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QEQM. Belfast wedding gift watch
Posted by Beth on February 12, 2019, 5:57 am
For her wedding Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother received a watch from the city of Belfast.
It has long been believed that HM received a diamond and platinum bracelet and a watch, the gifts being those worn by QEQM in the photo below.
These two jewels, either in combination or singularly, were favourites of QEQM. I have never subscribed to the notion that these were the Belfast gifts, primarily because neither jewel was seen until the middle of WWII. Secondly, Belfast was not a wealthy city in the same league as the City of London. If the watch and bracelet pictured above were the Belfast gift they would have cost a great deal more than what the City of London gave to HM. The City of London could draw upon donations from very wealthy institutions; Belfast had only its own coffers and the donations of wealthy shipbuilders, linen manufacturers etc.
Nor do I believe that HM received two individual pieces from Belfast for her wedding.
The confusion appears to have arisen from a report in the Times that the city gave a bracelet and a watch.
In 1923 it is doubtful if the general public reading descriptions of the gifts would have concluded that two separate items were presented to the then Lady Elizabeth. At the time what we think of as a watch was typically described as a "watch bracelet" or a "wristlet watch" to distinguish such items from the pendant watches which ladies had pinned to the bodice of their dresses in earlier eras.
1923 advertisements for watch bracelets.
Because the bracelet component of the item could be either a silk band or a precious metal, it was often described separately in advertisements, the watch itself being considered a separate component.
For example
The description in The Scotsman 21 April 1923, when the gifts were presented to George VI by the Alderman of Belfast, highlights how the gift to the then Lady Elizabeth was described; yet, it is clear that only one item, a wrist watch was presented -- as it was described as a "splendid wrist watch bracelet". Then, to demonstrate that the bracelet section was made of precious metal the report talks of both a bracelet and a watch. George VI referred to it as a bracelet. Such descriptions are confusing to modern readers but would not have been to people in 1923.
Other reports, being simpler, are clearer to a modern reader.
I have never found an image among the wedding presents of the gift from Belfast, so deducing which of the many watches HM wore over her lifetime was the wedding gift is difficult.
I have looked at what ever photos I could find of the visit the then Duke and Duchess of York made to Belfast after their wedding, but have not spotted a watch on QEQM, as most of the photos were taken from a distance or furs and bouquets cover HM's wrists.
Nevertheless, I strongly suspect that this was the watch given to HM.
The style fits with those fashionable circa 1923 and it appears to have a platinum band and diamonds surrounding the watch face.
Yet, it is still a guess.
The clearest of the early photos are from 1931.
This watch remained a firm favourite of QEQM throughout the years.
on February 12, 2019, 5:57 am
