Happy Birthday to Infanta Cristina of Spain, who turns 55 today! The disgraced sister of the Spanish King, the Infanta was a working member of the Spanish Royal family for almost three decades, though she had relatively few heirloom jewels in her procession, a major exception being this Emerald Brooch.
Featuring a diamond circle with four emeralds, this brooch was pictured on the Countess of Barcelona during a Dinner at the Spanish Embassy in Lisbon during King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia’s State Visit to Portugal. While the provenance of the brooch is unclear, the Spanish Royal Jewels account believes that it could originate from her aunt Queen Amelie of Portugal, in turn received jewels from Queen Marie Amelie of France.
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In 1997, the Countess of Barcelona gave her the Emerald Brooch as a wedding gift to her granddaughter, Infanta Cristina, who has not only worn it more traditionally as a brooch, but has also worn two of the emeralds as earrings, like at the Wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark in 2004, and the following week, she wore the Brooch on a ribbon as a choker for Crown Prince Felipe’s Pre Wedding Dinner.
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Infanta Cristina has also loaned the Emerald Earrings to her sister, Infanta Elena, who wore them for Crown Princess Victoria’s Wedding Gala in 2010. Infanta Cristina has only recently started to remerge from the scandal that rocked her family, so lets hope we see these royal hierlooms soon.
