Worst Royal Jewels 1


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This is definitely an interesting tiara. I wouldn't classify it as beautiful. What do you guys think? The name I'm not sure of but it belongs to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Does anyone know the name?

Source: Geoffrey C. Mann/Tiara: A History of Splender



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kerry said:
This is definitely an interesting tiara. I wouldn't classify it as beautiful. What do you guys think? The name I'm not sure of but it belongs to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Does anyone know the name?
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From Mr Munn, p241: A tiara from the Devonshire Parure, a suite of seven monumental pieces of jewellery for Countess Granville to wear in Moscow when her husband represented Queen Victoria at the coronation of Tsar Alexander II in 1856... It should be noted that the intaglios and cameos are of the greatest importance and finest quality."

cameo: a small piece of onyx or other hard stone carved in relief with a background of a different colour.
intaglio: a gem with an incised design.
 
Dear Members,

It should also be noted that many of the precious gems have been removed so that the effect now of these works cannot be fully appreciated. Looking at a frame of gold with all those empty holes is not a happy experience. I personally have found the whole parure just beyond me. It is in a medieval or renaissance style or possibly a heavy Victorian take off on those styels that I do not care for at all. The set is quite massive both in size, complexity and quantity and quality of the jewels, gems and art work.

Upon further consideration I must say that my original impression may be distorted due to the removal of so many of the no doubt quite brilliant gems, which is really a pity. It is bad enough to have to judge things from photographs but to see the ruined frames at best is even worse so that what one sees is unbalanced, to say the least.
 
Prince of Chota said:
(sigh...) Fuerstin Gloria von Thurn und Taxis does have some really amazing (and beautiful) jewellery. I think that in most cases it was simply a casualty of the "punk princess" taste in 1980's couture. (Although I have to agree that the Diamant Collier is atrocious). Alas, the beautiful diamond and pearl tiara that she wore to her wedding (and again to a birthday costume party for her husband) has been returned to France, as it had belonged to the empress Eugenie.
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She wore Eugenie's tiara in a well-known photo and it lookd ghastly. Gloria wore it with some poofy hairdo while Eugenie wore it with her hair much shorter.

This also makes me think of the Brunei ladies with the busy clothes that almost wash out their jewels. The jewels seem to be gorgeous, but they're lost in the clutter.
 
gogm said:
This also makes me think of the Brunei ladies with the busy clothes that almost wash out their jewels. The jewels seem to be gorgeous, but they're lost in the clutter.
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Agree, in fact the only royals with any taste in clothing are the minor Bruneian royals. You can check out P Huda's wedding photos, her elegant and simple dress and jewellry and compare it with P Sarah's wedding photos..who looks the most stunning?

P Huda. Her jewellery is not big or bulky like Sarah's but then Sarah's jewellry could hardly be seen...she may as well not have bothered wearing any jewellry. Or chose simpler clothing like P Huda.
 
Princess Huda

:flowers:I agree Zina! Her wedding dress is spectacularly lovely, far more so than the clothes of her family members.
 
Thomas Parkman said:
As for the Wurtemburg thinge, it has such a harmless ugliness about it that one almost finds charming. It is just the sort of thing that one would wear in the role of the good witch in Hansel and Gretel or as the Princess Pet on her ice cream planet if one were going to a young child's birthday party. Of course if you were to wear it as part of a costume in drag or to a Halloween party you would run the rish of being run down by on going traffic, plastered to death with Halloween candy or even hunted down and murdered in the street with beer bottles. Cheers. Thomas Parkman
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I think if someone photoshopped the stars off of it, it would look similar to this tiara worn by Queen Elizabeth II - http://www.theroyalforums.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=216905&d=1132963512

The stars would make interesting brooches or worn alone in one's hair.
 
kerry said:
This is definitely an interesting tiara. I wouldn't classify it as beautiful. What do you guys think? The name I'm not sure of but it belongs to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. Does anyone know the name?
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very special, but I really don't like it. Some kind of star-trek tiara...
 
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Actually it seems to be a Victorian take off on a medieval or renaissance style that would impress even the extremely rich Byzantine and oriental opulence of the Russian Imperian Court, which went into some pretty heavy, massive jewelry. Much of which is just too much for my taste.

