Distribution of the Jewels of Queen Elizabeth II


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Personally I think whatever "category" certain tiaras may have had officially the late Queen will have seen it as her duty to hand them all over to Charles as heirlooms rather than divying them up between the wider RF. I wonder if she has also learnt lessons from significant pieces going into other lines of the family and being sold off.

She will have had excellent advice on how to hand anything over i the most tax efficient way possible, leaving a tiara or significant jewels to anyone other than Charles will have seen a tax upon it. More likely IMO they've all gone to Charles with an understanding some pieces may continue being used "on loan" in the future (really this only now affects Sophie as Anne wears her own and of course Catherine is his Daughter in Law). The only possible exception may be pieces the Queen has given away in her lifetime, 7 years before her death which won't now be taxed. I doubt she has given away any significant pieces in such a way personally but its the only other "tax efficient" way to do it.

In term of tiaras all the "working" female members have tiaras they can access - Camilla as consort has presumably free reign over the whole collection, likewise I'm sure Catherine won't have to beg for any tiaras for work events. Anne uses her own tiaras - the Greek meander, the festoon and the pine cone which may well still be in the "collection" but more likely IMO is Anne's personal property. The only other one she has worn in the mysterious double key tiara, the Queen seems likely to have inherited this from the Queen Mother upon her death - its either still in the "collection" or she may have gifted it to Anne when it became her property in 2002 and being more than 7 years ago, would have been done so tax free. Either way, Anne has at least two tiaras she can wear for royal duties, probably 3, maybe 4.

Sophie has the aquamarine necklace/tiara which seems to be her personal property. Who knows about her wedding tiara -some say the pieces used to make it are significant from Victoria's reign but she was allowed to modify them extensively when the tiara was redone after 20 years which makes me wonder if it wasn't gifted to her as a wedding present. Even if she were suddenly denied access to the 5 stone aquamarine tiara from the Queen's collection she would have at least one, likely two tiaras to wear.

In other words, when it comes to tiaras I don't think the late Queen will have been giving an out in her will. Either she'll have done so already or chosen to keep her collection all together.

I think the same is true for any other significant jewels - smaller pieces will have been given for wedding presents etc already so be personal property. Larger, more significant pieces will remain part of the "collection" she passes to Charles.

As for Louise, Beatrice and Eugenie - while I don't think there is any evidence Charles wouldn't lend them tiaras if required - it is also worth noting Sophie and Sarah (we can maybe presume) have at least one tiara of their own they could lend if required, just as Anne loaned her daughter and daughter in law her own tiaras for their weddings.
 
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Sophie has the aquamarine necklace/tiara which seems to be her personal property. Who knows about her wedding tiara -some say the pieces used to make it are significant from Victoria's reign but she was allowed to modify them extensively when the tiara was redone after 20 years which makes me wonder if it wasn't gifted to her as a wedding present. Even if she were suddenly denied access to the 5 stone aquamarine tiara from the Queen's collection she would have at least one, likely two tiaras to wear.


The ownership of Sophie's wedding tiara has been clarified by Angela Kelly in The Other Side of the Coin. She writes, "From that point on, Mr. Collins [Harry Collins, G. Collins & Sons] and I formed a fruitful working relationship which saw him tend to some of the most significant pieces in Her Majesty's collection, including the alteration of the Vladimir Tiara [the castings on the emerald drops] and of the Countess of Wessex's wedding tiara, which was recently redesigned for the State Banquet with President Trump."
 
I wonder if some of the jewerly suites that were gifts from the Middle East, prior to the change in rules about gifts, have been left to the various women in the family. Those jewels don't have the history and several of them, like the emerald tassel parure, are not overwhelming so they could be worn by more distant royals.
Based on her wedding jewelry Eugenie likes emeralds so maybe she will get the emerald tassel parure. I'm not sure what the jewelry preferences are for the other women in the family
 
I wonder if some of the jewerly suites that were gifts from the Middle East, prior to the change in rules about gifts, have been left to the various women in the family. Those jewels don't have the history and several of them, like the emerald tassel parure, are not overwhelming so they could be worn by more distant royals.
Based on her wedding jewelry Eugenie likes emeralds so maybe she will get the emerald tassel parure. I'm not sure what the jewelry preferences are for the other women in the family

I would not expect to see jewellery that had been received from a foreign state being distributed to non-mail line royals irrespective of when the jewels came into force. It is entirely possible loans may be made from time to time, but any gifts will probably be made from jewellery either purchased by the family themselves, or by previous generations.

The only exception to this seems to be the pearl necklace with kundan pieces worn by Anne, that had been received from Ayub Khan of Pakistan in the 1960s.
 
