"De Kongelige Juveler" ("The Royal Jewels") (2011), DR Documentary

[gerry]

Originally Posted by espejor

I agree with you: the second part was very disappointing for me. I would have seen new jewels or jewels owned by the lesser known members of the Romanov dynasty.

Regards!

The only disappointment in Part 2 for me was to witness how much was lost during and after the Russian Revolution! It will be difficult to get the image out of my head of workmen picking apart the beautiful pieces of jewelry made by master craftsmen for what purpose? Indeed the sadness of Prince Michael was moving, but for me his admission that he could not afford to buy back his own grandfather's cigarette case made by Faberge was jaw dropping! How much the world has changed over the past one hundred years we can see thanks to this fabulous documentary!

[Viv]

Originally Posted by Baroness of Books

I'd love to see more installments on other royal houses' jewels such as the Dutch, Norwegian, Belgian, Spanish and Luxembourg, then maybe we'd see the royal ladies interviewed as well. Imagine the jewels we'd see and the stories we'd hear......

I also preferred the first part of the docu! The last part was mostly rehashed material although charmingly presented by the 'casted' royals.
In general it was great as an introduction but.. if you already know a little about the subject, there wasn't much uncharted territory.

viv

[RubyPrincess168]

Originally Posted by gerry

Indeed the sadness of Prince Michael was moving, but for me his admission that he could not afford to buy back his own grandfather's cigarette case made by Faberge was jaw dropping!

That part was surprising and moving. It's a shame he couldn't afford to buy the cigarette case, but I hope he at least tried. Maybe he could've gotten a pair of cuff links instead?

[Tilia C.]

I liked both parts very much. The 2nd part was less glittering, but that was due to the topic, as most of the Russian jewels were destroyed or lost. But the history behind it is more interesting and more touching. I shudder to think that the czar's family suffered even longer, because the bullets ricocheted off from the jewels sewn into the clothes. What terror they must have felt.

[mary stuart]

i have just watched 1and 2 and the history is facinating such wonderful jewels and those lost in the revolution as crown princess mary of denmark said you can learn history through jewels well all i can say is thanks to the royals houses that allowed these beauftiful jewels to be filmed and to lean there history even thou i cant speak danish or swedish thank you :)

[Baroness of Books]

Unfortunately, as a result of not knowing the language, I could only guess what was being narrated during the documentaries. I know I missed a lot of important and interesting information and hope one of these days it will have narration in English.

[Viv]

Especially for Tilia C.:
Further information about the "three-piece-tiara" of Queen Margrethe, which allegedly was sold to HM King Frederik by the late Wagner tenor Lauritz Melchior:
I found an old review of Bjarne Steen Jensens book on Danish royal jewellery. It said that the author had missed an article in Berlingske Tidende (Danish newspaper) of 7th oct. 1963 which told the story. Lauritz Melchior's wife had died and the singer wanted to sell the tiara in Denmark, maybe because of it's provenance:
It had originally belonged to Russian Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna, who married Grand Duke Friedrich Frans of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. One of their daughters was Alexandrine, who eventually became queen of Denmark.
If this story holds water - hopefully it does, being published in a serious broadsheet newspaper in 1963 - King Frederik simply bought a tiara which had belonged to his maternal grand mother.
The sale went through a Danish jeweller, by the way!

viv

[Tilia C.]

Oh Viv, you make my day! This is exactly the kind of info I'd cherish. I guess I'm a bit like Queen Margrethe: not counting the carats, but counting the centuries! The thought that this tiara was originally from the family, makes it even more valuable in my eyes. Thank you very much!

[maria-olivia]

Part 2
Too much Karats while the Russians were so miserable.
Very interesting indeed. The picture of the Dowager Empress in front of the Boat King Georges V send for bringing her back to the UK is pathetic , she left her son and her grandchildren in Russia.

[Tilia C.]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Part 2
Too much Karats while the Russians were so miserable.
Very interesting indeed. The picture of the Dowager Empress in front of the Boat King Georges V send for bringing her back to the UK is pathetic , she left her son and her grandchildren in Russia.

But there was nothing that she could do for them by staying in Russia, was there?

[Warren]

If she'd stayed, chances are she would have been either shot and bayonetted, or thrown down a mineshaft.

[Viv]

Originally Posted by maria-olivia

Part 2
The picture of the Dowager Empress in front of the Boat King Georges V send for bringing her back to the UK is pathetic , she left her son and her grandchildren in Russia.

But they had been dead for two years when she left Russia! The thing is that she didn't know - or didn't want to know? Getting her on board that ship took some persuation!

viv

[maria-olivia]

Viv, you are right King Georges V send the HSM Marlborough in Yalta on 11/4/1919 two years later . Thanks for correcting.

[Lady Rosie]

For those in Australia who haven't seen The Royal Jewels yet, it will be on SBS Christmas day at 7.30pm.

This is part one. Part 2 will air on Sat. Dec 31st.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a wonderful Christmas. May you have a lovely day with those closest to you.

[gerry]

Thank you for your good wishes and information about the Royal Jewels broadcast in Australia. I also wish all a very happy Christmas and holiday season with the hope that Australian members will share the link to this fabulous documentary with the rest of us!

[Lady Rosie]

Gerry,
As soon as a link appears on SBS (usually after the programmes are aired) I will try to send a link.

So glad an English (or subtitled- not sure what it will be) will be shown here.

[Tricota]

Actually all comments were in English/French, only narrated in Danish, which I am sure will change to English when aired in Aus.. It seemed like one of those programs, that was intended for international use and each country could then do their own naration...

[Lady Rosie]

Here is the link to The Royal Jewels part1.

SBS On Demand - The Royal Jewels Ep 1 - Through Generations

The link only lasts 7 days from yesterday.

[AnnaNotherThing]

I watched it on TV last night...love the opulence of all the jewels and another highlight was hearing Mary pronounce 'Australia' like a Dane...I think she said something like 'Oh-strah-lee-yah-uh'...Very weird but cool

[T4phage]

I think the link only works for those in Australia...I'm in Canada and it isn't loading for me :(