In fact most of it is hideous, too big, too massive and must have given the poor ladies wearing the stuff headaches galore. There are of course some glorious things, now in the possession of the BRF. The Princess Vladimir being the prize example.

The suite consists of seven massive pieces of jewelry from which the gems have been extracted for one reason or another and so one cannot really judge the total effect. But I think the thing is definately overdone. Believe me with that stuff on your head it really would be hard to head for outer space, I suppose the Duchess of Devonshire or whomever had to have neck braces and massive supports to hold her clothes on when she put all that stuff on. Can you imagine, at your grand kow tow to His Imperial Majesty, the Czar and Autocrat of all the Russias bedecked in jewels and clothes sufficient to pay the national debt you bow just wrong and all your clothes fall off due to the wieght of all that jewelry and there you stand in your bra and bloomers with THAT contraption stuck around your neck.

A truly historic moment indeed. Cheers.
 
gogm said:
She wore Eugenie's tiara in a well-known photo and it lookd ghastly. Gloria wore it with some poofy hairdo while Eugenie wore it with her hair much shorter.

This also makes me think of the Brunei ladies with the busy clothes that almost wash out their jewels. The jewels seem to be gorgeous, but they're lost in the clutter.
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Please don't take this personally, but I disagree with both of your points.

I believe you are referring to the pictures of Fuerstin Gloria at an eighteenth-century costume party, in honour of her husband's birthday. It is not a fair venue to judge how she wears the piece in more usual circumstances. However, I do think that the piece went very well with the decadent nature of the costume, and I think the princess carried it off very well. You may also want to find the pictures of Gloria at her wedding, for which she also donned the Eugenie pearl tiara. It looks beautiful and her hair is, as you said, much closer to the head.

On another note, I think that the Brunei jewels are some of the most repulsive in the world. They show no taste, and are far too abstract in design for my taste. The effect that they have on me is rather akin to watching cheap beauty queen tiaras; they tend to look fake.

Once again, no personal attacks, just an opinion...
 
Prince of Chota said:
On another note, I think that the Brunei jewels are some of the most repulsive in the world. They show no taste, and are far too abstract in design for my taste. The effect that they have on me is rather akin to watching cheap beauty queen tiaras; they tend to look fake.

..
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Couldn't agree more. In my opinion, it's clear that, for all their money, the Brunei family can't buy taste. Their choices are tacky at best: that wedding tiara of bride (Sarah?) looked indeed like a cheap copy of a miss World pageant contest; I mean, can you say totally tacky?! And her bridal bouquet was made out of gold and diamonds, but instead of "classy", it merely said, "cash". To which I say, yeehaw! Not! I mean, by now the whole planet is aware that these people have money galore: no need to remind us in such a tastless way, ugh. This is not politically correct to say, but I'll say it anyway: seems to me that some of these Asian upper class families are trying so hard to emulate western class, they go way overboard and totally miss the mark.
 
I Googled on "Gloria Thurn Taxis wedding" and found a teeny picture, the same picture found when searching "Gloria Thurn Taxis." From what I could see without an electron microscope, she did look very nice in the Eugenie tiara.

Asian tastes are different from Western, but I believe the Brunei royals have overdone the glitter. Take a look at pictures of showy ladies and you'll find the jewels on plainer fabric to show them off, even in the ostentatious Renaissance (Elizabeth or various French queens) or pre World War I (Queens Alexandra and Mary and Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna) eras.
 
Although I think the Brunei jewels are ostentatious and very flashy, I don't think anything to do with taste or trying to copy western style. Asian style is Asian style. Designs are going to be different from western designs and that's just a different viewpoint of jewelry. Different cultures mark their wealth in different ways. The tiaras and crowns of Europe are a display of wealth.Even if in construction, the western jewelry is a bit simpler, the materials they use are top-notch metals and the most perfect stones. ALL jewelry is a display of wealth, no matter the design and culture that it's from.
 
