Late today I received a copy of Once upon a diamond by Prince Dimitri. I am amazed that the book was available in Australia so soon after its release in the US and Europe. Often it is months before we can purchase such a book locally. (I am one of those who refuse to buy from the international online giant bookshops -- I will only purchase from local book sellers!)

As is my wont with such books, I skimmed through the book, so what follows is not a full review, much less a detailed review.

I have seen some comments about the price of the book. Could I say that, for this style of book, the price seems fair. It is lavishly illustrated.

I see two parts to the book. The first is historical, featuring jewels and photos of the Prince's family and, as the advertising material said, there are family photos which have not been published previously. They are family photos -- so don't expect to see new photos of the ladies wearing grand evening jewels. The photos of the ladies wearing the grand jewels seem to me to be similar, if not the same, as many we are familiar with. The second part features lavish illustrations of the jewels designed by the Prince. Interestingly, the section with historical photographs is printed on matt paper; the section with the Prince's modern jewels is printed on gloss paper.

I was a trifle disappointed that the historical section was not more comprehensive, but the advance advertising did indicate that the Prince's designs and jewels would be a significant feature. For those interested in contemporary jewel designs, this will be of great interest.

So far my attention has been drawn to 3 very interesting things.

1. As I said below, Prince Dimitri says that the Vladimir fringe tiara was given to Princess Elizabeth in 1934.

2.Prince Dimitri says that Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, wore the City of London fringe tiara for her wedding. I know that we get us all looking at photos and information again!!

3, So far, I cannot yet see where Prince Dimitri says in his book that the so called Yugoslavian Kokoshnik tiara was made by Chaumet. For that information please see the link Sam provided to Tatler in her recent post https://mb.boardhost.com/historyroyaljewels/msg/1599479244.html

Obviously in the coming days, I will have to read this section much more carefully.