Queen Beatrix Jewels


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According to the ambassador she came to Pss. Beatrix 18th birthday with a gift. Instead of giving it to the birthday girl she gave it to Pss. Irene. When the box was opened it contained the peacock tiara and necklace. I suppose the lesson was never to take things for granted or something along those lines.

I believe that some have wondered if the story could actually have been true. It is unlikely that the ambassador was present at the scene for example, as few ambassadors will be attending family birthdays of the RF.

Still, Wilhelmina's excentricenty is legendary and Beatrix' birthday was in the middle of the Hofmans-crisis which soured family relations to some degree.

Beatrix official 18th birthday at Dam Palace, no laurel tiara yet:

http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/14501617/img/Anonymous/wilhelmina2.png
 
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El Excelentísimo Señor Don José María Ruiz de Arana y Baüer, XVI Duque de Baena, XIV Marqués de Villamanrique, Gentilhombre Grande de España (1893-1985) was Ambassador of Spain in The Hague from 1957 to 1963. In 1967 he wrote about his years in The Hague The Dutch Puzzle. An excerpt from Google Books:

Page 183

It was Princess Beatrix's birthday on January 31st, and her grandmother Wilhelmina had announced her intention to visit Soestdijk Palace for the occasion. All measures were taken so that nothing could displease her. Wilhelmina arrived to join the family party and quite suddenly at tea time produced a present. Now it was, as I stated, the birthday of Princess Beatrix, but the small sized box, wrapped in brown paper, was pushed into the hands of Princess Irene. Everyone was baffled but of course Irene had to accept it. She opened the box and to her joy she saw a splendid parure of rubies and diamonds, worthy of a Queen. There was no doubt about it: the present was meant for Irene and there was nothing for Beatrix. Everyone put on a brave face; Irene was radiant, though somewhat abashed. Beatrix stoically generous in her praise and the others agreed with her. But after Wilhelmina had left, rumour broke out.
 
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Marengo said:
According to the ambassador she came to Pss. Beatrix 18th birthday with a gift. Instead of giving it to the birthday girl she gave it to Pss. Irene. When the box was opened it contained the peacock tiara and necklace. I suppose the lesson was never to take things for granted or something along those lines.

I believe that some have wondered if the story could actually have been true. It is unlikely that the ambassador was present at the scene for example, as few ambassadors will be attending family birthdays of the RF.

Still, Wilhelmina's excentricenty is legendary and Beatrix' birthday was in the middle of the Hofmans-crisis which soured family relations to some degree.

Beatrix official 18th birthday at Dam Palace, no laurel tiara yet:

http://www4.picturepush.com/photo/a/14501617/img/Anonymous/wilhelmina2.png
Click to expand...
That is interesting. So there either there were two festivities for her birthday, or the pic from the blog is from a completely different. It happens often enough that eg. picture agencies have the wrong dates in their files.

I'm astonished that Beatrix didn't wear a tiara on the group pic, since the 18th birthday is usually the starting date for tiara wearing. And even without owning a tiara, there were enough for her to borrow.
 
Tilia C. said:
[...]

I'm astonished that Beatrix didn't wear a tiara on the group pic, since the 18th birthday is usually the starting date for tiara wearing. And even without owning a tiara, there were enough for her to borrow.
Click to expand...

Queen Juliana wore no diadem either, see another picture. There were also no Orders, so it was a festive white-tie event with ladies in evening robes but no diadems and no Orders. Queen Wilhelmina wore something small in her hairdo. Despite the lack of diadems, Queen Juliana must have been stunningly glittery with that massive corsage de devant pinned on her dress.

:flowers:
 
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Tilia C. said:
That is interesting. So there either there were two festivities for her birthday, or the pic from the blog is from a completely different. It happens often enough that eg. picture agencies have the wrong dates in their files.
Click to expand...

I looked into newspaper databases and compared the articles I found to the photos on Het geheugen van Nederland and came up with the following:

The official birthday dinner, hosted by the government (several ministers are wearing orders btw) was on February 25th 1956.

The photo in the blog isn't from this occassion but from another one. It was made at at the end of June 1956. Princess Beatrix made her first official visit to Amsterdam, accompanied by her parents. The visit was made to mark the princess' coming of age. On the evening of the 30th the royal party went to the City Theatre (stadsschouwburg) where Beatrix wore the tiara.

It must have been the first time she wore a tiara as in the beginning of June she still went without one to the state banquet for GDss Charlotte and Prince Felix of Luxembourg in Amsterdam.

She wore the tiara a second time in October 1956 for the visit of president Tubman of Liberia.
 
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That diadem looked fantastic on her as a young Princess. Here a fabulous view on the diadem. The gentleman next to her is the Duke of Edinburgh.
 
Thanks for for your research!
The dresscode of the official BD photo is white tie, so traditionally tiaras would have been worn. But in this case only Queen Wilhelmina wore one. It must have been the emerald tiara in its smallest version without prongs, not even the central prong can be seen. pic

It's interesting that Princess Beatrix didn’t wear a tiara at the SV from Luxembourg in early June. She could have worn one of the smaller ones from the collection, but for some reason it must have been decided that her first tiara should be her own one.

