Secret royal Jewelry_ Hidden treasures of the royals

Imagine a single piece of jewellery witnessing nearly two centuries of royal history, from Queen Victoria's wedding in 1840 to the coronation of King George VI in 1937. This isn't just any brooch, it's the British Royal Diamond Bow Brooch, a 19th century masterpiece now up for sale, and it could be yours for a cool $2.7 million. Commissioned by Henry Pelham Clinton, the 5th Duke of Newcastle, as a gift for his wife, Lady Susan Hamilton, the brooch was crafted in 1840 by Maison Babste, the celebrated French jeweller once favoured by the Royal Court of France. The design is breathtaking, a ribbon-shaped bow shimmering with 200 carats of old mine-cut diamonds, all set in silver and gold. Every facet captures light in a dance of brilliance, blending elegance with timeless charm. Lady Susan first wore this dazzling creation to Queen Victoria's wedding to Prince Albert, marking its first royal appearance. Decades later, in 1889, the Duke passed it to his second wife, Kathleen Florence May Pelham Clinton, as a wedding gift. Kathleen wore it with pride, to the Devonshire Ball of 1897, and again transformed into a stomacher at the coronation of King George VI in 1937. Photographs by royal photographer Bassano immortalise her wearing the piece with unmistakable grace. Collectors often compare it to Empress Eugenie's Bow Brooch, a similar diamond masterpiece now housed in the Louvre, purchased for $10.5 million in 2008. Both share the same romantic, flowing bow design that defined 19th-century jewellery fashion. Now, after nearly 200 years, this historic treasure is available once again, offered by MS Rao, complete with its original fitted case and a 125% satisfaction guarantee. A royal relic, a masterpiece of craftsmanship, and perhaps your next sparkling chapter in history. The Bow-Sclavage Parure, the jewel of Empress Catherine the Great. It was the winter of 1763, and the Russian Empire was cloaked in snow and power. Inside the gilded halls of St. Petersburg, Empress Catherine II the Great awaited the arrival of a master jeweller from Vienna, Leopold Pfisterer, famed across Europe as a magician of gold and diamonds. The roads were buried in drifts, and blizzards howled across the countryside, but Catherine was patient. She had plans for this craftsman, tests, challenges, and creations that would rival anything seen at the courts of Europe. And soon, her patience was rewarded. Among the many commissions Pfisterer received was one that would become legendary, a parure known as the Bow-Sclavage. Created in 1764, it consisted of a magnificent necklace and a pair of candelabra-style earrings, both shimmering with diamonds and vivid pink spinels, or as the Empress called them, lalas and spinars. These gemstones, glowing like summer cherries and blushing like the cheeks of a maiden, were cut and polished at the Peterhof grinding mill. Pfisterer himself left delicate engravings on each stone, as though signing a love letter to the Empress. To heighten their brilliance, the stones were set over a thin foil backing, a secret jeweller's trick that made them appear to burn with inner light. The result was dazzling, the Bow-Sclavage, a jewel that seemed alive, radiant and weightless in its golden frame. When Pfisterer presented his creation on April 10th, 1764, Catherine was enthralled. How charmingly these lalas shine in their golden setting, she exclaimed. The necklace hugged her neck like a silken collar, the very fashion of the age, imported from France. These close-fitting jewels were known abroad as esclavages, a word that Russian craftsmen, with their rough humour, transformed into sclavage. Later, the Empress would wear the entire parure, necklace, bow pendant, earrings, and even sparkling buckles on her slippers and gown, at grand receptions in the Winter Palace. Every movement of her gown sent ripples of light dancing through the ballroom. At the heart of it all was the bow, a fiery ornament of 21 crimson spinels, surrounded by a storm of Brazilian diamonds. Its frame was crafted so delicately that the metal vanished beneath the blaze of stones. It seemed as if the gems floated on air, shimmering ribbons of light in the Empress's hair and on her breast. French courtiers called the pendant La Devote, the pious one, for the way it modestly