Today I have a true gem for you (pun intended), the Leuchtenberg Sapphires, AKA the grandest parure in the Bernadotte Family Foundation (Jewels of the Swedish royal family). They came to Sweden with Josephine (1807-1876), the second Bernadotte Queen. You can read more about her Napoleonic ancestry in this post.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The parure consists of a tiara, a necklace, two hairpins, a brooch and a pair of earrings. The suit originally held four hairpins, and the earrings are not the originals. What happened to the missing pair is unknown, but it’s possible Queen Victoria of Sweden (see photo below) bequeathed the earrings to someone, since she never wore earrings herself. At least it was after her time that one pair of the hairpins was used to make new earrings.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Josephine inherited the parure from her mother, the Duchess of Leuchtenberg, in 1846, while her mother probably received them as a wedding gift from her parents-in-law Emperor Napoleon and Josephine de Beauharnais, in 1806. The parure is most likely by Nitot.

 

 

There is some dispute whether the sapphires on the tiara were once interchangeable with pearls. One portrait (below) indicates this, but poire shaped pearls are not to be found either in the records from the Duchess of Leuchtenberg or from Queen Josephine. It could just be a case of artistic freedom. On the other hand, a careful examination of the tiara in 2006 shows the sapphires are removable and could have been switched for, say pearls.

 

There are some poire shaped pearls accounted for in the possessions left by Oscar I, however. King Oscar I (born in Paris 1799, reign 1844-1859) was Josephine’s husband, and I mention this mostly to have a reason to post a picture of him. Enjoy!

 

It is fascinating how a parure from the Napleonic era is used and accessorised during different times with different styles. In Victorian times…

 

 

… As well as in the 1930s.

 

The tiara is very flexible, something the present Queen of Sweden, Queen Silvia, has made full use of during the flamboyant 1980s and the full tiara hair that reigned the day. Most of my photos are from the Nobel Prize ceremonies and dinner, since photographers are allowed round the dinner tables. That makes for rare close ups of jewellery.

Queen Silvia in 1985. The queen goes Dynasty. The tiara is more a straight line than circular, following the shape of all that hair.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1988. A queen a la Princess Leia.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1991. A Caribbean year?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1993. It takes a queen to match the stripes of one’s skirt with a band of diamonds in one’s tiara.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And in 2004

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And a hair wonder close-up.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let’s end with a truly adorable photo of Queen Louise and Clementine Churchill from 1953, when Winston Churchill was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Big tiaras and bright smiles, so jolly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This post is one day late, but bear with me, we have three weeks of magnificent parures ahead of us. A parure is a full suit of jewels, with tiara, necklace, earrings, brooches, pins, combs and bracelet. A full parure came in vogue during the Napoleonic era, and a woman of fashion (and the right social circles) should really have several parures with different coloured stones and preferably  cameos too.

 

I’m taking a slight detour to Denmark today. This suit once belonged to the Swedish Royal Family, but since it was never part of The Bernadotte Family Foundation, it slipped out of our hands (our, as in Swedes everywhere). The suit likely belonged to the very first Bernadotte Queen, Desiree (Queen consort of King Charles XIV John of Sweden who reigned 1818-1844). For some reason, she didn’t let the parure become part of the foundation and instead it ended up in Denmark when Princess Louise married into the Danish royal family in 1869. Lucky Danes. (Are you able to read between the lines that I’m very much in favour of foundations that keep serious bling within our borders?)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tradition claims Queen Desiree wore this at the  coronation of Emperor Napoleon. Yes that Napoleon, and that Coronation. This is serious Historical Napoleonic Spectacular Bling. On a side-note, Desiree was once engaged to Napoleon, before a certain Josephine caught his eye.

