![]() Umberto II and Marie José were king and queen of Italy for only a month before the monarchy was abolished in 1946 this tiara, a personal jewel, was one that went with them into exile. Umberto presented it to his bride, Princess Marie José of Belgium, for their wedding in 1930, and she wore it for her wedding day. When Queen Margherita died in 1926, she appropriately left this tiara to the grandson whose birth inspired its creation. It is one of the pieces that is very flexible, as it can be worn in eight different configurations. ![]() ![]() She sent a few pieces from her existing personal jewel collection to the jeweler Musy to be crafted into a new diadem. The delighted queen mother decided to celebrate her grandson’s birth with a new gem. In 1904, news reached Queen Margherita, the queen mother of Italy, that her daughter-in-law Queen Elena had given birth to a son. In 1971, she married Prince Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy, the son of the last king and queen of Italy. She was born Marina Doria, and before she married into the House of Savoy, she was a champion water skier. It is now owned by Princess Marina of Savoy’s husband, Vittorio Emanuele. This tiara is what you may describe as a very girly piece, with lots of flowery ornamentation and beautiful round pearls. Given the autumn timing of the wedding, the warm colors of the tiara make even more sense. Interestingly it was the nuptials of this couple that initiated a tradition famous around the world today: Oktoberfest. The parure was made by Caspar Rieländer for King Ludwig I of Bavaria as a gift to the king’s wife, Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. That is certainly not one of the party ones. And hope that she didn’t have to spend an entire evening in this tiara. I can only sympathize with Princess Antonia wearing it for her portrait photo. That said it doesn’t look very comfortable, the sheer size of it makes my neck ache. When you look at this massive jewel you can almost feel the warmth radiating from it. Part of a parure, the tiara is designed to use the warm glimmer of yellow gold as an offset for the beautiful red of the rubies and spinels. But this time we will start with an exception: the Bavarian Ruby and Spinel Tiara. Typically beautiful tiaras are so studded with diamonds that it may even be challenging to say whether they are made of yellow or white gold.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |