Oct. '04: Jewel of the Month

[reynard]

Text by reynard




Welcome to “Jewel of the Month,” where we will feature a different tiara or parure each month. Since we are highlighting the Greek royal family this month with Prince Nikolaos's birthday, I thought we would tie in a parure from the Danish collection, as the Greeks are also styled as “Prince/ss of Greece and Denmark."

(For the thread in the Royal Jewels Forum, please see
Queen Margrethe Jewellery.)

This month, let’s take a look at the emerald parure from the crown jewels of Denmark (pictures #1 and 2.) The first time I saw this magnificent suite of jewels was in a picture of Sandringham House, the country estate of the Queen of England. Queen Louise of Denmark was the mother of Queen Alexandra of England, Consort of King Edward VII. Her portrait, featuring the emerald parure, hangs in the Small drawing room of Sandringham House. (picture #5) I had to find out more about these jewels! Many years later, as my interest in Royalty grew, I was able to find many pictures of this parure and I found out a little bit of its history.

The emerald parure was made in the mid 1700’s by C.M. Weishaupt & Sons, and it consists of a total of 67 emeralds and 2,650 diamonds. 26 of the big emeralds were already in the Danish royal family - and the rest were bought. It is a part of the official Crown Jewels and as such does not leave the country. It has been worn by generations of Danish queens (pictures #6 and #7). The parure was most recently worn at the pre-wedding gala of Prince Frederick and Mary Donaldson. (picture #4). What I admire about the Danish collection is that there are some very old jewels that are still worn to beautiful effect in our modern age.


Here are some good links for additional information :

http://www.geocities.com/slaikjaer/

http://royal-jewels.tripod.com/dt/main.html

http://groups.msn.com/RoyaltyDanjel2/jouwwebpagina10.msnw