Inside London's Most Dazzling Royal Jewel Collections

I enjoy visiting the Victoria and Albert Museum when I'm in London and I particularly like going into the jewellery gallery. Needless to say I was thrilled to see that currently the V&A is hosting a Cartier exhibition. I'd seen the Cartier exhibition in the National Gallery in Canberra so I was curious to see how this one would compare. The first part of the exhibition tells the stories of three Cartier brothers, Louis, Pierre and Jacques, and how they ended up establishing themselves as the go-to jewellers at the turn of the 20th century. The display holds some current and past royal jewellery. The aquamarine brooch was lent to the exhibition by King Charles, the current owner. It was bought by the future King George VI in 1935 for his wife. The watch brooch in the centre was bought in 1908 by King Edward VII, not sure for whom, and it's owned by Cartier. And the small coloured brooch was bought by Queen Mary in 1930, but it's not currently owned by the royals. These clip brooches were commissioned in 1943 by Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, and she provided the gems for them. There were many colourful examples of Cartier's creations. If you enjoy my videos, please consider liking and subscribing. This collection was called Tutti Frutti as it consisted of many different coloured stones. The painting was in the Canberra Cartier exhibition, not the London one. It shows Queen Maria Romania and she is wearing the sapphire necklace that is in the exhibition. It was bought for her by her husband The necklace now belongs to the Qatar Museum. The other huge sapphire belonged to her sister, Princess Victoria Melita, who married the Russian Grand Duke Kirill. It's now owned by a private collector. These items were loaned by Prince Albert of Monaco as they belonged to his mother. She received the clip brooches as a gift in 1955 and they can be mounted on a frame to create a tiara. And the engagement ring is the ring given to her by Prince Rainier. A close-up of the ring This impressive tiara with the Indian theme was commissioned by Princess Marie-Louise for the coronation of King George VI, and she also wore it to Queen Elizabeth's coronation. It was loaned by the current Duke of Gloucester. He inherited it as Princess Marie-Louise was his godmother. The lighting doesn't show the tiara at its best, so I've included the photo I took of it in the Canberra exhibition. The Cartier brothers were well-travelled and were inspired by Asian decorative arts. They were also commissioned to create this huge necklace in 1928 by Bhupinder Singh, the Maharaja of Patiala. The Duchess of Windsor had a large jewellery collection and she particularly liked Cartier's animal jewellery. Her jewellery was sold after her death and much of it has ended up in the Cartier collection for display. This is the Essex Cartier tiara. It was borrowed by Winston Churchill's wife Clementine for Queen Elizabeth's coronation. Poor Clementine didn't own any tiaras. It's now owned by Cartier and was featured in a magazine photo display with Rihanna wearing the tiara and the collared necklace. The Laurel wreath tiara is one that I really like. It was originally owned by Princess Marie Bonaparte and given to her as a wedding present from her very wealthy parents when she married into the Greek royal family. She was an aunt to Prince Philip and it's now part of the Cartier collection. The tiara that belonged to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium bought in 1912 and I think this is the one that she famously wore upside down low on her forehead in a photo taken in the 1920s. The cafe at the V&A is gorgeous but a tip I would pass on to get a seat inside the cafe is to get there early. Lunch just after 11am will get you a table and you can linger and enjoy the atmosphere. Having seen the Cartier exhibition I wasn't finished with jewellery and on a different day visited the Edwardian exhibition at the King's Gallery. The Edwardian period centres around King Edward VII and his wife Queen Alexandra and there's a lovely portrait of the young Alexandra. The exhibition didn't just focus on jewellery but on items in the royal collection for the Edwardian period including some very impressive jewellery. The exhibition has on display Alexandra's coronation dress which was a break from tradition as she wanted a gold dress. It was made from Indian silk satin and it's faded to grey although it looked lavender to me and it had gold net over it. The painting shows Alexandra's coronation dress in all its finery. There are three impressive tiaras in the exhibition including Queen Alexandra's coccotion. The necklace and the earrings were a wedding present from her husband. The necklace is still in the rotation of royal jewellery wearing and last worn by Kate the current Princess of Wales. The tiara in this display case is probably the most famous of the British tiaras as it was worn so frequently by Queen Elizabeth especially as she got older. It was gifted to the future Queen Mary when she married and then Queen Mary gave it as a wedding gift to the young Princess Elizabeth in 1947. Although I did see an interview Queen Elizabeth did talking about her jewellery and said her grandmother had gifted her just the top of the tiara and not the decorative band at the The Delhi Duba Tiara is very grand but rarely worn and it was originally created for Queen Mary to wear to the Duba in India in 1913 when she and King George were installed as Emperor and Empress of India. If you enjoy jewellery and the history attached to it these are great exhibitions that can be found in this big wide world.