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Queen Alexandra's Fakes
Posted by Al13 on February 2, 2021, 4:30 pm
Hello all.
I saw a discussion on the jewelry of Queen Alexandra today and it got me to thinking.
I've always read the claim that Queen Alexandra wore fake jewelry. Her pearls are often claimed to be fake. However, the only proof of this is that I've come across so far is anecdotal, mainly the one instance when her necklace broke and she didn't try to gather the pieces.
I know that it's no uncommon for women at the time to wear fake jewelry. I'm just curious if the claim that Queen Alexandra was fond of fake jewelry was overblown. Do we even have any definitive proof that she wore fakes? Or any proof regarding the story of the broken necklace?
Yes, her ropes and ropes of pearls might seem a tad too many to be real, but didn't she receive plenty of jewelry from the Indian maharajas which would explain why she could wear ropes of pearls?
I'm not discounting the possibility of the story being true. I'm just trying to get a scholarly consensus on the matter, backed up with evidence.
I have never seen any verifiable evidence that Queen Alexandra wore (or owned) fakes.
I am familiar with the story of the fake pearls. That was in the newspapers at one time, but I have always felt it was more of an amusing tale than something based on facts.
As far as I know the only pearls which Queen Alexandra wore which we know little about is the long multi strand necklace (strung in the Indian taste). To be honest, I cannot see anything in these pearls which would substantiate the theory that HM wore fakes. The pearls in the necklace are small and, as none of the photos give any idea of the quality of the pearls, it is impossible to gauge whether they are real or not.