So if she wore a tiara for the first time 4 months after her 18th birthday, that gives Juliana & Bernard enough time to go tiara shopping for their eldest daughter. But be that as it may, I’ll never understand Queen Wilhelmina’s reasons for that odd lesson. On the other hand we might never have seen this tiara if the peacock parure had been given to the birthday girl instead. It’s a beautiful and classic tiara that looks good on everyone. It really saddens me that Queen Maxima has never worn it.
 
I love the laurel style tiaras. The Dutch one is stunning:flowers:
 
I apologize if that is not the appropriate forum to ask this question, but could anyone please clarify how the Orange-Nassau family got their jewels out of the Netherlands when the Germans occupied the country in 1940 ? Thank you in advance for your reply.
 
I read ages ago that during World War 2 (probably before the invasion) the Netherlands Crown Jewels were flown from The Hague to the UK for safekeeping. During the years when invasion of Britain by Germany was expected (1940-41) these jewels were tucked away in Wolverhampton Town Hall, of all places! Probably the Royal family's tiaras, necklaces etc were also flown out and deposited in a public building somewhere in Britain.
 
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Watching a show here (can't remember exactly which show it was), talking about Fort Knox here in the US, it was mentioned that several countries had their valuables shipped and stored at Fort Knox during WWII. There is a lot more at that place than gold bars. :D
 
I did hear that the jewels were stored in fort Knox as well; as was the gold of the Dutch bank. I am not sure what they meant with crown jewels: the crowns, orbs and sceptres? The crown jewels are of little monitary value: just a layer of gold and fake stones made of glass.

The royal jewels themselves were taken out of the country by princess Juliana. On May 12th 1940 Juliana, her daughters and prince Bernhard were taken to the harbour of IJmuiden in a blinded & armoured car of the Dutch bank. According to most reports of the event, the princess was carrying a cardbox of jewels. In the harbour of IJmuiden several German planes flew over them but fortunately they did not shoot. In the harbour they took the HMS Corrington, a destroyer of the British navy, which took them to the UK.

I believe that a biography of Queen Juliana will be published this autumn, so perhaps they will have more about it.
 
Not only the jewels but a surprising lot of all these valuables: palace inventories, artworks, gold-, silver- and crystalware, archives, collections, etc. have survived the war. The only palace whic was severely damaged in WWII was Huis ten Bosch, since the palace park was used as a site to launch V1 and V2 missiles and therefore it became a target for allied bombers: see Huis ten Bosch in 1951 and Huis ten Bosch now

So it all by all, the jewels, and the rest, survived remarkably well.
 
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Princess Beatrix at the 700th anniversary of the Illustrious Confraternity of Our Lady a.k.a. The Brothers of The Swan (an closed society of nobles and patricians of both Catholic and Protestant denomination) in the city of Den Bosch (Brabant).

Is the Princess wearing new diamond-and-sapphire earrings?


Picture: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dn4oxdtWsAIShns.jpg
 
Wonder if the pendant on her pearl necklace matched them?

Beatrix has a wonderful collection of jewels and wears them so well and knows what suits her outfits best.
 
:previous:


Yes, they are the same drops. I've never been 100% sure that they are sapphire, though. They might be iolites or tanzanites, as there is a slight purple hue.



The top part of the earrings is the same as the one Princess Laurentien wore on her wedding and many gala occasions during the years. They come from Queen Juliana, who mostly wore them with different pearl drops.
 
prince.of.preslav said:
:previous:


Yes, they are the same drops. I've never been 100% sure that they are sapphire, though. They might be iolites or tanzanites, as there is a slight purple hue.



The top part of the earrings is the same as the one Princess Laurentien wore on her wedding and many gala occasions during the years. They come from Queen Juliana, who mostly wore them with different pearl drops.
Click to expand...

I agree with you: the pear-shaped drops look like tanzanites. Queen Maxima also has tanzanite drop earrings.
 
Mary-Rose said:
I found a beautiful Picture of Princess beatrix wearing some turquise earrings and a brooch. Do we know anything about the provenance? I think those the same earrings, Maxima wore at Carl Gustaf 60th birthday.

https://www.nationaalarchief.nl/ond...nl&imageType=Foto&f_Webwinkel[0]=Onbestelbaar
https://media.gettyimages.com/photo...rown-princess-picture-id157814213?s=2048x2048
Click to expand...

I believe the various diamond-and-turquoise jewels (necklace, broches, earrings, bracelets, rings) were gifts by the late Prince Claus of the Netherlands, jonkheer van Amsberg to his beloved Beatrix.
 
muriel said:
Love the tiara, and her hair provides the perfect backdrop for the tiara.
Click to expand...




and the good is that it doesn't disappear in her hairdo like so much of the other smaller tiara's.
 
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