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Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
Posted by Beth on August 26, 2018, 11:07 am
It is well known that the City of London presented Queen Alexandra with a diamond collet necklace and diamond earrings, which cost ten thousand pounds, as a wedding gift in 1863.
What is less well known is the size of the principal stones and the overall carat weight.
The smallest diamond in the necklace is said to have been 4 carats. (This will be seen in a cutting below)
Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 94 states that there appears to have been some confusion from the earliest time about the number of collets in the necklace but, a little research, shows that Roberts had misread the information he consulted. Apparently the text of the Russel's Memorial on the marriage of... 1863 states that there were 38 diamonds; yet, his illustration shows only 32 collets.
There were only ever 32 collets in the necklace; the extra 6 collets were in the earrings.
According to Roberts the necklace today contains only 31 collets.
After the Corporation of the City of London aldermen decided on the amount to be spent on this wedding gift and that it was to be a collet necklace, various London firms presented jewels. Eventually, the aldermen narrowed the field to three.
According to one report, the aldermen did not select the necklace with the largest stones, opting instead for one containing stones it was said that Prince Albert had admired.
Queen Alexandra wore the necklace and the stud section of the earrings constantly.
Possibly the first time she officially wore the necklace was for a reception given by the Corporation following her wedding.
And for another
In March 1864 for the baptism of her first born, Prince Albert Victor, she wore the City diamond necklace as a corsage ornament.
I have never seen a sketch or photo of Queen Alexandra wearing the necklace as a corsage ornament. We are all familiar with images of her wearing the necklace as a choker and as an "ordinary" necklace.
Re: Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
Fascinating information Beth. I'd love to find out whatever became of the tiara QA wears in the photos?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
It is well known that the City of London presented Queen Alexandra with a diamond collet necklace and diamond earrings, which cost ten thousand pounds, as a wedding gift in 1863.
What is less well known is the size of the principal stones and the overall carat weight.
The smallest diamond in the necklace is said to have been 4 carats. (This will be seen in a cutting below)
Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 94 states that there appears to have been some confusion from the earliest time about the number of collets in the necklace but, a little research, shows that Roberts had misread the information he consulted. Apparently the text of the Russel's Memorial on the marriage of... 1863 states that there were 38 diamonds; yet, his illustration shows only 32 collets.
There were only ever 32 collets in the necklace; the extra 6 collets were in the earrings.
According to Roberts the necklace today contains only 31 collets.
After the Corporation of the City of London aldermen decided on the amount to be spent on this wedding gift and that it was to be a collet necklace, various London firms presented jewels. Eventually, the aldermen narrowed the field to three.
According to one report, the aldermen did not select the necklace with the largest stones, opting instead for one containing stones it was said that Prince Albert had admired.
Queen Alexandra wore the necklace and the stud section of the earrings constantly.
Possibly the first time she officially wore the necklace was for a reception given by the Corporation following her wedding.
And for another
In March 1864 for the baptism of her first born, Prince Albert Victor, she wore the City diamond necklace as a corsage ornament.
I have never seen a sketch or photo of Queen Alexandra wearing the necklace as a corsage ornament. We are all familiar with images of her wearing the necklace as a choker and as an "ordinary" necklace.
Re: Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
So do we know who has the City of London collet now or did it get morphed into another collet or set of collet necklaces.?
Dave I think the Isra you are referring to is called the Rundell and was dismantled after QA death.
Marc
Previous Message
Fascinating information Beth. I'd love to find out whatever became of the tiara QA wears in the photos?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
It is well known that the City of London presented Queen Alexandra with a diamond collet necklace and diamond earrings, which cost ten thousand pounds, as a wedding gift in 1863.
What is less well known is the size of the principal stones and the overall carat weight.
The smallest diamond in the necklace is said to have been 4 carats. (This will be seen in a cutting below)
Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 94 states that there appears to have been some confusion from the earliest time about the number of collets in the necklace but, a little research, shows that Roberts had misread the information he consulted. Apparently the text of the Russel's Memorial on the marriage of... 1863 states that there were 38 diamonds; yet, his illustration shows only 32 collets.
There were only ever 32 collets in the necklace; the extra 6 collets were in the earrings.
According to Roberts the necklace today contains only 31 collets.