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LOL:lol: Yes I agree as well, her wedding tiara was tacky. I hope she inherits some beautiful jewels on down the line. Maybe soon.. wink wink.;)
I have a question: Is it tradition in the Brueni family to carry that gold and diamond bridal bouquet? Or was it made just for her for the wedding?
 
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Re the Brunei royals, I think the jewelry is something of a mixed bad of tricks. Some are truly magnificent and some of a lesser level. However the problem really seems to be all those clothes. All those brightly colored clothes and completely covering the hair simply blocks out or buries the effect of the jewelry, so much of which is quite impressive. If they would restrain the clothing or the coloring of the materials it would create a much more effective and memorable presentation.

After all there is so much "oriental' taste that while different from "western" or European taste is still quite impressive and tasteful to persons with a western temperament or background.

It all seems a missuse of some wonderful jewelry. And as is the case with European royalty some of the ladies in question are quite attractive indeed. If they would only do something about those awful clothes. cheers.
 
princess olga said:
Asian upper class families are trying so hard to emulate western class, they go way overboard and totally miss the mark.
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This is always a problem with the "new money" of the world, regardless of content or culture. It is, however, more pronounced in non-western cultures as they become acculturated and often "miss the mark," as you say.

For a better example of Asian taste, see the jewellery of Empress Michiko and the Japanese imperial family. Often, the Fushimi-no-miya express more reserved tastes than those of Europe (see Queen Silvia of Sweden, esp. in the 1980's).
 
I agree with you!
I don't understand how can she breathe when she has those stones around her neck... and also that hairornament is too bad.
I like Princess Lilian's necklace more than the fist one, but it would show much better, if there would only stones of one colour. :)
 
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I think the Swedish laurel leaf tiara is in fact quite pretty, it just doesn't go well with Princess Lilian's hairdo, especially when placed this 'straight' instead of a slightly backwards angle.
As for the 'street light' necklace, it's really difficult to wear considering its length and hard to combine with the right dress because of the multitude of colors, but the oriental style is interesting and the provenance of it very sweet: It was a gift to CP Margaret from her in-laws, representing Egypt where Margaret and her furure husband first met - see the beautiful page on Ursulas site:

http://royal-magazin.de/sweden/crownprincess-margaretas-necklace.htm

I wouldn't count either piece among 'worst Royal jewels' at all. IMO the Bernadotte collection of jewels is the most beautiful around, with the notable exception of the two button tiaras which certainly qualify.
 
My God, Boris, without getting into a first class spat I must respectfully disagree. That necklace thing is absolutely hideous. To mix all those disparate colors is just too much, too daudy, to everything. That is why discretion and taste and a degree of understatement are absolutely necessary. These things can be overdone you know, which is why we have the worst royal jewels. I can only hope that it looks better in real life than in a photo because it is awful, simply awful.

The tiara is not too bad but then the Swedes have some first class plug uglies in their collection, starting with those ridiculous button tiaras. But then they have the lovely fringe tiara, the Connaught and of course the Leuchtenburg, even if that is overvbalanced. But that necklace. They need to take the thing apart and figure out something else to do with all those gemstones. Cheers.
 
I agree that CP Victoria's 4 Button Tiara is terrible. Whether it is the way she wears it or just the way it is only time will tell. However, Lillian's 6 Button Tiara is the one that Madeline is now wearing is it not? It looks quite nice on Lillian and really lovely on Madeline.:flowers:
 
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Marg, dear heart, Madeline is one of those creatures who could wear a garbage can on the top of her drop dead gorgeous blond head and she would still look good. I do not know whether she had Diana's charisma or whatever it was, but she certainly has the looks. I agree that the six botton thingie looks fine on Princess Lillian, who from all reports is quite a delightful character, but I would remind you that all ten buttons came off of the dress uniform of Carl XIV Johan, aka Jean Bernadotte, the Napoleonic marshall who started the dynasty in the first place.

They should have dismantled the jewels and simply redisgned and constructed a new tiara with them. Those two contraptions are ridiculous, particularly the four button horror.