Just the time will tell what will happen to the jewels of HM. For me it seems to be logical Charles will inherit all Tiaras, and maybe "old" necklaces of Queen ElizabethII, Greville pieces and brooches in connection of the Commonwealth. I could imagine some of the "saudi" gifts and modern pieces will go to her daughter in law and granddaughters. I hope I´m wrong but maybe P.Anne as only daughter will receive bigger pieces like the sapphire necklace or the Baring Ruby necklace.

It would be nice to see the Princess of Wales in the Fringe Tiara or the Girls of Great Britain Tiara without the base, as another option maybe a lifetime loan or William might inherit them. For Queen Camilla I hope she will bring back the Oriental Circle Tiara with the Crown Ruby necklace, and of course the Amethyst necklace!. It would be interesting to see the Greville emeralds with the Diamond Kokoshnik Tiara.. What about the GD Vladimir Tiara with pearls paired with Q.Alexandra's Wedding necklace?
 
Keep an eye on Bracelets

I think Princess Anna might get items of jewelry closely linked to Prince Philip, Princess Anna was generally considered his favorite, items like the diamond bracelet that was his wedding gift to QE and the 5th Anniversary bracelet.

Another piece(s) that I think could end up with various other members is the Queen Mothers Cartier bracelets either individually or as a set of 5 with the pieces to convert into a bandeau. Each bracelet was a gift from QE's father to her mother so they strike me as family pieces rather than royal.
 
I would like to see Camilla use the Queen's girandole earrings. They are a versatile and dressy pair of earrings with some presence, and would be visible with Camila's hair. They could be good alternative to her Peardrop diamond earrings.

The Greville chandelier earringsm, IMO, would work very well for Catherine. She is tall, has a long neck and could do justice to the earrings.
 
We might see some of the late queen's jewels at the upcoming South African State Banquet!
 
We might see some of the late queen's jewels at the upcoming South African State Banquet!

I do hope the South African diamond necklace and bracelet get used by Camilla.
 
It would be a good piece to wear and very simple.
 
Both Sophie and Kate have worn items that belonged to the Queen, how will we know if they inherited the items or if it was a loan
 
Both Sophie and Kate have worn items that belonged to the Queen, how will we know if they inherited the items or if it was a loan

Generally we won't. Royal wills are not made public (much to the annoyance of the republican movement and the likes of the Guardian newspaper).

There will probably be rumours and articles quoting unnamed "sources close to..." but we will probably only know for certain if Catherine or Sophie say so in an interview and I'd say that's very unlikely.
 
Both Sophie and Kate have worn items that belonged to the Queen; how will we know if they inherited the items or if it was a loan

The vast majority of the late Queen's personal property will have been inherited by her successor as monarch-to-monarch bequests are not taxed. There may have been a few "small" bequests but that would be it. The only way the world will ever know is if, far in the future, Louise or the future Mrs. James wears a particular piece. King Charles may be more willing to "share the wealth" than his mother was.
 
There are three collections:

The Crown Jewels kept at the Tower of London including things like St Edward's Crown

The Royal Collection which is kept in the various royal palaces and includes jewellery, art works etc. This collection was started by George IV and is also now the property of the nation. Whenever a royal visits somewhere and is given an official gift over a certain amount it automatically now is added to the Royal Collection although the recipient royal has the right of use for his/her lifetime. This doesn't includes gifts given as wedding or birthday presents.

The third group of jewels are those that are privately owned.

While monarch to monarch inheritance remains free from inheritance tax these jewels can remain privately owned but when a government does decide to change that exemption it will make sense to put them into the Royal Collection or they will be taxed.
I think that setting up a foundation or trust to specifically hold private jewels would be safer than the Royal Collection, given the confusion of the ownership of certain items in the Royal Collection
 
I think that setting up a foundation or trust to specifically hold private jewels would be safer than the Royal Collection, given the confusion of the ownership of certain items in the Royal Collection

Is there any confusion of ownership of certain items in the Royal Collection? Any confusion may be in our minds as we don't have all the information, but I suspect the Trustees of the Royal Collection know exactly what the Collection contains.

Not sure how a Trust for private jewellery would help.
 
Is there any confusion of ownership of certain items in the Royal Collection? Any confusion may be in our minds as we don't have all the information, but I suspect the Trustees of the Royal Collection know exactly what the Collection contains.

Not sure how a Trust for private jewellery would help.
Because there are disputes as to whether the Royal Collection Trust is property of the Nation or private entity.
 
Because there are disputes as to whether the Royal Collection Trust is property of the Nation or private entity.

