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Princess Anne. Grima earrings & diamond and pearl floral brooch
Posted by Beth on April 20, 2021, 8:34 pm
For the funeral of Prince Philip, Princess Anne wore the stud portion of her Grima diamond and pearl earrings.
Commentators on royal jewels were quick to advance their theories about the origin of these earrings: some stated that Prince Philip, a known admirer of the work of Andrew Grima, gave the earrings to her; others followed the assertion of Leslie Field in The Queen's Jewels: that the earrings were given as a memento by Esso Petroleum when the Princess launched the Esso Northumbria on 2 May 1969. According to Field, at the same time, the shipbuilders, Swan Hunter, presented a diamond and pearl brooch to the Princess.
The launching of the Esso Northumbria was the first major, solo engagement for the Princess; her first solo engagement was presenting leeks to the Welsh Guards on 1 March 1969. On that occasion she doesn't appear to have worn earrings.
1 March 1969
For the launch of the Esso Northumbria on 2 May 1969 Princess Anne arrived wearing the stud portion of the Grima earrings plus a brooch. This is the first occasion for which I could find photos of Princess Anne wearing the earrings.
At the launch Sir John Hunter presented Princess Anne with a diamond and pearl brooch.
The Esso Northumbria was then the largest ship built in Britain, a cause for local and national pride. As part of the celebrations a ball was held in the evening. For this, Princess Anne wore the Grima earrings with the detachable drops as well as the diamond brooch presented at the launch.
None of the press reports I have seen mentioned that the earrings were given to Princess Anne by Esso Petroleum, the owners of the ship.
The brooch has become one of Princess Anne's favourites, and she often pairs it with the Grima earrings.
Thankfully, as the brooch is worn so often we have the advantage of viewing it in modern photos which allows us to see the details more clearly.
Did Princess Anne receive the Grima earrings from Esso Petroleum? I couldn't find any press reports suggesting this. Normally, it is the ship builders who present the gifts to those who launch their ships.
There doesn't appear to have been any reservations about reporting that Princess Anne received the diamond and pearl brooch from Swan Hunter, so I cannot see any reason why Esso Petroleum would have been reticent about publicising any gift.
Princess Anne wearing the Swan Hunter gift.
Who gave Princess Anne the Grima earrings remains to be determined.
One possibility is that they might have been an 18th birthday present or a Christmas present from the Queen and Prince Philip or Prince Philip alone.
What is clear is that, after Princess Anne began to take on more royal engagements from May 1969, the earrings were worn with some frequency both for day and evening engagements. The launching of the Esso Northumbria was her first major, solo engagement: one which received wide press coverage and was filmed, and it is possible that for such a major event Princess Anne wore more jewellery than she did in the first few months of the year. That may explain why the first photographs of her wearing the earrings date from the launch of the Esso Northumbria
1969
Re: Princess Anne. Grima earrings & diamond and pearl floral brooch
Great find Beth! So many of the Princess' jewels are gifts from Shipping Companies and I wonder if other royals in that period also got gifts of similar value (I remember from Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester's autobiography of her saying that the best part of launching ships was the jewels, but I can't recall any major jewel she would have received).
Since it is reported that Princess Anne received her Festoon Necklace from her parents for her 18th Birthday in 1968, given your suggestion, I'd think that the Grima earrings were a Christmas present, though they could have also been a personal present from Prince Philip.
I do find it odd that she hasn't worn the pendant portion for so many years, but then she has also done that with her Diamond Cluster Earrings too.
Re: Princess Anne. Grima earrings & diamond and pearl floral brooch
I have a lot more items which I could post, but whether I will continue is a matter under consideration at present, as I am finding too often that a lot of bloggers and Instagram posters are using the outcome of my research and presenting it as their own research.
Even though some of these individuals claim to have advanced academic degrees or are currently doing advanced degrees, they seem to think that they can claim anything they read on the net.
One blogger has claimed that they used another photo and that doing so allows them to appropriate my work and claim copyright over it!!
Another always uses the excuse that a follower of their blog provided the information.
Another maintains they just want to share beautiful images.
Some of these people are running commercial sites and present themselves to the world as experts and sell "their research" to the international media.
Re: Princess Anne. Grima earrings & diamond and pearl floral brooch
Thank You Beth! It is such a pity such gifts are no longer offered, but then christening ships is not a regular feature on the royal calendar.
I got caught up in the death of the Duke of Edinburgh that day, but forgot to congratulate you on your amazing find of the origin of Princess Margaret's Cartier Rose brooch, which is just wonderful given it is such a well known piece!
I recently saw someone use your information and many of the same pictures for a post on Princess Alexandra's Ruby Rose Brooch without acknowledging your hard work, which is really awful.
I totally understand why you are hesitant about posting your research, which I know you spend a lot of time finding and compiling.
Unfortunately, this is one of the reasons why I never publicly share my big research until I publish an article on it, and even then I find ‘experts’ taking the information and passing them off as their own, not replying to messages and even deleting comments that call them out.
I have so many extraordinary finds just waiting for the appropriate time to be published, and it is unfortunate that if I share them now, they will be used by other people without acknowledging my work, and there is very little that I can do except publicly calling them out, and even then the majority of their viewers will believe that they are the originators of that research.