After the Corporation of the City of London aldermen decided on the amount to be spent on this wedding gift and that it was to be a collet necklace, various London firms presented jewels. Eventually, the aldermen narrowed the field to three.
According to one report, the aldermen did not select the necklace with the largest stones, opting instead for one containing stones it was said that Prince Albert had admired.
Queen Alexandra wore the necklace and the stud section of the earrings constantly.
Possibly the first time she officially wore the necklace was for a reception given by the Corporation following her wedding.
And for another
In March 1864 for the baptism of her first born, Prince Albert Victor, she wore the City diamond necklace as a corsage ornament.
I have never seen a sketch or photo of Queen Alexandra wearing the necklace as a corsage ornament. We are all familiar with images of her wearing the necklace as a choker and as an "ordinary" necklace.
Re: Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
According to Roberts, Queen Alexandra's collet necklace was inherited by Queen Mary who left it to QEII.
I am hopeless at gauging what collet necklace is which, but according to Roberts QEII wore it in Toronto in 2010 - as per the photos below.
Perhaps Franck or Bryce might know if HM has worn it on other occasions.
The necklace looks longer than when worn by Queen Alexandra. Roberts says that 5 of the collets are detachable, and no doubt some were removed so that it sat higher, at the base of Queen Alexandra's throat.
Re Queen Alexandra's wedding gift tiara. Roberts says somewhere (in a footnote I think) that it was inherited by Princess Victoria of Wales and has since been disposed of -- possibly it was broken up and the stones fashioned into something else.
Re: Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
You are incredible ! Thank you for sharing with us these informations !
Please note that I have found a photo on the net of QEII wearing QA's collet necklace (Wrong it is the coronation necklace)
[img][/img] necklace.
Further to the information given, I now understand why the version worn by QM was longer. She might have used the collets from the earrings (see Robert the necklace was worn just above The Duchess of Teck's Collet Necklace):
[img][/img]
Franck
Previous Message
According to Roberts, Queen Alexandra's collet necklace was inherited by Queen Mary who left it to QEII.
I am hopeless at gauging what collet necklace is which, but according to Roberts QEII wore it in Toronto in 2010 - as per the photos below.
Perhaps Franck or Bryce might know if HM has worn it on other occasions.
The necklace looks longer than when worn by Queen Alexandra. Roberts says that 5 of the collets are detachable, and no doubt some were removed so that it sat higher, at the base of Queen Alexandra's throat.
Re Queen Alexandra's wedding gift tiara. Roberts says somewhere (in a footnote I think) that it was inherited by Princess Victoria of Wales and has since been disposed of -- possibly it was broken up and the stones fashioned into something else.
Re: Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
Thanks MarcA for your reply. But I do get conflicting reports on the Rundell, some say it left the BRF and ended up with Imelda Marcos and they are some who say it yet remains in the main line of the BRF. It is a real possibility that it could still be in HM's possession as people also felt that QM's (Meghan Merkle) wedding diamond bandeau also left the BRF main line and yet it was just there sitting around. What proof is out there that suggests it really was taken apart or did leave the BRF?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
Hi Beth,
So do we know who has the City of London collet now or did it get morphed into another collet or set of collet necklaces.?
Dave I think the Isra you are referring to is called the Rundell and was dismantled after QA death.
Marc
Previous Message
Fascinating information Beth. I'd love to find out whatever became of the tiara QA wears in the photos?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
It is well known that the City of London presented Queen Alexandra with a diamond collet necklace and diamond earrings, which cost ten thousand pounds, as a wedding gift in 1863.
What is less well known is the size of the principal stones and the overall carat weight.
The smallest diamond in the necklace is said to have been 4 carats. (This will be seen in a cutting below)
Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 94 states that there appears to have been some confusion from the earliest time about the number of collets in the necklace but, a little research, shows that Roberts had misread the information he consulted. Apparently the text of the Russel's Memorial on the marriage of... 1863 states that there were 38 diamonds; yet, his illustration shows only 32 collets.
There were only ever 32 collets in the necklace; the extra 6 collets were in the earrings.
According to Roberts the necklace today contains only 31 collets.
After the Corporation of the City of London aldermen decided on the amount to be spent on this wedding gift and that it was to be a collet necklace, various London firms presented jewels. Eventually, the aldermen narrowed the field to three.