covered the soft curve of the collarbones. The Russians, amused, renamed it Esclavage with devotion. Though time has claimed part of the set, the original collar necklace, it is said, has vanished. The bow esclavage remains one of the most stunning creations in the diamond fund of the Moscow Kremlin. It is not just jewellery, it is a whisper from another age, when empires were measured in carats, and an Empress's brilliance rivaled that of her crown. For years, whispers floated through royal circles. Could Queen Mary's dazzling diamond bandeau tiara and the radiant tiara worn by Malaysia's Queen Azizah actually be the same piece? Now, at last, the truth has come to light. They are indeed one and the same. The story begins over a century ago. Shortly before, or perhaps during, the First World War, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom commissioned a magnificent diamond rhombus bandeau. Elegant and versatile, it reflected Mary's exquisite taste for modern, geometric designs that defined early 20th century royal jewellery. In 1935, she wore it to the London premiere of The Ghost Goes West at Leicester Square, pairing it with graceful pearl festoons that softened its sparkling symmetry. Years later, in 1948, the tiara found new life atop the head of 18-year-old Princess Margaret, who wore it as her very first tiara at a gala performance of sports fantasy in Amsterdam, held shortly after the inauguration of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. The young princess wore the piece again, during the Dutch state visit to Britain in 1950 and the Danish state visit in 1951. The tiara is believed to have been a cherished 18th birthday gift from Queen Mary herself. Then, for decades, the tiara vanished from the public eye, until it resurfaced halfway across the world. In 1988, Princess Tuliporn of Thailand spotted the diamond bandeau during a visit to New York and recommended it to Crown Princess Tengku Puan Aziza of Malaysia, who soon acquired the piece. It journeyed from Britain to Malaysia, a royal treasure reborn in a new kingdom. Over the years, Crown Princess, now Queen Aziza, wore the tiara to numerous ceremonies and state banquets, where its timeless sparkle captured hearts anew. It even became a wedding tiara, gracing several royal brides of Malaysia's royal family. The Queen once shared a charming anecdote. Her daughter, Tengku Putri Afzan, once wore the diamond bandeau to her school sports day, a whimsical glimpse of royal life that delighted many. Another daughter, Tengku Putri Jihan, wore it at the wedding of Tengku Nurul Kemalia in 2008, and later at the grand banquet celebrating her parents' ascension as the King and Queen of Malaysia in 2019. And then, just recently, during the Istiadat Berinai ceremony at Istana Abdul Aziz, Tengku Natasha Putri Tengku Adnan appeared wearing the diamond bandeau, this time adorned with four additional brooches. It was after this very event that experts finally confirmed what collectors had long suspected. The dazzling tiara of Queen Aziza was, beyond any doubt, once the diamond bandeau of Queen Mary. A royal jewels journey, from London to Kuala Lumpur, from the courts of empire to the palaces of a modern monarchy, had finally come full circle. She was called the Virgin Queen, Elizabeth I of England, a woman of intellect, will and mystery. In a world ruled by men, her reign was an enigma. How did an unmarried young woman come to rule one of the most powerful nations of the 16th century? Yet she did, and she ruled with an iron hand. On that hand gleamed a remarkable jewel, a ring unlike any other, known today as the checkerboard ring. The name, given centuries later, hints at its design. A pattern of flat-topped rubies arranged like a chessboard. Some say the name also carries a sly joke. The ring now rests in Chequers, the British Prime Minister's country residence, whose name itself means checkerboard. But the ring holds secrets far deeper than its pattern. Legend tells that when Elizabeth died in 1603, the ring was removed from her finger, revealing a hidden chamber beneath the Inside were two tiny portraits. One, unmistakably, was of Elizabeth herself. The other, it was said, portrayed Anne Boleyn, her ill-fated mother, executed on the orders of King Henry VIII when Elizabeth was only two years old. Some experts