Are you planning to do any posts on Infanta Beatrice, Princess of Edinburgh at some point? Her jewels are something completely unknown to me. I presume she must have received at the time of her wedding some thing significant from her mother the Duchess of Coburg/Edinburgh and possibly also the Romanov relatives and her in-laws.
I know she received the diamond fringe but I have always taken that to be left to her after the Duchess's death in 1920, so I am particularly intrigued what jewels the Infanta had available during the early years of her marriage.
In Vincent Meylan’s book, he says that one of Queen Ena’s granddaughters told him that Princess Beatrice gave the parure to her daughter, the Queen of Spain possibly before WW1. In 1917, when the Marquess of Carisbrooke was set to marry, King Alfonso XIII remarked that he had almost nothing to offer to his new wife as Queen Ena got the best parure in the family. She decided to give the tiara, necklace, earrings and bracelet to her new sister-in-law.
But then we have those pictures of Queen Ena taken in the 30s... what makes me wonder that perhaps it was Princess Beatrice who kept it and loaned the pieces to Ena.
Also, Victoria Eugenia borrowed various pieces to the Marchioness later on: she wore the diamond rivieres in the coronation of King George VI and the Cartier tiara (with the emeralds) for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Maybe they were in good terms to share their pieces mutually...
I have been trying to narrow down the date range for when Irene Denison, the Marchioness of Carisbrooke, received Queen Victoria's ruby and diamond tiara.
We know that Queen Victoria gave it to her daughter, Princess Beatrice (Princess Henry) but after that the time when it went from Princess Beatrice to her daughter, Queen Ena of Spain and then to the Marchioness of Carisbrooke is less clear.
Geoffrey Munn in Tiaras. A History of Splendour states that Princess Beatrice left it to her son, the Marquess of Carisbrooke, and many sites have repeated that. Yet, that does not take into account the fact that Princess Beatrice didn't die until 1944 and both Queen Ena and the Marchioness were photographed wearing the tiara in the 1930s.
Queen Ena was photographed wearing the parure as seen in the photo below which is dated 11 April 1931 by the photo agency. The style of dress suggest that the photo was taken around this time.
The Sunday Times 16 November 1930 suggests that Queen Ena wore the parure to a dinner at the Spanish Embassy in London in 1930.
The earliest mention I have found for the Marchioness with the tiara is from Munn who, having checked the Cartier archives, stated that the rubies were removed by the firm for the Marchioness in 1933.
Then, in 1934 this portrait of the Marchioness was painted.
We know that the Marchioness subsequently wore the tiara for the 1937 Coronation as well as for the Opening of Parliament in 1938 and to other functions.
1938
1939 French State Visit Opera gala night.
We know from Vincent Meylan's research that Queen Ena kept the brooch and that the bracelet was sold time earlier than the 2016 auction of the brooch by Christie's. See Vincent Meylan https://www.instagram.com/vincentmeylan/
For the auction of the brooch see https://www.christies.com/lotfinder/Lot/a-mid-19th-century-ruby-and-diamond-5990837-details.aspx
My best guess, based on the evidence, is that Queen Ena gave the tiara to her sister-in-law sometime between mid 1931 to early 1933. But why did Queen Ena give it to her then? And did she give her sister-in-law the necklace as well? I have never seen any image of the Marchioness with the necklace. Or the earrings. Has anyone any additional information?
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