I am intrigued that in 1922, Infanta Beatrice, Maria Alexandrovna's youngest daughter was selling emeralds and these were bought by the Romanian government - I wonder did these come from her mother, who had died a few years before?
There is very little information about emeralds in Marie Alexandrovna's collection but it seems inconceivable that she didn't have any as her collection was one of the largest and most impressive, enough to upset Queen Victoria.
If Marie of Romania bought emeralds for her daughter Elisabeth and we know Elisabeth had emeralds during her time as Queen of Greece turned into an emerald parure (the tiara currently worn by Queen Anne Marie was made for Elisabeth) is it possible that Maria Alexandrovna/Beatrice's emeralds are part of the Greek tiara and brooch?
Around this time exactly, 100 years ago, Queen Marie of Romania, who had lost her jewels in Russia during WWI , was acquiring lots of new jewels, particularly to help her sisters Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia and Princess Beatrice, Duchess of Galliera ! Queen Marie bought the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik for herself, Victoria Melita's Greek Key Tiara for the soon to be Crown Princess Princess Helen and the Cartier Sapphire Sautoir for her eldest daughter, Princess Elisabeth, who was about to marry Helen’s brother, King George II of Greece! A few years later, Queen Marie also bought Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna’s Fringe Tiara from Princess Beatrice!
She also spoke about some jewels that were acquired by the Romanian Government to give as wedding gifts. From Queen Marie's diary on February 24th, 1921 :
"I have bought for the government to give to Lisabetha (Queen Elisabeth) a beautiful set of emeralds, collier and cross, that Baby (Princess Beatrice) was selling and for Sitta (Queen Helen) a superb sapphire brooch with earrings, of Ducky’s (Princess Victoria Melita) share from Aunt Miechen (Grand Duchess Vladimir), wonderful, irreproachable stones."
At the same time, Queen Marie also spoke about her indignation with her cousin , Queen Sophia of Greece:
"Tino and Sophie have sent no wedding present to Lisabetha! Not the smallest tiniest little item of anything! – nothing! I confess to feeling indignant! Sophie has all her jewels, while I lost all mine and yet we made tremendous efforts to send her daughter a beautiful diadem! Oh!—if only I had my jewels, with what delight I would have given one of my diadems to Lisabetha! Now I have given a diadem to my daughter in law, while my own daughter has none!”
This passage from Queen Marie's diary opens up a new mystery about what were the emeralds given to Queen Elisabeth and the sapphires given to Queen Helen and what became of them?
Could the sapphire earrings and brooch worn by Queen Helen be the ones from Grand Duchess Vladimir? Since it came from her great-grandfather, Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, I has assumed the Russian Sapphire Brooch, HERE was inherited by Queen Helen through her grandmother, Queen Olga of Greece! While the Brooch was sold at auction in the 1960s, Queen Helen's sister-in-law, Queen Frederica of Greece, began wearing very similar earrings around the same time, could they be the same?
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