Belgian Royal Jewels of the Past


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Marengo

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Perhaps we can use this thread to discuss royal jewels belonging to the Belgian Royals in the past. A lot opf items were either sold or inherited by other relatives so there is enough to discuss.

The jewels of Lilian, Astrid, Elisabeth, Karel, Marie-Jose, Marie, Josephine, Henriette, Clementine, Stephanie, Louise, Marie-Henriette, Carlota and Louise-Marie can be discussed in this thread. The present Belgian Royal ladies have a thread of their own.
 
I found two pictures on the Hola forum with some long lost Belgian items.

A design for a flower tiara for Lilian, nobody knows if Cleef & van Arpels ever made it but Lilian did wear the red flower as a brooch:

Lilian with red flower tiara.

--

The Belgians had another impressive tiara, I believe it came from Queen Marie-Henriette. It was last worn by Princess Lilian too:

Belgian Flower Tiara
 
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The bandeau of Q. Elisabeth resembles the emerald choker/bandeau that Josephine-Charlotte took with her to Luxembourg. The piece was recently worn by GD Maria Teresa when the Lux. Grand Ducal couple paid a state visit to Belgium.
 
Hanna Regina said:
And of course, the greatest loss of them all: The Cartier tiara
Click to expand...
I've seen this one up close at the Cartier exhibition when it was in Sydney. It was quite dazzling and easily the highlight of the many pieces on display.
It may be lost to the Belgian Royal Family, but at least it hasn't disappeared or been (gasp!) broken up to make engagement rings.
 
Another picture of Princess Lilian with the flower tiara.

Click here.

As said, some say the tiara comes from Queen Maria Hendrika but it was not worn by either Queen Astrid or Queen Elisabeth, so...
 
well what happen was most marie louise of orleans jewels were given to carlotta and the resr were split between the duke of brabant(leopold ii) and count of flanders(albert i father).Also archduchess marie henriette inherit some jewels from her parent and receive others from belgian upon her marriage but i hear that when she died leopold decide to sold some of them and the rest were given to the daughters and others were stored for future queens .Now as for the countess of flanders her jewels were split unto her three children and some went to her daughter in law who receive some jewels from her bavarian family and belgian nation but during the ww1 she had pawn and sold some of her jewels to helps profit the belgian cause and when astrid come in the picure new jewels were made for her and when she died they went to lilian ans also some of queen elisabeth jewels.Queen elisabeth jewels were auction of during her lifetime as in after where her daughter had ask for her money and jewels had to be sold
 
jonc93 said:
I found something very interesting, its a turquoise demi-parure that was Queen Elisabeths! It then passed To Queen Maria Jose of Italy and now it's for sale, maybe Philippe can buy it for Mathilde or Albert for Paola...
19th century turquoise and diamond parure comprising fringe necklace, pair of bracelets...
Click to expand...
That is exactly the kind of jewellery that is missing in Belgium! But in the past other important piece of Belgium origin wear auctioned and the BRF never bought anything. They just don't seem to mind.
 
jonc93 said:
I found something very interesting, its a turquoise demi-parure that was Queen Elisabeths! It then passed To Queen Maria Jose of Italy and now it's for sale, maybe Philippe can buy it for Mathilde or Albert for Paola...
19th century turquoise and diamond parure comprising fringe necklace, pair of bracelets...
Click to expand...

Could somebody shed some light into this. I understand that Princess Lilian sold most of the royal jewels, she inherited. (BTW - why did they go to her???) So why does the BRF not try to add pieces again or even buy back jewelry which once belonged to them?
 
countess felicitas said:
Could somebody shed some light into this. I understand that Princess Lilian sold most of the royal jewels, she inherited. (BTW - why did they go to her???) So why does the BRF not try to add pieces again or even buy back jewelry which once belonged to them?
Click to expand...
The logical explanation would be that Leopold owned certain pieces and left thme to his second wife in his will. I guess with is the path of the Cartier tiara: Elisabeth left it to her son - her son to his wife - Lilian sold it . My question is if Leopold owned at the time of his death any jewels belonging to Astrid and if her left them to Lilian too. Does any member know anything about Astrid jewels? I can't believe that all her major bling was just the pieces her daughter and daughters in law used ( Nine Provinces tiara , the art deco tiara- necklace owned by Paola and the emerald choker which went to Luxembourg._Aren't there any others large tiaras or necklaces she owned? I am not familiar with her , that's why I am asking.
My guess is that the older generation (Paola, Albert, Baudoin and Fabiola, as well as Josephine Charlotte) did not want to get involved with Lilian's jewels due to hard feelings, otherwise they would have bought something back.
 