still debate the truth. The woman's face in the miniature bears striking resemblance to Anne's few surviving portraits, though it's difficult to be certain. Yet, if the legend is true, the ring reveals something long-suspected. Elizabeth, despite her father's cruelty, never forgot her mother, nor believed her guilty of the treason for which she died. The craftsmanship of the ring itself is extraordinary, mother of pearl beneath gold filigree, surrounded by a halo of diamonds and rubies. It is both regal and intimate, powerful yet personal, a secret worn against the pulse of a queen. And within the band lies another hidden image, a phoenix rising from flames, Elizabeth's personal emblem, the symbol of rebirth, immortality and her own enduring legend. She even had medallions struck bearing the same mystical bird. The checkerboard ring, it is said, was a gift from George Holm, 1st Earl of Dunbar. The details of their relationship remain unclear, lost to time, like so many of the queen's secrets. But the gift was fitting, exquisite, enigmatic, and worthy of a monarch who was herself a mystery. More than four centuries later, the ring still glows with quiet defiance, a relic of a woman who refused to bow to kings, who reigned alone, and whose heart, perhaps, always belonged to the mother she never truly knew. Just over a year has passed since the world bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, yet her legacy continues to sparkle, quite literally, in the treasures she left behind. Among the vast collection of royal jewels, one piece shone above all for its beauty, rarity, and personal significance, the Williamson Pink Diamond Brooch. Valued at 33.9 million dollars, 25 million pounds, this exquisite flower-shaped brooch was one of the queen's personal favorites, cherished not for its price tag, but for the memories and stories it carried. The journey of this extraordinary jewel began in 1947, when Princess Elizabeth married Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. Over 2,500 gifts arrived from around the globe, many of them dazzling jewels. Among the most remarkable was a 54-carat pink diamond, discovered in Tanzania by children playing near a mine, and presented by the Canadian geologist John Tobin Williamson. Faced with the challenge of transforming this unique stone into jewelry, the young princess turned to a trusted advisor, her grandmother, Queen Mary of Teck. Together, in March 1948, they visited the diamond-cutting workshop Brieffel and Lemmer in Clerkenwell Green, London. Two months of meticulous work transformed the rough gem into a brilliant 23.6-carat pink diamond. By October 1949, newspapers reported that Elizabeth had not yet decided how to use the gem. Initially, she considered incorporating it into a personal crown, but experts advised that it would be overshadowed by other jewels. Taking their counsel to heart, she opted instead for a brooch, a daffodil-shaped masterpiece crafted by Frederick Mew of Cartier. Work was completed in 1953, shortly after Elizabeth's coronation, incorporating 203 white diamonds in baguette and marquise cuts, all set in platinum. The brooch quickly became one of the Queen's signature pieces. It adorned her gown in a series of family portraits, with Prince Charles and Princess Anne in 1954, captured by British photographer Marcus Adams at Buckingham Palace. Over the decades, the Williamson brooch accompanied Elizabeth to royal weddings, including those of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, 1981, Viscount Linley, and Lady Serena Armstrong-Jones, 1993, and Prince Edward and Sophie Rees-Jones, 1999. It also appeared at state visits to Portugal, 1955, Denmark, 1957, the Netherlands, 1958, India, 1961, and France, 2014. Perhaps its most iconic appearance was during the Silver Jubilee church service at St Paul's Cathedral in 1977, celebrating the Queen's 25 years on the throne. In her later years, she continued to wear it at high-profile events. The G20 Summit in 2009, a Canadian state visit in 2010, Royal Ascot races, and the Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall, 2013. More than a jewel, the Williamson pink diamond brooch was a personal treasure, a symbol of family, history, and the enduring elegance of a monarch who reigned with grace for decades. Among the treasures of the Bernadotte family