The other question might be :what did Victoria do with the tiara? Disposed of... Did she sell it? Why did Queen Mary not buy it? Maybe there were 'special instructions' that it should never end up in the hands of Queen Mary! 😉
of the act of revenge act that you want to pin on Queen Alexandra. Had she wanted to, she could have made a will giving all her jewels to her grandchildren or daughters.
All of Alexandra's children had a decent share of her jewels, it being quite logical in the circumstances that George V would receive the most prestigious share. However I don't find it odd that Queen Alexandra would want her unmarried daughter, who had scarified her own happiness and independence to have an important tiara, after all her daughter Queen Maud received Queen Alexandra's coronet.
The Rundell tiara was arguably the tiara most associated with Queen Alexandra and would likely be one of the more valuable items. Given the political uncertainty that existed in the UK in the 1920s and having seen what had happened to her sister's family and the advantage having jewels had brought to them in exile, Queen Alexandra may have wanted her single daughter to have a valuable piece to sell if she needed to, as she wouldn't have a husband to support her.
There seems to have been some initial tenseness after George V's succession between the two Queens over precedence and jewels but I think it is important not to exaggerate the seriousness of this causing some long lasting dislike between the two women as there simply isn't the evidence to support this largely in part I suspect because:
i) Queen Alexandra preferred the quiet life of Sandringham so her ability to wear the jewels and exert precedence were somewhat limited;
ii) In contrast say to the Russian situation, neither Queen Alexandra or Queen Mary were of the mindset to try and create a situation where George V felt he had to pick between his wife and mother.
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