 

 

At the time of her death, the inventory of her estate describes this parure as consisting of oriental rubies surrounded by diamonds. Specified are a comb, a pair of chandelier earrings, a necklace, a pin and a garland of wine leafs with clusters of red wineberries. The photo above shows the garland tiara in its current shape (it was refashion in the 20th century), but below you’ll see a photo of the late Queen consort of Denmark, Ingrid (also born Princess of Sweden), wearing the garland tiara as it used to look like. She uses the comb as a corsage here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The comb was probably used as an additional hair piece with the tiara. More about the regency fashion with double-decker tiaras in this post.

 

 

 

Today the comb has been attached to the tiara, creating less of a regency piece, but a killer tiara (in my humble opinion). Queen Ingrid gave the parure to her grandson, the current Crown Prince of Denmark, and it is use by his wife, Crown Princess Mary. She only wears it for special occasions, and almost solely in Denmark. It did however make a brief re-visit to Sweden at the wedding of the Crown Princess of Sweden in 2010.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I haven’t found much information about this emerald suite, but it’s emeralds, it’s unique, very regency, and so I love it. The demiparure consists of a belt and of two brooches. The belt was described as an écharpe, or a ceinture in the early 19th century, both French words for belt or girdle. Today, however, it’s used as a necklace.

 

 

Unfortunately it’s used sparingly, the transition from girdle to necklace perhaps not so successful. A shame on such beautiful emeralds. I would long to see them used like the bejewelled belt on this portrait.

 

 

The emeralds were mentioned in the very first documentation of the Bernadotte Family Foundation (the jewels of the Royal House of Sweden) in 1844. The first Bernadotte king, Charles XIV John, laid the foundation to a collection that would be owned by the Head of the Royal House and be at the disposition of the queens. The Royal House of Sweden has a very large collection of old jewellery, probably due to the Bernadotte Family Foundation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’m on holiday in Lord of the Rings’ country. And while being in the UK on All Saints I’ll let BCP take over.

 

O Almighty God, who hast knit together thine elect

in one communion and fellowship,

in the mystical body of thy Son Christ our Lord:

Grant us grace so to follow thy blessed Saints in all virtuous and godly living,

that we may come to those unspeakable joys, which thou hast prepared

for them that unfeignedly love thee; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 

Collect for All Saints’ Day

from The Book of Common Prayer

 

As the name states, this tiara is made of steel with gold plating. An odd thought for us perhaps, who lives in the time of steel and sky scrapes, but very much en vogue in Napoleon’s Paris. Steel was new and fashionable and contrary to what we might believe, it wasn’t the cheep option. Later on in the 19th century, as a result of industrialism and mass production, steel jewellery became affordable and lost its allure. That might also be the reason why this tiara was “forgotten” by the Swedish royal ladies. Forgotten or not, I’m so happy it’s been found and is in use, especially when it’s teamed with a Regency styled dress.

 

The tiara is part of the Bernadotte Family Foundation. A modern legend says that the tiara wasn’t just forgotten, but literally lost at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. Sometime during the seventies, at a spring cleaning (!) of the royal cupboards Queen Silvia found the tiara and had it restored. The tiara probably came to Sweden with Princess Josephine of Leuchtenberg, who married Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden in 1823 when she was seventeen. She was the granddaughter of Empress Josephine of France, and the tiara is probably a Parisian work and an inheritance from Empress Josephine. In later years it has become something of a favourite of Crown Princess Victoria.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The closeup of the tiara shows us the intricate craftsmanship. The tiara is made up of acorns, oak leaves, either feathers or wheat, and flowers, a design that probably would have had a symbolic meaning to the men and women of the Regency. I’d love to know about the symbolic meaning if anyone out there knows more?

The splendour of the tiara doesn’t come to its right with a closeup, however, but in movement and candlelight. The first clip from the Nobel Prize dinner 2010 shows Crown Princess Victoria wearing the tiara. The tiara sparkles, like it’s packed with diamonds. Gosh, it warms my little magpie heart. The last few seconds also offer us a view of a fabulous hairstyle. The second video shows the dinner procession (and you can make a rather unfair comparison with the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Parure the Queen is wearing. They will be featured in the grand finale of these posts.) Note! The funny white caps on those who leads the procession are the Swedish version of mortar boards.