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Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe Coburg Gotha. The bracelet Posted by Beth on July 31, 2021, 4:01 pm Does anyone know what might have happened to the Duchess' bracelet? Detail

The disappearance of her sapphire parure Posted by Janet on August 2, 2021, 4:21 am, in reply to "Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe Coburg Gotha. The bracelet" I am most saddened by the disappearance of Marie Alexandrovna's sapphire parure. Marie Alexandrovna's sapphire parure was designed to celebrate her marriage to a British prince and was made up of English, Scottish and Irish symbols. I can't help but feel it was a tragedy that Queen Mary never had the chance to buy it. We know that the sapphires were gifted to Marie Alexandrovna's daughter Victoria Melita as she was pictured wearing them in pictures in the 1910s and presumably they were either left behind in Russia or sold very soon after they escaped in 1917. Thye clearly did not form part of the jewels which Victoria Melita sold to her sister Marie of Romania. Such a loss.

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure Posted by Beth on August 2, 2021, 7:21 am, in reply to "The disappearance of her sapphire parure" Interesting Janet! I had not realised that there were English, Scottish and Irish symbols incorporated in the parure. I will have to hunt up some photos to see what they are. Another interesting item to look at! Thank you! Previous Message I am most saddened by the disappearance of Marie Alexandrovna's sapphire parure. Marie Alexandrovna's sapphire parure was designed to celebrate her marriage to a British prince and was made up of English, Scottish and Irish symbols. I can't help but feel it was a tragedy that Queen Mary never had the chance to buy it. We know that the sapphires were gifted to Marie Alexandrovna's daughter Victoria Melita as she was pictured wearing them in pictures in the 1910s and presumably they were either left behind in Russia or sold very soon after they escaped in 1917. Thye clearly did not form part of the jewels which Victoria Melita sold to her sister Marie of Romania. Such a loss.

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure Posted by Janet on August 2, 2021, 8:49 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure" https://www.royal-magazin.de/russia/victoria-melitta-kirill/vict-melitta-sapphire-set.htm Apparently the sight of this parure on the newly married Grand Duchess greatly irked Queen Victoria who felt the jewels were too grand for a young woman. Sour grapes no doubt. Previous Message Interesting Janet! I had not realised that there were English, Scottish and Irish symbols incorporated in the parure. I will have to hunt up some photos to see what they are. Another interesting item to look at! Thank you! Previous Message I am most saddened by the disappearance of Marie Alexandrovna's sapphire parure. Marie Alexandrovna's sapphire parure was designed to celebrate her marriage to a British prince and was made up of English, Scottish and Irish symbols. I can't help but feel it was a tragedy that Queen Mary never had the chance to buy it. We know that the sapphires were gifted to Marie Alexandrovna's daughter Victoria Melita as she was pictured wearing them in pictures in the 1910s and presumably they were either left behind in Russia or sold very soon after they escaped in 1917. Thye clearly did not form part of the jewels which Victoria Melita sold to her sister Marie of Romania. Such a loss.

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Posted by Beth on August 2, 2021, 6:45 pm, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure" Thanks Janet. I have never delved into the jewels of the Russian royals or those of the Grand Duchess Maria, Duchess of Edinburgh and Saxe Coburg Gotha previously, so I know very, very little. But I noticed that the book Ursula quotes as her source was published in the 1980s by an author who is not a jewellery specialist. Stefano Papi in his book, The Jewels of the Romanovs page 148 suggests that the parure might have been a gift to Victoria Melita by her mother-in-law, the Grand Duchess Vladimir. From the little I know the photos of Victoria Melita wearing the parure are all after her marriage to the Grand Duke. I am hoping that others will know more about this set of jewels than I do and can enlighten us. I have collected very few items on the jewels of the Duchess of Edinburgh (as the UK press referred to her) but none of them seems to mention sapphires - her diamonds, pearls and rubies were always commented upon.

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Posted by Janet on August 2, 2021, 9:18 pm, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" A number of sources associate the sapphire parure with Marie Alexandrovna, although I agree with you there are no known pictures of her wearing it as far as I am aware - the same is also true of her Ruby coronet by Bolin, although she wore the ruby necklace to the 1896 coronation of Tsar Nicholas II. The sapphires certainly could not have come from Grand Duchess Vladimir to Victoria Melita as she did not marry the Grand Duchess's son until 1905, whereas the sapphire parure was on display with Marie Alexandrovna's jewels (and those of her daughters) in 1903 in Coburg as part of a charity exhibition. https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2014/03/victoria-melitas-sapphires.html Ursula's page on the 1903 exhibition https://www.royal-magazin.de/german/sachsen-coburg/sachsen-coburg-juwelen.htm What a sight that exhibition would have been!