By the way there is a scremingly funny picture around here somewhere of Lillian at party or something with this Swedish popular singer, a really good looking splendid young Swedish speciman, just the sort to be added to a royal menage somewhere sitting ON HER LAP, in public and serenading her. He is singing happy birthday or all things. She has a grimace on her face as if she is being crushed to death or has just britten into a worm. He is a great big old thing and I wondered if he were breaking her leg. He said later that she called him up on the telephone and they had the nicest conversation. He said that she was his kinda gal. Lovely.

Btw the worst thing in that collection is that diamond and ruby horror and that awful necklace cited above.
Somebody had to lay awake at night drugged on hashish or something to dream those things up. Cheers.
 
Dear Thomas Parkman, I just enjoy each & every one of your postings so much that I find it hard to disagree with anything to write!
I have to admit myself that I am totally biased in favor of any Swedish jewel that appears around the neck, wrists, fingers or on top of any Swedish Royal Females's head... since my fascination with Royalty in general and Royal jewels in particular started with Queen Silvia's wedding to King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976. So sometimes you just can't take me seriously and I beg yours and everybody's pardon.
Still... even casting this aside, the Bernadotte jewels ARE exceptionally beautiful and they do have the most interesting historic background.
Let's face it: If it wasn't for Queen Mary's slightly neurotic collector's greed a mere 100 years ago, the British jewels wouldn't twinkle half as much... and most of what they have was still grabbed from impoverished relatives dear old Queen Mary took advantage of.
As for the Dutch collection, well... for the most part, IMO none of their pieces are very beautiful to look at, and period!
The Danish Royal jewels are great and IMO the only seroius competition to the Swedish ones, asthetically. It's quality that counts not quantity.
So let me revert to the original subject... Worst jewels.
Those terrible Swedish Button tiaras, 4 here, 6 there: To dismantle those and put them in a new setting as one tiara with a decent diamond base (they have diamond collet necklaces galore which they rarely use): Yes I agree that somebody should get their hands on it, because it's perfectly possible to convert this perfect 'Worst Royal Jewels' example into something very beautiful.
As far as what Thomas Parkman calls the Swedish 'Ruby Horror' - it looks much nicer as a necklace which it converts into, and I'd prefer this one over several other ruby tiaras anytime, including QE II' 1970's 'Burmese Ruby Disco Horror' or that chunky Dutch Mellorio Ruby 'No Trespassing!' Fence tiara thing!
 
Dear Boris,

I completely understand your assessement. The Swedes do have a spectacular collection indeed with some wonderful goodies and some true plug uglies. I will defer to your judgement about the ruby thing. It may indeed be a beautiful necklace. About the sublime neck of the glorious Madeline I am sure it would shine like something fabulous.

I agree with you about the Dutch royal collection. Most of it is well, so as you put it not very beautiful and I would describe it as just plain ugly.

The Danes have of course the incredible Princess Mary with her Desiree Clary Parure. Thank God she fellout with Napoleon and married one of his more astute -or lucky-marshall's instead.

I used to agree with you about the Burmese Ruby Disco Horror but upon looking at it further It begins to grow on you. I cannot make up my mind between that and the Oriental Circlet. And yes, thank God for Queen Mary, neurosis greed and all. What would have happened to all those priceless pieces of jewelry if she had not rescued them. There is for example a wonderful pearl parure of Queen Marie of Rumania that was grabbed by the comunists and you may be sure has long since been destroyed and the gems either stolen and sold or just sold.

Besides, dear Boris you do not need to beg anybody's pardon here for your opinions. I am not one of those fragile sensitive souls who will melt if you should say something that I find offensive (God how I hate, loathe, detest and despise that word, my other hate,l, d and d work is inappropriate) or with which I disagree. In the case of say that Swedish multi jewel state fair display rack worn by the marvelous Princess Lillian, somebody at some time must have thought it wonderful or Gustav V and consort would not have paid the fortune that it must have cost and the good Margaret of Connaught wouldnot have worn the thing. So there you are . Cheers.
 
It seems to me that the words 'worst' and 'jewels' should never be in the same sentence :)!! That said, I don't much like the button tiaras. If any jewelry can be said to be frumpy, that would be it.
 
