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Wallis Windsor - A tale of two necklaces
Posted by JR76 on March 9, 2020, 4:14 am
Are we allowed to link to blog posts? If so here's one (not mine) about a gift from Queen Mary to her daughter-in-law Wallis Windsor that was later added to and reworked by the glitz loving duchess. Like mother-in-law like daughter-in-law?
What an interesting article JR76!! I know that some blogs do not allow links to other sites etc, but I enjoy reading what others say and, if you had not provided the link, I would have missed this article (and very interesting blog!).
Re the Duchess of Windsor's two pearl necklaces.
I found a number of inconsistencies in the article. At the very least the captions to some of the photos need to be adjusted.
For example -- according to all that I have read this is the Cartier necklace said to have belonged originally to Queen Mary.
In the first of the photos showing this necklace the author says that it is the Cartier one. In the second (also showing the earrings) it is said to be the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace!
It seems to me, based on the evidence available to me, that the Van Cleef and Arpels necklace is the lower (or outer) necklace in the photo below.
I found I was not convinced by the very interesting thesis that Queen Mary gave the necklace to the Duchess circa 1952.
The author argues that the first time the Duchess of Windsor was photographed wearing the Cartier Queen Mary necklace was on 2 May 1952 in a series of photos by Dorothy Wilding.
According to the National Portrait Gallery UK this photo was taken by Wilding on 2 May 1952.
While the Cartier pearl pendant is worn on the lower of the two necklaces, neither necklace matches the Cartier Queen Mary necklace.
The central pearl in the lower necklace photographed in 1952 is an oval or egg shaped pearl, not a spherical pearl. Nor is that pearl (1952) significantly larger than the adjacent pearls, as is the case in the Cartier necklace.
I strongly suspect that the Duchess of Windsor had been wearing the necklace seen in Wilding's 2 May 1952 photo for some time.
In particular in this 1950 photo
I suspect that the Duchess had a series of necklaces of a similar style, but until she commenced wearing the Cartier necklace, none seemed to have significantly large pearls.
I know that it is commonly accepted that the Cartier necklace came from Queen Mary. If it did, I am not convinced that it matches the one portrayed in Jagger's 1930 painting of Queen Mary. Those pearls are not graduated.
I wonder where the information came from that King George gave Queen Mary the Cartier necklace in 1926? I would love to know.
A good read JR76, but yet nothing confirmative. I rate it that QM obtained the most prolific jewel collection as she is thought to have endowed her other daughters in laws and her own daughter with no less than 3 tiaras or more perhaps. But the pearl necklace thought to have been given by her to the first DoW is really beautiful and outstanding. I wonder if the late QEQM and HM could have been more inviting if the late Duchess would have bequeath them some or at least the jewels with a familial background?
Regards,
Dave.
Previous Message
Are we allowed to link to blog posts? If so here's one (not mine) about a gift from Queen Mary to her daughter-in-law Wallis Windsor that was later added to and reworked by the glitz loving duchess. Like mother-in-law like daughter-in-law?