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Posted by Beth on August 4, 2021, 6:34 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" Thanks Janet. I am on a steep learning curve here. It seems amazing that Stefano Papi didn't come across it all.

First wearing of sapphire necklace?? Posted by Beth on August 4, 2021, 8:38 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" When the newly married Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh returned to London in 1874 a series of ceremonial occasions were held to mark the marriage and welcome the Duchess to England. One was a Drawing Room for which Queen Victoria, in contrast to her usual habit of delegating it to Queen Alexandra or another senior royal lady, appeared. According to the press the Duchess of Edinburgh wore a sapphire and diamond necklace and brooch. Below is the only visual representation of the occasion I can find. The question is how much we can rely on the sketch, but it is possible that this is meant to represent the necklace. As the Duchess of Edinburgh wore this necklace for her first attendance at one of Queen Victoria's Drawing Rooms, given the incorporation of the three floral symbols, it is probable that it was designed as a compliment to her mother-in-law to be worn on this very occasion. Her daughter, Victoria Melita, Grand Duchess Cyril wearing the parure

The Duchess wearing her sapphires in UK immediately after her wedding Posted by Beth on August 4, 2021, 8:08 pm, in reply to "First wearing of sapphire necklace?? " During the day I decided to check on the notes I had taken from Queen Victoria's Journals to see if HM ever mentioned the Grand Duchess Marie, Duchess of Edinburgh, wearing sapphires. And yes Queen Victoria did. Before I detail that, I admit that I have no proof that the jewels mentioned are those we are discussing, But, I assume that they are, The first mention in Queen Victoria's Journals of the Duchess wearing sapphires was on 13 March 1874 at a Drawing Room especially to welcome the new Duchess of Edinburgh to the UK Court. This aligns with the press report I posted above. In her journal Queen Victoria recorded that "Marie" wore a diamond diadem and "a splendid parure of sapphires and diamonds". Unfortunately, from our point of view there was no detailed description of the parure. Sketch of the Drawing Room The next mention of the sapphires came in a record of the banquet given to honour the Czar during his visit on 14 May 1874. On this occasion Queen Victoria recorded that the Duchess wore the same dress as for the Drawing Room mentioned above and her "beautiful sapphires". A sketch of the banquet scene. The Duchess is next to her father on the left hand side.

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Posted by Janet on August 8, 2021, 9:29 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" I confess I haven't read that book so cannot comment beyond to say that Victoria Melita's mother and mother-in-law were both called Marie, so maybe it was a confusion between the two women by the author? Unless of course the author has some evidence to show that Marie Pavlovna bought it from Marie Alexandrovna and gifted it to Victoria Melita, however we know that Marie Alexandrova was one of the wealthiest princesses in Europe and had no need to sell her jewels before WW1 so that would create another mystery. Previous Message Thanks Janet. I am on a steep learning curve here. It seems amazing that Stefano Papi didn't come across it all.

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Posted by Bob on August 10, 2021, 12:32 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" Given what Victoria gave her daughters and other daughters in law, this looks rather grand as a present from Victoria for Maria. Maybe a wedding present from her husband?

Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh?? Posted by Janet on August 10, 2021, 12:40 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" This parure was not a gift from Queen Victoria to Marie Alexandrovna but from her father the Tsar, which she brought from Russia with her.

Duke of edinburgh's gifts Posted by Beth on August 11, 2021, 9:46 am, in reply to "Re: The disappearance of her sapphire parure, But did it belong to the Duchess of Edinburgh??" As everyone knows I haven't much information about the Duchess of Edinburgh's jewels. So far I haven't seen any references to what Queen Victoria gave the Grand Duchess Marie as wedding gifts, but I assume the gifts would have been commensurate with the status of a daughter-in-law of the Queen of England. I do have a list of the gifts given by the Duke to his bride -- but, alas, no imagery!! These sound like very interesting jewels. Has anyone ever seen images which might show these jewels? The list

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