Queen Margrethe’s Floral Bracelet Choker

Next week, Queen Margrethe of Denmark will celebrate her 80th Birthday and while the big celebrations to mark the day have been cancelled, we are still continuing with our series on her Top 8 Jewels to mark her 80th Birthday, continuing with Queen Margrethe’s Floral Bracelet Choker

Featuring a dense and intricate diamond floral design, the bracelet dates from the 1840s and was given to Princess Louise of the Netherlands by her father-in-law, King Oscar I of Sweden and Norway, on her marriage to his son, the future King Charles XV, in 1850. Queen Louise was pictured wearing the bracelet in an official portrait, and it was eventually inherited by her only child, who became Queen Lovisa of Denmark, who was pictured wearing the piece, which was in a collection large enough that “if it was all laid out on a card table, you could not see the fabric underneath”.

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After Queen Lovisa’s death in 1926, the Diamond Floral Bracelet was left to the Danish Royal Family’s jewellery foundation, reserved for the use of Danish Queens, and was often worn by Queen Ingrid, with the Pearl Poiré Tiara, Ruby Parure, and her Floral Aigrette Tiara.

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The Diamond Floral Bracelet came to Queen Margrethe after her accession in 1972, and was often worn for Gala events in the early years of her reign, most notably in her first official portraits.

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In the 1980s, Queen Margrethe affixed the Floral Bracelet to a black silk ribbon, which she wore as a Choker, often with pieces of her antique diamond parure (another focus of this series), sometimes even fixing the stomacher from the parure as a pendant to lengthen the choker. The Diamond Floral Bracelet/Choker has been worn for decades and there is no doubt we will continue to see it for years to come.