There are other. The stockholm wedding gift tiara. A diamond bandeau topped with a big pearl which was a gift from the Citiy of Stockholm. It was never seen again after her death and she also used it not very much. And a convertible emerald necklace/tiara. It was also worn as necklace by Lilian in the late 1940's but not seen after it. This necklace was a gift to her after giving birth to Baudouin and some believe that it could be in the posession of Fasbiola (but she never wore it) as the pieces she got after giving birth to Albert and Joséphine-Charlotte went to this children. Recently there was a big discussion on the Royal Jewels MB about Astrid's Jewels.
 
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Thanks Snowflower and Stefan for your explanations. It looks like this is a mystery, which will never be sold.
However - maybe there comes the time - and we will see some new jewelry withing th BRF. :)
 
You know,it almost sickens me to see what kind of jewels they USED TO have. It's a crime IMO they were allowed to be given/sold away.:verysad:
 
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It is always assumed that Princess Lilian sold most jewels, but apart from the Cartier tiara, I believe a lot of the items were already sold when king Leopold III was still alive. Of other items it is still unsure if they are sold or collecting dust in the royal safe in Brussels.
 
two photos of Queen Astrid wearing a tiara ( i guess this is the emerald tiara/necklace Stefan mentioned? )
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq126/olga_maria1993/astridsweden1905-141.jpg
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/...stien/a_20belg_20astrid_20emerald_20tinte.jpg
I am wondering what happened to the lovely earrings she is wearing in the first photo. Josephine Charlotte had a pair of earrings with a similar design but they were emeralds I believe, while these seem all diamonds to my eyes.
 
snowflower said:
two photos of Queen Astrid wearing a tiara ( i guess this is the emerald tiara/necklace Stefan mentioned? )
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/qq126/olga_maria1993/astridsweden1905-141.jpg
http://i440.photobucket.com/albums/...stien/a_20belg_20astrid_20emerald_20tinte.jpg
I am wondering what happened to the lovely earrings she is wearing in the first photo. Josephine Charlotte had a pair of earrings with a similar design but they were emeralds I believe, while these seem all diamonds to my eyes.
Click to expand...

Yes this is the emerald necklace/tiara.
 
I found erliar today a picture of an emerald and diamond tiara at Sotheby's which was sold on 2007 and it is listed as being "formely the property of a belgian princess" Sotheby's - Auctions - Calendar - Noble Jewels
I don't think I have ever come across a picture of a Belgian princess wearing it (unless I have seen it remodeled and I haven't realised)...
 
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I looked through a few of my royal jewels books and have not come across this diadem, it is quite beautiful.
 
I have a note saying that this tiara belonged to the Croÿ-family. Remember that there is a difference between being a Belgian Princess and being a Princess of Belgium... The latter sounds better when selling a tiara, better provenance, higher price. I think there are several other Princely families in Belgium as well, for instance Ligne and Mérode.
 
In any regard, the emeralds are beautiful on this tiara!
 
They are Belgian Princes in Belgium such as de Ligne, de Mérode and de Croy.
This families hoped to be King of Belgium in 1831.

My avatar is the Cartier tiara we definitely lost. At the Auction (after 1985 King Leopold III’s death) it was mentioned , tiara from a royal famlly. In Point de Vue Vincent M wrote about a tiara sold by a member of the belgium royal family and Princess Lilian ,the Seller was not delighted !
 
I'd really like to find out what happened to the tiara given to Astrid by the city of Stockholm when she married Leopold.

The tiara itself is very 1920s and would probably be tough for a modern royal woman to wear as a tiara without some major remodeling. But I think if it still exists, it would make a gorgeous choker.

If there are still some old jewels that haven't seen the light of day for decades, I hope Mathilde can make some use of them. Considering it has been several years since Lilian has passed, perhaps using them now won't be quite so harsh.
 
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eejm said:
If there are still some old jewels that haven't seen the light of day for decades, I hope Mathilde can make some use of them. Considering it has been several years since Lilian has passed, perhaps using them now won't be quite so harsh.
Click to expand...


Its quite possible but as there haven't been any state visits or Belgian tiara events of late & it maybe sometime before we see Queen Mathilde in a tiara.

Belgium,Spain & Monaco are all having tiara droughts!
 
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