According to one report, the aldermen did not select the necklace with the largest stones, opting instead for one containing stones it was said that Prince Albert had admired.
Queen Alexandra wore the necklace and the stud section of the earrings constantly.
Possibly the first time she officially wore the necklace was for a reception given by the Corporation following her wedding.
And for another
In March 1864 for the baptism of her first born, Prince Albert Victor, she wore the City diamond necklace as a corsage ornament.
I have never seen a sketch or photo of Queen Alexandra wearing the necklace as a corsage ornament. We are all familiar with images of her wearing the necklace as a choker and as an "ordinary" necklace.
Re: Queen Alexandra. City of London diamond necklace
Roberts in the QD did say that the tiara does not exist anymore..it was disposed of.
On the contrary we had a huge feeling that the QM's diamond bandeau tiara was in the vault like the lozenge tiara (worn by Princess Margaret in 1965).
QM had worn these tiaras at the end of her life. We could therefore suppose that she had left them to QEII (Like the resille necklace and the pearl and diamond stomacher).
Franck
Previous Message
Thanks MarcA for your reply. But I do get conflicting reports on the Rundell, some say it left the BRF and ended up with Imelda Marcos and they are some who say it yet remains in the main line of the BRF. It is a real possibility that it could still be in HM's possession as people also felt that QM's (Meghan Merkle) wedding diamond bandeau also left the BRF main line and yet it was just there sitting around. What proof is out there that suggests it really was taken apart or did leave the BRF?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
Hi Beth,
So do we know who has the City of London collet now or did it get morphed into another collet or set of collet necklaces.?
Dave I think the Isra you are referring to is called the Rundell and was dismantled after QA death.
Marc
Previous Message
Fascinating information Beth. I'd love to find out whatever became of the tiara QA wears in the photos?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
It is well known that the City of London presented Queen Alexandra with a diamond collet necklace and diamond earrings, which cost ten thousand pounds, as a wedding gift in 1863.
What is less well known is the size of the principal stones and the overall carat weight.
The smallest diamond in the necklace is said to have been 4 carats. (This will be seen in a cutting below)
Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 94 states that there appears to have been some confusion from the earliest time about the number of collets in the necklace but, a little research, shows that Roberts had misread the information he consulted. Apparently the text of the Russel's Memorial on the marriage of... 1863 states that there were 38 diamonds; yet, his illustration shows only 32 collets.
There were only ever 32 collets in the necklace; the extra 6 collets were in the earrings.
According to Roberts the necklace today contains only 31 collets.
After the Corporation of the City of London aldermen decided on the amount to be spent on this wedding gift and that it was to be a collet necklace, various London firms presented jewels. Eventually, the aldermen narrowed the field to three.
According to one report, the aldermen did not select the necklace with the largest stones, opting instead for one containing stones it was said that Prince Albert had admired.
Queen Alexandra wore the necklace and the stud section of the earrings constantly.
Possibly the first time she officially wore the necklace was for a reception given by the Corporation following her wedding.
And for another
In March 1864 for the baptism of her first born, Prince Albert Victor, she wore the City diamond necklace as a corsage ornament.
I have never seen a sketch or photo of Queen Alexandra wearing the necklace as a corsage ornament. We are all familiar with images of her wearing the necklace as a choker and as an "ordinary" necklace.
We can be certain that Queen Alexandra's wedding gift tiara is no longer in the main line of the British royal family because of the information supplied by Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 84, footnote 4 which states --
It is a guess on my part that the tiara was probably broken up for its diamonds.
Thanks Franck and Beth for the confirmation of whereabout of the Rundell tiara.
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
We can be certain that Queen Alexandra's wedding gift tiara is no longer in the main line of the British royal family because of the information supplied by Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 84, footnote 4 which states --
It is a guess on my part that the tiara was probably broken up for its diamonds.
So interestingly the tiara may have just been.sold off for its diamonds as opposed to being dismantled tp make something else.
By 1926 and the death of her mother Toria’s court days were now really effectively over. So another major piece not required.
Still a bit on an ignominious end to her mother’s primary wedding present and obviously a favourite.
Previous Message
We can be certain that Queen Alexandra's wedding gift tiara is no longer in the main line of the British royal family because of the information supplied by Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds page 84, footnote 4 which states --
It is a guess on my part that the tiara was probably broken up for its diamonds.