Continuing from the thread below on Queen Mary's Jewels during WWII, I wanted to talk about the location of other Royal Jewels during the War, especially of those royal family's who escaped into exile in the UK for the during the war, especially the Luxembourg and Dutch Royals! Were they hidden or were they smuggled out into exile?

There are reports of crates of Dutch diamonds being taken on to the British ships and also Crown Princess Juliana arriving in London with a few trunks full of diamonds. I wonder if they were stored with the Crown Jewels in the vaults of Wolverhampton Town Hall (where a Dutch Regiment was stationed nearby).

At least the Dutch Royals had a fairly simple path from The Netherlands to London, while the Luxembourg Royals went to France, Portugal, the US and Canada as well as London, often escaping quite harrowingly, so I wonder how they would have taken their quite extensive collection along with them!

Some of the Norwegian royal jewels were at Windsor and Crown Princess Martha was given the Emerald Parure to sell (I wonder if she had her personal jewels, the Vasa Tiara, Diamond Bandeau and Turquoise Necklace etc.., with her or if they were buried with other treasures by a court official). The Balkan Royals (Albanian and Yugoslavian before/during and the Romanians and Bulgarians after the War) managed to take most of their jewels with them.

Also, I'd like to know about the fate of the Greek Royal Jewels during the war, as I have a feeling that some jewels were sold to make ends meet (Queen Frederica was not pictured wearing her diamond wedding necklace and a grand ruby necklace after the war).

The war was certainly a tough time for royals, especially as they knew their jewels were really their only security for a life in exile, but they also had to keep some heirlooms intact for an eventual return. Also, while probably most royal families probably did not dine in White Tie and Tiaras every night (like Queen Mary), I wonder how any still tried to maintain standards and still wore their jewels for some occasions (I'm sure there must have been a few) during the war.



Thank You Al13, Dave, and Ashdean for contributing below and I hope we get to learn more!