&m=kfolfhfe
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I hadn't noticed the golden maple leaf before.

If she followed through with the Canada theme, she would wear the Spanish wedding gift tiara with the red stones tonight, but I'm 100 % sure that will not happen !
 
Mbruno said:
I hadn't noticed the golden maple leaf before.

If she followed through with the Canada theme, she would wear the Spanish wedding gift tiara with the red stones tonight, but I'm 100 % sure that will not happen !
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It turned up halfway through the day, so perhaps a gift.
ETA:
Correction, Mathilde wore a dress, a coat AND a cape. The brooch was on the coat, so we saw it inside when she took of the cape. I assume she had the brooch on the whole time.
Now I’m wondering if it’s a costume piece or real gold.

I would be thrilled to see the Spanish gift tiara worn as a necklace or a brooch, just to know it’s alive and well:ROFLMAO:.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XEVqaqs7dWw/URwpj27GEkI/AAAAAAAAUG0/W8Gg6y6vQUw/s1600/_Wed4.jpg
 
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I think we will not see a diadem at all. This is no visit to a "colleague" King or Queen and also not white tie.
 
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