lies a remarkable collection of jewels, many of them originally part of the French crown. One piece, in particular, captures the imagination. A sapphire parure, whose first owner was Augusta of Bavaria, Duchess of Leuchtenberg, wife of Eugène de Beauharnais, the only son of Empress Josephine of France. Augusta received the sapphires as a wedding gift in 1806, and many believe the gift came from Napoleon Bonaparte, Eugène's adoptive father. If so, the set was almost certainly crafted by Marie-Étienne Niteau, Napoleon's court jeweler. Later, Augusta's father, King Maximilian I of Bavaria, conferred the ducal title of Leuchtenberg on Eugène, giving the tiara its name. The parure is a complete ensemble, a tiara, necklace, earrings, brooch, and hair ornaments, all adorned with diamonds and sapphires. The tiara itself features diamond-set flowers crowned with 11 brilliant sapphires. Its solid base ensures it rests perfectly when stored or worn, while the sapphires are removable, and some speculate that pear-shaped pearls may once have replaced them, though no records confirm this. The jewels passed from mother to daughter. Augusta's eldest child, Josephine, married the future King Oscar I of Sweden, ultimately becoming Queen of Sweden. It was she who inherited her mother's sapphires, bringing them into the Swedish royal treasury. For generations, these gems moved through the hands of the Bernadotte family. King Oscar II, Josephine's son, inherited them in 1876. Five years later, he and Queen Sophia gifted the parure to their new daughter-in-law, Victoria of Baden, who wore the set regularly. Rather than passing the sapphires to her own children or grandchildren, Queen Victoria chose to preserve them for the family jewel fund upon her death death in 1930. Today, the sapphires cannot be sold. Their presence in the treasury ensures they remain available to all female members of the family, though in practice they are usually worn by the Swedish queens. Queen Louise, the second wife of King Gustav IV Adolf, made the sapphire tiara a signature piece. After her death in 1965, Sweden went over a decade without a queen, and the sapphires were worn by Princess Sibylla, mother of the current king. Following her passing, they became the exclusive privilege of Queen Sylvia. Queen Sylvia has worn the tiara at many historic events, including one of the most celebrated Swedish royal occasions of recent times, the 2015 wedding of her son, Prince Carl Philip. Among the sea of majestic crowns and tiaras, the Leuchtenberg Sapphire Tiara stood out, a jewel that spoke with certainty, I am the queen. Among the treasures of the Bernadotte family rests a unique and striking jewel, the nine-pronged tiara, unofficially nicknamed the Moose Antlers for its distinctive shape. This glittering masterpiece, adorned with 528 diamonds, was created around 1860 for Sophia of Nassau, who had just become the crown princess of Sweden upon marrying Oscar II. Some historians suggest that the tiara may have been crafted by reconstructing an earlier diamond comb, once owned by Sweden's first Bernadotte king, Charles XIV John. Queen Sophia wore the tiara throughout her life, and upon her death in 1913, it became part of the Bernadotte Family Jewel Fund. Despite its beauty, wearing it is no small feat. The tiara has a rigid, inflexible base, making it unsuitable for every head. After Sophia, her successor, Victoria of Baden, apparently chose not to wear the piece. It was later photographed on Queen Louise, Victoria's daughter-in-law and former Lady Louise Mountbatten, aunt to the Duke of Edinburgh. In modern times, the tiara is primarily worn by Queen Sylvia, though other family members have occasionally donned it. Notably, Princess Birgitta wore the tiara to the 2010 wedding of Crown Princess Victoria, positioning it low on her forehead as Queen Louise had done, carefully balancing it to prevent it from sliding into her eyes. The tiara's design evokes sun rays radiating from the crown, a luminous symbol of royalty and elegance. Today, as part of the Bernadotte Family Foundation, the tiara cannot be sold or pledged, remaining a cherished heirloom of the Swedish royal family. A jewel of extraordinary sparkle and history, the nine-pronged tiara stands as a testament to the enduring legacy of Queen Sophia and the Bernadotte dynasty.