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


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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? :ohmy: 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!:eek: How much the world has changed over the past one hundred years we can see thanks to this fabulous documentary!:russiatsarevitch:
 
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
 
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!:eek:

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?
 
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.
 
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 :)
 
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.
 
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
 
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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!:flowers::flowers::flowers:
 
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.
 
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?
 
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If she'd stayed, chances are she would have been either shot and bayonetted, or thrown down a mineshaft.
 
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
 
Viv, you are right King Georges V send the HSM Marlborough in Yalta on 11/4/1919 two years later . Thanks for correcting.
 
The Royal Jewels

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.
 
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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!:flowers::ausflag2::cheers::merryxmas:
 
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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.
 
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...
 
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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 ;)
 
I think the link only works for those in Australia...I'm in Canada and it isn't loading for me :(
 
not working for me either :( Hope someone can post it. Would have liked to see it
 
Couldn't access the Aussie version either. Enjoyed both parts of the Danish docu, though, I did miss parts in Danish. Part II is very different than part I, much more emphasis on history. I loved them both in different ways.
Though I did know a fair amount about the Russian history, the old film footage and old photographs were all new to me and imo worth taking the time to see.
In fact, just hearing QMarg, QSilvia, Prince Michael of Kent, Prince Henrik interviewed was worth it. Prince Michael (of Greece, Yugoslavia?) is such an entertaining story teller, I could listen to him for hours!
 
Frelinghighness said:
Prince Michael (of Greece, Yugoslavia?) is such an entertaining story teller, I could listen to him for hours!

He comes across as someone with a love of life and seems like he'd be the life of any party!. Forget the Dos Equis Beer guy...Prince Michael is the most interesting man in the world!! LOL

I couldn't watch the SBS english version as well, but watched the original version. Still really interesting from what was in english! Queen Silvia has a lovely voice, I've never heard her speak in english before!
 
Love the Dos Equis reference; Prince Michael is certainly a skillful raconteur and would give that guy a close run for his money!
 
Prince Michel of Greece is the most informed man about Royals and their jewels. He wrote very interesting books I read in french .
 
Just watched the second part of the documentary. One thing annoyed me in the version shown here; the person who had translated and subtitled the documentary in Finnish, Marjo Hiidensalo, kept using the word 'tiaara' instead of 'tiara' and it was driving me mad! :bang:

Other than that it was interesting although they did make a mistake that made me doubt the accuracy of other things in their program. They said that La Peregrina pearl was sold in auction in 1987 and since the buyer remained anonymous the whereabouts of the pearl were since unknown. Really? :ermm: Then how come it is pretty much common knowledge that Richard Burton bought it for his then-wife, Elizabeth Taylor, and it was set in a lovely diamond-pearl-ruby-necklace and sold in auction again after her death last year? It just made me think how many blunders they might have made in the series...

Watching the bolsheviks rip jewels out of the beautiful tiaras and necklaces was heart-wrenching (as of course were the stories of how everyone was either killed or had to escape). It is also such a shame that so few works of art (yes, I would certainly call the jewelry such) remain today as most were broken apart and sold. And to my small amazement, apparently the royals are not as wealthy as I've thought since Prince Michael of Kent said it was such a shame they couldn't afford to keep the items found in Sweden (cigarette boxes etc.). When they showed the auction in the documentary, the items didn't seem to cost that much. At least the Queen would've been able to afford them. Then of course I don't know who actually did buy them...
 
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