The George VI Victorian Suite
The George VI Victorian Suite was originally a wedding present by George VI to his daughter Princess Elizabeth in 1947. The suite consists of a long necklace of oblong sapphires surrounded by diamonds and a pair of matching square sapphire earrings also bordered with diamonds. The suite was originally made in 1850. The colour of the stones exactly matched the colour of the robes of the Order of the Garter, although this may have been a coincidence on George's part. In 1952 Elizabeth had the largest sapphire of the necklace removed in order to shorten it. In 1959 she had a new pendant made using the removed stone. When Noël Coward saw the Queen wearing the suite at the Royal Command Performance in 1954 he wrote: "After the show we were lined up and presented to the Queen, Prince Philip and Princess Margaret. The Queen looked luminously lovely and was wearing the largest sapphires I have ever seen". In 1963 a new sapphire and diamond tiara and bracelet were made to match the original pieces. The tiara was made out of a necklace that had belonged to Princess Louise of Belgium, daughter of King Leopold II of the Belgians. Louise had to sell off her jewelry after her father disowned her following her divorce. In 1969, the Queen wore the complete parure when she and the Duke of Edinburgh attended a charity concert.
Read more about this topic: The Personal Jewel Collection Of Elizabeth II, Parures
Famous quotes containing the word victorian:
“Apart from letters, it is the vulgar custom of the moment to deride the thinkers of the Victorian and Edwardian eras; yet there has not been, in all history, another age ... when so much sheer mental energy was directed toward creating a fairer social order.”
—Ellen Glasgow (1873–1945)