You are entirely correct

Well, I could not aggeree with you more!!! It is not the gemstones themselves, some of which are quite lovely indeed, but the design and usage to which they have been put. In addtion to that there is the particular cut of the gem in question. I am not wild about cobouchon gemstones but am willing to admit there are some truly stunning settings, ie the Princess Vladimir Delhi Durbar parure and the emerald set of Queen Anne Marie or the emerald parurue of the Empress Farah. But so many lovely things have been put to such poor usage. Cheers.
 
Dear Thomas Parkman, your message warms my heart! The one thing that gives me a headache about these otherwise most enjoyable boards is that some souls out there do suffer from severe ego problems whenever anyone is of a different opinion on a subject matter which should not be imperative to anybody's self-esteem but just a matter interest, fun and the love of beauty - strange people like us do find beauty in those heartless stones, their history and their strangely soulful glitter...
In other words: Okay, I give in & give up, that Swedish 'oriental' necklace is a piece of sentimental crap and the sooner they tear it apart the better (They won't).
I'd still love to see the Swedish ruby tiara worn again before I'm ready to succumb to your 'thumbs down' opinion about this one.
All in all, rubies seem to me to be the ideal candidates for this 'Worst jewels' thread as far as colored stones go, aren't they? Just for the sheer fun for it, let me come up with a list:
The Dutch Mellorio ruby tiara: Regrettably awful, a 'No Trespassing' sign wasting great stones...
The Spanish ruby tiara/necklace hasn't been seen in decades, and for a good reason too...
The Greek ruby tiara has a lot of diamond leafs but those small pale rubies get completely lost in them...
The 'Oriental' British tiara formerly worn by The Queen Mother looks like a design from somebody who had a very bad trip to Morocco and regretted it afterwards, therefore the style of those ugly arches and crosses...
The modern QE II's Burmese ruby disco horror maybe deserves a second look as you suggest but I have such a hard time trying - if it's not 70's disco, I fear it's about a strawberry desert, and I never liked strawberrys either...
And then there's the Danish ruby parure. Qualifying all over every MB as the very best. Wonderful necklace, earrings, brooch... I adore every single piece of it as worn by CP Mary, who is a real class act and somehow learned to carry anything off with admirable elegance. But at a closer look, the tiara of this ruby parure isn't much to write home about: Small, pale rubies - flat, dull diamonds - bad base.
Bottom line: Ruby tiaras represent a problem! As far as coloured stones go, rubies seem to qualify as the most likely candidate for 'Worst Jewels' in any Royal collection...
 
Dear Boris,

The overall effect of the Danish ruby parure is quite understated but very powerful. What you may not know is that the gemstones in it have not been heated. They are the natural colour of real rubies of the highest quality. Nowadays they heat the rubies to bring out the redness and that in my opinion is what makes them too gaudy and too overdone, literally. They literally stick them in an oven and bake them. Horrors.

Of course if you went and bedecked the gorgeous head, not to mention the rest of her most Royal Person of the princess Madelaine with the Swedish Ruby Tiara, I would no doubt be totally bewitched.

I noted the noble Tinikas suggestion and removed, in my minds eye the stars from the Wurtemburg tiara and Good Lord, the woman is right. It really could be a nice piece of jewelry.

As for rubies in general, they are like the colour red in general, when it is good it is very, very good and when it is not good it can be awful. So all gemstones should be handled with that elusive quality called taste, rubies, the most difficult with the greatest care and discretion.

I cannot agree with you about the Oriental Circlet. I think that perhaps the rubies are just a little too understated, but since I do not care for opals I think rubies could only be an improvement. In case you do not know Queen Alexandra had the original opals removed and replaced with rubies. A member has suggested that black opals instead would be wondrously elegant. Perhaps.

As I have said maybe with further consideration you may begin to look more kindly on the Burmese ruby tiara. All said that is why rubies are an interesting challenge. And they can be very beautiful indeed. And as you well understand it is that instant, that hit of the beautiful that has all of us here besotted. And filled with delight.


And if there are a few overly sensitive egos here, (I have been on the recieving end of that and it is not much fun) still even they share the same joy and interest we do and therefore should be treated, whether they disagree or agree with us or not, they should be treated with kindness. Cheers.
 
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