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Crown Rubies Posted by OmerH on March 2, 2019, 8:15 pm It is usually believed that the Queen Mother held on to the crown ruby parure up until her death and HM The Queen only started wearing it some time after 2002. However Queen Elizabeth II was pictured wearing the necklace in November 2001 at the state visit from Jordan. Do others know when was the last time the Queen Mother wore this piece in public. Could it be that around her 100th birthday she finally decided to part with these jewels?

Re: Crown Rubies Posted by Beth on March 3, 2019, 5:45 pm, in reply to "Crown Rubies" What a great observation OmerH!! I did a search on some of the photo companies' online libraries --which I know won't give an accurate picture, but only a general indication. From the Getty archive it would appear that the last year Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother wore the "rubies" was in 1991 for 2 State visit banquets. What I found interesting about these occasions is that HM did not wear the Oriental circlet tiara; rather she wore the Greville tiara, and initially I assumed that she wore the Greville emerald necklace. Detail In 1990 QEQM wore the "ruby" earrings with the Greville diamond necklace. For anyone who is not aware of my ideas -- I put the word ruby and rubies in inverted commas as I query whether they are rubies. My other little theory is that these are not Crown property. Twinning is quite clear that the "rubies" were not left to the Crown by Queen Victoria. She left the necklace from which these stones are said to have come to Edward VII as personal property. What she left to the crown was the Oriental circlet tiara set with opals and a necklace, earrings and brooch which were also set with opals. I have always argued that when the "rubies" were substituted for the opals, the necklace would have had to be rebuilt as it is highly unlikely that the "rubies" would have been identical in size and shape to the opals.

Re: Crown Rubies Posted by Dave on March 3, 2019, 9:42 pm, in reply to "Re: Crown Rubies" Thanks for that point Beth. I too always thought that the rubies were left by QV to the Crown but did not take the oriental tiara and opals into consideration. Does anyone have any pictures of these replaced opals? Because opals do look beautiful with the multiple varying colours and the lustre they give off. Regards, Dave. Previous Message What a great observation OmerH!! I did a search on some of the photo companies' online libraries --which I know won't give an accurate picture, but only a general indication. From the Getty archive it would appear that the last year Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother wore the "rubies" was in 1991 for 2 State visit banquets. What I found interesting about these occasions is that HM did not wear the Oriental circlet tiara; rather she wore the Greville tiara, and initially I assumed that she wore the Greville emerald necklace. Detail In 1990 QEQM wore the "ruby" earrings with the Greville diamond necklace. For anyone who is not aware of my ideas -- I put the word ruby and rubies in inverted commas as I query whether they are rubies. My other little theory is that these are not Crown property. Twinning is quite clear that the "rubies" were not left to the Crown by Queen Victoria. She left the necklace from which these stones are said to have come to Edward VII as personal property. What she left to the crown was the Oriental circlet tiara set with opals and a necklace, earrings and brooch which were also set with opals. I have always argued that when the "rubies" were substituted for the opals, the necklace would have had to be rebuilt as it is highly unlikely that the "rubies" would have been identical in size and shape to the opals.

Re: Crown Rubies Posted by Vincent on March 4, 2019, 2:08 am, in reply to "Re: Crown Rubies" What a brilliant theory Beth. It all makes sense. The queen mother did not have to give up the parure in 1952 when her daughter became queen because only the diamond setting was crown property. The principal stones, the rubies, were private property. Lord Twinnings mentions they were a gift from sir Jung Bahadur Rana, prime minister of Nepal. Opales were out of fashion after 1900 and queen victoria’s Ruby parure had been left to princess béatrice, so, at one point, (I think it is on the request of queen Mar) a new ruby and diamond parure was created using crown diamond jewels and privately owned rubies.

The opals Posted by Beth on March 4, 2019, 6:04 am, in reply to "Re: Crown Rubies" Although we have images of Queen Victoria wearing the Oriental circlet, it is difficult to say what her opals looked like, as no modern colour photo of them has surfaced. Nor have I ever seen a detailed description of them. I am certain of only one thing: that the opals in Queen Victoria's parure would not have been Australian opals. The only modern photo I have seen of any of Queen Victoria's opals is of a pair of earrings. They were exhibited in Adelaide a few years ago. The opals struck me as "dead"; there were no shimmering colours or opalescence. A small opal ring belonging to Queen Adelaide was also on display and, while the opal in it was run of the mill quality, it was far superior to the opals in Queen Victoria's earrings.

Queen Alexandra and the "ruby" parure Posted by Beth on March 4, 2019, 7:01 am, in reply to "The opals" According to Twinning the opals were replaced in Queen Victoria's tiara, necklace and earrings in 1902. Because there are no known photographs or paintings showing Queen Alexandra with the parure, it is commonly assumed that she never wore the jewels. But there is considerable evidence in the newspapers stating that she did wear rubies, including in a tiara. Unless there is a parure which we are not familiar with, I think that Queen Alexandra did wear the parure. It would be very boring to post all the references to Queen Alexandra wearing rubies, but a few reports from key occasions suggest that she would have worn Queen Victoria's jewels. For a State visit by the King of Spain, 1905 For a State Ball, 1904. For a ball at Grosvenor House, 1905 Rubies, including tiara, for a Court, 1908. For a private dance to celebrate her wedding anniversary, 1903. What intrigues me most is a sketch in the Illustrated London News July 1908 of Queen Alexandra at a ball given by the Duchess of Wellington. I think it depicts Queen Alexandra wearing the Oriental circlet, but unfortunately I have never found a description of HM's jewels to confirm my thoughts.

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