On top of that, there appears to be different views between the Royal Collection and the BRF, etc. in what belongs to the RC and what belongs to the BRF. I would love for the King to clarify once and for all that the Royal Collection belongs to the nation, the sovereign is just the caretaker, and to also do an audit to establish what belongs to the RC and what to the BRF. However, this would open the gates to intense scrutiny of the BRFs private wealth.
 
Because there are disputes as to whether the Royal Collection Trust is property of the Nation or private entity.

Who are the disputes between?

From the RCT website: The Royal Collection is held in trust by The King as Sovereign for his successors and the nation. It is not owned by him as a private individual.
 
On top of that, there appears to be different views between the Royal Collection and the BRF, etc. in what belongs to the RC and what belongs to the BRF.

Is there any credible evidence of such a dispute in the public domain?
 
I am not sure what the confusion is, other than we the public do not know all the details.

The tiaras the jewels etc belong to the RC, gifts to members of the family on royal tours are part of the RC ( there might be a value over element, not sure)

If for example William presented Catherine with a piece of jewellery for her birthday or anniversary I would view that as personal.

After the death of Princess Margaret some of her jewels were sold at auction, so they were obviously personal to her.

Catherine wears the tiara that Diana wore but that is because it is part of the RC, she wears her ring because it was personal to her and went to her sons.

We do not need to know everything, we would like to but we don't.

The fact that Catherine wears quite a few pieces worn by Diana could cause confusion, is she wearing pieces inherited by William , or are they part of the RC but because of the association she likes to wear them. Were certain pieces of jewellery presented to the then Princess of Wales so are part of the RC for future Princesses of Wales or did they remain in her private collection. Meghans ring contains diamonds from Dianas private collection so there were obviously differences. .
 
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On top of that, there appears to be different views between the Royal Collection and the BRF, etc. in what belongs to the RC and what belongs to the BRF. I would love for the King to clarify once and for all that the Royal Collection belongs to the nation, the sovereign is just the caretaker, and to also do an audit to establish what belongs to the RC and what to the BRF. However, this would open the gates to intense scrutiny of the BRFs private wealth.

The pieces of jewelry that belong to the Royal Collection are well documented. I would assume that anything that is not in Collection is privately owned. There is no need to do an audit in my opinion because this information is already publicly available.

Second, while the RC is not owned by the King as an individual, that is not the same as saying that it belongs "to the Nation". The UK is an old-style monarchy (in the constitutional sense) where the Crown is" the State". The RC is the property of King in right of the Crown, which is the coporation sole of the monarch, and held in trust "for the benefit of the Nation". When the King dies, it passes automatically to the next King as the office holder of the corporation.

The question is what happens if the monarchy is abolished. Is the trust then nationalized , i.e. property of the Republic (or "the State") as the successor to the Crown, or does it revert personally to the last King? The answer is not clear, but I would guess that the Republic would nationalize it, along with the Crown Estate and the Occupied Royal Palaces, but possibly some form of compensation would be settled with the Mountbatten-Windsors (that could be politically tricky).
 
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I think it would be prudent for the BRF to have a trust for personal family jewels (and other items) that is separate from the Royal Collection. The Royal Collection of course has an important role but I think having a private trust to keep all the personal things in would be prudent.

Then you would have:

The Crown Jewels for the state regalia

The Royal Collection for items that are from official gifts, left in trust for the monarch (Queen Victoria did this with several items) and those that clearly go along with the official role

The Mountbatten-Windsor Family Trust (purely made up name) for items that belong solely and personally by the family, items purchased personally and things like the Greville bequest, hte items presented by Philip to his wife etc
 
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I think it would be prudent for the BRF to have a trust for personal family jewels (and other items) that is separate from the Royal Collection. The Royal Collection of course has an important role but I think having a private trust to keep all the personal things in would be prudent.

Then you would have:

The Crown Jewels for the state regalia

The Royal Collection for items that are from official gifts, left in trust for the monarch (Queen Victoria did this with several items) and those that clearly go along with the official role

The Mountbatten-Windsor Family Trust (purely made up name) for items that belong solely and personally by the family, items purchased personally and things like the Greville bequest, hte items presented by Philip to his wife etc

Yes, that is a good idea. British monarchs have a tendency to leave most privately held items to the heir, but, if there is no family trust, there is always a risk that things will be lost over generations. Look how many of Queen Mary's jewels went to the Gloucesters and the Kents and who knows what will happen to them when the current Dukes/Duchesses pass away. The impact is not that much felt only because Queen Mary had lots of jewels (and could spare some for collateral lines), and both the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II added more to what they inherited, but we can't count on that being always the case in future generations.
 
