How Napoleon’s wife’s sapphire parure ended up in the Swedish royal family?

The Swedish royal family's family holdings include many pieces of jewellery that formerly belonged to the French crown. And today in this video, we take a closer look at a stunning sapphire parole, the first owner of which was Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Luxembourg, a luxurious gift from Napoleon, to his stepson's bride, Josephine's son from a previous marriage, Augusta of Bavaria. After her daughter Josephine of Luxembourg inherited the jewellery from her mother, the set was probably created by Napoleon Bonaparte's personal jeweller, Marie-Étienne Nietou in Paris. He created a sapphire parole in no time at all. The neoclassical diamond and sapphire parole consists of a tiara, necklace, earrings, brooch and a pair of hairpins. The sapphires in the tiara are rectangular cut and surrounded by diamonds, so they form nine groups. These groups are set on a base of diamonds, which is made in the form of honeysuckle leaves. The tiara has an original technical solution. It can be unfolded. Eleven flexible sections can be easily adjusted to the shape of the head, which makes the jewellery very comfortable. In the portrait of Josephine of Luxembourg, there is a version of the tiara with pearls. When the tiara was examined in 2006, it was discovered that the sapphires could be removed and replaced with pearls. The earrings, which today belong to the parole, are not original. They disappeared during Victoria's time and after her death. Louise Mountbatten ordered new sapphire earrings from two of the four studs in the set. The parole was later worn by Louise Mountbatten, Princess Sybilla of Saxe-Coburg-Göta, and once, at the wedding of the current royal couple in 1976, Princess Birgitta wore a parole from Luxembourg. Now the parole is worn with great pleasure by Queen Sylvia of Sweden. The sapphires suit her very well and emphasize her royal status. She also wore it to one of the most important Swedish events of 2015, the wedding of her son, Prince Carl Philip. In the next episodes, you will learn other stories of royal jewellery. Subscribe to the Jewellery Time channel, so you don't miss new episodes.