Queen Victoria's Jewels
The love story of Britain’s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert is certainly one for the ages. The couple married in 1840 and were deeply in love through Albert’s death 21 years later in 1861. Victoria would famously wear black in mourning the rest of her life, which lasted another 40 years. She died in 1901 and was buried next to her beloved husband.
During their two decades together, Albert designed a number of jewelry pieces for Victoria. He created necklaces, bracelets, brooches, and several headpieces.
One of the pieces he designed was an emerald and diamond diadem in 1845. Designed by Prince Albert, it was created by jeweler Joseph Kitching at a price of £1,150. Today that value equates to just over fifty thousand dollars.
When trying to define a crown vs a tiara vs a diadem I found several answers, but the general sense seems to be:
Crown: ornate full circle head piece worn exclusively by royalty
Tiara: encompasses a variety of head-dresses, generally for married women, usually a semi-circle
Diadem: can be circular or semi-circular, more of an ornamental head-dress
Albert chose emeralds to represent the birthstone of Victoria, who was born May 24. He had previously used the stone in her engagement ring and on several pieces after that including a matching necklace, earring and brooch. There wasn’t much left to adorn in the set, so the diadem was a natural next choice!
The inverted pear-shaped emeralds which ring the piece are centered on a 15 carat stone in front and center. From the center, nine identical stones of decreasing size spread out on each side.
The diamonds surrounding the main stones are cushion-shaped, which are square but with rounded corners.
The diadem passed to Princess Alexandria, Duchess of Fife, granddaughter of Queen Victoria. It has remained in the family and was last worn in public at the 1960 State Opening of Parliament by the 3rd Duchess of Fife. I had the pleasure to see it up close in 2022 during an exhibition at Sotheby’s London on “Power and Image” during Queen Elizabeth’s Jubilee.
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