Regards,
Dave.
Welcome Eirik and thank you for sharing a fresh view on this theory.
It's always difficult to question theories from academics, but a lot of online articles regarding Royal jewels are outdated.
The "problem" is that these articles get reposted and referred to on countless platforms, regardless of its content.
CP Martha wore several jewels from Queen Maud between 1938-1953 - that's a fact.
You mentioned the flag brooch as an early example. Queen Alexandra's diamond earrings and Maud's seven-point diamond brooch was worn by Martha in several portraits from the late 1940s.
It is indeed a perplexing question, but some of Maud's jewels must have been at Martha's disposal between 1938-1953, regardless of where they were stored.
Queen Maud's seven point diamond brooch worn late 1940s:
Queen Alexandra's diamond earrings worn late 1940s:
Hello, I’m new to this board, but have been following it for a while. I’m looking forward to share information and learn new things.
It has been said that after queen Maud died her jewels (which she had brought with her to England) were left in London and that the Norwegian royal family first brought them back to Norway after the coronation in 1953.
This has always sounded a bit strange to me. Appleton House was emptied and the content was shipped to Norway before the war (as far as I remember). King Haakon also emptied her safe and sent the money he found there to Grand Duchess Xenia.
Of course it is possible that some of queen Maud’s jewels were left in England, but at least it seems unlikely that she had taken all her jewels with her on her autumn trip. For example crown princess Märtha was given the Norwegian flag pin/brooch with diamonds, sapphires and rubies before going on the 1939 trip to the US. https://tv.nrk.no/serie/fra-de-kongelige-samlinger/sesong/1/episode/7/avspiller
In Tor Bomann-Larsen’s excellent book series about Haakon and Maud there are some information about queen Maud’s jewels in book number VI «Svaret». The court marshal Broch had sent all of Maud’s jewels to Märtha in Stockholm after she had fled from Norway. Birch estimated the value to approximately NOK 2 millions. There were several hundred pieces of jewelry, including tiaras. Before sending them to Stockholm the jewels had been hidden in a secret room under the palace laundry. The jewels left Sweden with Märtha and the children when she took the boat to the US.
It therefore seems more likely that the jewels reached England with Märtha on her way back to Norway in 1945. And I guess it makes perfect sense that they didn’t bring the jewels back to Norway in 1945. It was probably safer to leave them in England at that point and collect them at a later date. In this case the year of the coronation.
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