The Incredible History of Queen Victoria's Coronet!

This favorite sapphire coronet tiara of Queen Victoria has a long, rich history. Seven years ago, this exquisite coronet almost disappeared from England forever and nearly caused a national scandal. Before we start, please support my channel by clicking like and subscribe buttons. Thank you! On the wedding day, the bride should be wearing something blue for good luck. So a few days before the wedding, Prince Albert gave his future wife, Queen Victoria, a sapphire brooch with a large oval sapphire surrounded by diamonds. This brooch adorned the corsage of the newlyweds' dress, and many years later became one of Queen Elizabeth II's favorite pieces of jewelry. And recently, this jewel was seen on Queen Camilla. Victoria was so delighted with the sapphire brooch that Albert soon planned to give her another piece of jewelry to wear with the brooch. Albert designed the coronet himself. It was made by Joseph Kitching at a cost of £415. Something like £37,750 in today's money. In the book Tiaras, A History of Splendor, Geoffrey Munn describes the piece as follows. Decorated with sapphires in the shape of snakes and cushions and diamonds. The sapphires are set in gold and the diamonds in silver. This small neo-gothic style tiara became one of Queen Victoria's favorite pieces of jewelry. Albert had a good sense of style and not infrequently created designs for jewelry himself. The large sapphires framed by diamonds were a favorite of the queen. She posed in this coronet for a portrait of Franz Xavier Winterhalter. Interestingly, she fastened the tiara in an unusual way. It is locked in a ring and supports her hair. Incidentally, in the same portrait, she adorned the corsage of her dress with a sapphire brooch, a wedding gift. The early death of Prince Albert in 1861 at the age of 42 was a great loss and grief for the queen, who wore mourning for the rest of her life and rarely wore large jewelry. It was not until five years later that she agreed to appear at the opening ceremony of Parliament. The Prince of Wales, later King Edward VII, persuaded Victoria to come out of her voluntary exile and open Parliament. She wore a small coronet over her white widow's bonnet for the opening ceremony. After Queen Victoria's death, the sapphire coronet was inherited by her son, who became King Edward VII. However, his wife, Queen Alexandra, never appeared in public wearing the coronet. Later, George V inherited the sapphire coronet. His wife, Queen Mary, also never wore the coronet in public. The next time a sapphire tiara coronet was seen was in 1922, when the tiara was presented to Princess Mary, daughter of King George V and Queen Mary, as a wedding gift. Along with a matching peruer consisting of a bracelet and necklace, Princess Mary married Viscount Lascelles, who would eventually inherit the earldom of Harewood making Princess marry the Countess of Harewood. Princess Mary wore Victoria's sapphire coronet tiara in a bandeau style across her forehead, which was fashionable in the 1920s. Princess Mary died in 1965, leaving the Victoria tiara to her husband and children. The tiara was subsequently worn by Patricia Lascelles, second wife of the Earl of Harewood. The last time the tiara was displayed on a member of the Lascelles family was in 1992, when Andrea Lascelles married the Earl's fourth son, Mark. The tiara was seen in public in 1997 after Geoffrey Munn wrote to the Earl of Harewood telling him he was putting a collection together for an exhibition at Wartski's. The tiara was again exhibited in 2002 at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Since 2002, the fate of the sapphire tiara and its matching peruer has been confused. The necklace and bracelet may have been sold decades ago, but the tiara managed to stay in the family. And so in 2012, an unknown family from Highgate handed over the tiara, formerly belonging to Queen Victoria, which had not been seen for many years, to Geoffrey Munn, an expert in jewelry valuation and history. In 2016, the anonymous owner of the coronet decides to sell it to an anonymous foreign buyer. This sale hits the news as the British government decides to intervene and try to prevent the historic piece of jewelry from leaving the country. In 2017, the Victoria and Albert Museum announced that their jewelry gallery in London would become the coronet's new home. And in 2019, the sapphire tiara coronet became the centerpiece of the William and Judith Bollinger Jewelry Gallery. Since then, the coronet has attracted visitors from all over the world who can enjoy this romantic piece of royal jewelry history up close and personal.