I would like to think, for my purely sentimental reasons, that each of the granddaughters got something very nice. Identifiable. Perhaps a Brooch ?

I always love seeing Lady Sarah decked out in Princess Margaret gorgeous pearl and diamond earings. She also wore her gorgeous pearl necklace to Charles's Coronation.
The four girls, Zara, Beatrice, Eugenie and Louise all had reportedly a very close and loving relationship. I just hope that they got something special.

It just always *kinda* irked me that Princess Alexandra seems to have come up quite short in the jewels inheritance from her Grandmother Queen Mary, and they reportedly were close. Of course QEll got nearly all, but Princess Margaret got some lovely pieces too, a giant stunning diamond necklace from Queen Mary for example.
 
I think it would be prudent for the BRF to have a trust for personal family jewels (and other items) that is separate from the Royal Collection. The Royal Collection of course has an important role but I think having a private trust to keep all the personal things in would be prudent.

Then you would have:

The Crown Jewels for the state regalia

The Royal Collection for items that are from official gifts, left in trust for the monarch (Queen Victoria did this with several items) and those that clearly go along with the official role

The Mountbatten-Windsor Family Trust (purely made up name) for items that belong solely and personally by the family, items purchased personally and things like the Greville bequest, hte items presented by Philip to his wife etc

Yes, that is a good idea. British monarchs have a tendency to leave most privately held items to the heir, but, if there is no family trust, there is always a risk that things will be lost over generations. Look how many of Queen Mary's jewels went to the Gloucesters and the Kents and who knows what will happen to them when the current Dukes/Duchesses pass away. The impact is not that much felt only because Queen Mary had lots of jewels (and could spare some for collateral lines), and both the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II added more to what they inherited, but we can't count on that being always the case in future generations.

I appreciate the broader point about keeping the collection together, and not loosing large parts of the collection to collateral lines. That said, a monarch who holds the ownership of the jewellery can just as easily keep the collection together, without resorting to losing ownership through a trust. George VI and Elizabeth II both achieved that objective.

As regards Queen Mary and the jewellery that passed down to the Kents, Gloucesters and the Harewoods, a lot of it was acquired by Queen Mary with the intent of passing it down. So whilst today seeing the vast Gloucester collection, which may be sold in time, may seem like a big loss to the main BRF collection of antique jewellery, a lot of it was contemporary jewellery acquired by Queen Mary as she liked a lot of jewellery and she knew she had many children to suitably bejewel. Few items passed to cadet branches were truly historic.
 
lot of it was contemporary jewellery acquired by Queen Mary as she liked a lot of jewellery and she knew she had many children to suitably bejewel. Few items passed to cadet branches were truly historic.


Quiet a bit was historic like the cambridge sapphire Parure which was given to the Kent's or the Teck turqiose Parure which is with the Gloucesters
and most notable Queen victoria's sapphires which had been gvien to Princess
And as good it is to keep the collection together it think somethinkg like a string of Pearls or a smaller brooch could have been given to the granddaughters of Elizabeth II.
 
I am not sure what the confusion is, other than we the public do not know all the details.

The tiaras the jewels etc belong to the RC, gifts to members of the family on royal tours are part of the RC ( there might be a value over element, not sure)

If for example William presented Catherine with a piece of jewellery for her birthday or anniversary I would view that as personal.

After the death of Princess Margaret some of her jewels were sold at auction, so they were obviously personal to her.

Catherine wears the tiara that Diana wore but that is because it is part of the RC, she wears her ring because it was personal to her and went to her sons.

We do not need to know everything, we would like to but we don't.

The fact that Catherine wears quite a few pieces worn by Diana could cause confusion, is she wearing pieces inherited by William , or are they part of the RC but because of the association she likes to wear them. Were certain pieces of jewellery presented to the then Princess of Wales so are part of the RC for future Princesses of Wales or did they remain in her private collection. Meghans ring contains diamonds from Dianas private collection so there were obviously differences. .
No tiara that Diana wore belongs to the RC. Diana’s jewels aren’t part of the RC Trust.
 
Quiet a bit was historic like the cambridge sapphire Parure which was given to the Kent's or the Teck turqiose Parure which is with the Gloucesters
and most notable Queen victoria's sapphires which had been gvien to Princess
And as good it is to keep the collection together it think somethinkg like a string of Pearls or a smaller brooch could have been given to the granddaughters of Elizabeth II.

The Cambridge sapphires in particular were stunning, it's such a pity that they are now lost to the main line of the royal family.
 
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