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Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace Posted by Beth on January 11, 2021, 3:50 pm One of Queen Alexandra's most frequently worn jewels was the diamond necklace given by the City of London. Not only did she wear it as a choker and as a necklace, Queen Alexandra also used it as a corsage ornament. The first occasion she did so was her wedding. In the image below it can be seen in an open v shape above the pearl and diamond brooch which formed part of Edward VII's wedding gifts. This was a style she adopted for many Court functions including the baptism of her first child, Prince Albert Victor. Apart from the wedding photos, all the images I have of Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace show it as a choker. Has anyone ever seen images where it is worn as a conventional necklace?

Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace Posted by Knightship on January 12, 2021, 5:22 am, in reply to "Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace" This is as «conventional» I can remember seeing it worn as a necklace: Previous Message One of Queen Alexandra's most frequently worn jewels was the diamond necklace given by the City of London. Not only did she wear it as a choker and as a necklace, Queen Alexandra also used it as a corsage ornament. The first occasion she did so was her wedding. In the image below it can be seen in an open v shape above the pearl and diamond brooch which formed part of Edward VII's wedding gifts. This was a style she adopted for many Court functions including the baptism of her first child, Prince Albert Victor. Apart from the wedding photos, all the images I have of Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace show it as a choker. Has anyone ever seen images where it is worn as a conventional necklace?

Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace Posted by Beth on January 12, 2021, 5:45 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace" Many thanks Knightship. Now that my mind has been jogged I remembered that there are a number of press items which may indicated that Queen Alexandra wore the City diamond riviere with pendants attached, but to me it is never 100% clear if she was wearing the City necklace. For example - the following description may be indicating that Queen Alexandra wore the City necklace close to her throat, or it may mean that she had hung pendants from the elaborate diamond necklace we know she had. The occasion was a visit to the City of London in 1876, so at least one of the diamond necklaces would have been the City's gift. 1876. Visit to the Guildhall, London. Queen Alexandra wearing City necklace close to throat with an elaborate diamond necklace with pendants. 1893 In contrast this description of Queen Alexandra at the wedding of Princess Helena in 1866 suggests to me that she was wearing the City necklace. I wonder if the necklace was originally designed to be worn in different lengths? None of the press items I have seen (from when the necklace was presented) indicate that -- but who knows? The City riviere contained 32 diamonds. According to Hugh Roberts in The Queen's Diamonds, QEII wore Queen Alexandra's City necklace on this occasion. The necklace in its entirety is a much longer necklace than the choker lengths Queen Alexandra was photographed wearing.

Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace Posted by JohnAF on January 16, 2021, 9:21 pm, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace" I love these descriptions of dresses & jewels which sadly we don't get today. However I did wonder why, at the wedding of Princess Helena the Princess of Wales wore the red ribbon of Catherine of Russia & order?

Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace Posted by Kongetro on January 17, 2021, 4:08 am, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace" I agree, the descriptions of the dresses are sometimes very detailed in those newspaper reports. And it can be fascinating reading them. However, I often feel frustrated about the descriptions of the jewels and I wish they could have been just as detailed as the ones used for the dresses. The very commonly used phrase "diamond tiara" could actually mean a tiara with diamonds and some other gem - so it is very difficult to say for certain which jewels were worn when. Having said that, I definitely prefer those descriptions to not having any descriptions at all. I love how Royalty and their doings were so much in the news back then. These days we are lucky to get a mention in the news when a monarch pays a State Visit or host a lavish banquet as the first representative "body" in the land. As for the order of Saint Catherine. I think it was "the" order to go to for most Royal ladies back then. Though they are also described wearing a lot of other orders as well, though those orders were mostly worn as bows and not with the Sash. You question reminded me of our fellow poster The Royal Watcher who actually wrote a very interesting post on the matter not that long ago: https://mb.boardhost.com/historyroyaljewels/msg/1604454356.html Previous Message I love these descriptions of dresses & jewels which sadly we don't get today. However I did wonder why, at the wedding of Princess Helena the Princess of Wales wore the red ribbon of Catherine of Russia & order? Kongetro To visit my website Regal Events use this link: https://regalevents913271078.wordpress.com/

Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace Posted by JohnAF on January 17, 2021, 9:07 am, in reply to "Re: Queen Alexandra wearing the City of London necklace" Thank you very much for the information & link. Most interesting and informative.

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