Vladimir Pearl Earrings

Happy Birthday to Princess Michael of Kent, who turns 76 today ! One of the most flamboyant members of the extended Royal Family, Princess Michal possesses a remarkable collection of heirloom royal jewels, including today’s magnificent Vladimir Pearl Earrings!

Princess Michael often wears three large pear-shaped Pearl Pendants, which supposedly originate from the imperious Grand Duchess Vladimir, who possessed a magnificent jewellery collection. The Grand Duchess was often pictured wearing a plethora of wonderful large pear-shaped Pearls, which hung from earrings, brooches, necklaces and the famous Vladimir Pearl and Diamond Tiara.

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After Grand Duchess Vladimir’s jewels were dramatically smuggled from Russia in the aftermath of the Revolution, and her death in 1920, all of her Pearl and Diamond Jewels were inherited by her only daughter, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, who sold quite a lot of pieces, including the Vladimir Pearl and Diamond Tiara to Queen Mary, but managed to give three of the pear-shaped Pearls to her daughter, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who wore two of the pearls as earrings with her Pearl Bandeau, the Kent Festoon Tiara and Kent City of London Fringe Tiara in the 1950s and 1960s, and used the third one as a pendant on brooches, including Princess Louise’s Daisy Brooches.

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After Princess Marina passed away in 1968, the Vladimir Pearls were inherited by her younger son, Prince Michael, who has a deep fascination with his Romanov heritage. When he got married a few years later, they began to be worn by his wife, Princess Michael, who has worn the Pearls in a variety of creative ways of the years, using different configurations of the earrings, and attaching the pendant to a plethora of different necklaces and brooches.

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These days, Princess Michael usually wears the Vladimir Pearl Earrings with the Kent Festoon Tiara, often suspending the earrings from a Diamond Bow, and wearing the third Pearl as a Pendant on a necklace. Princess Michael continues to attend, and be pictured at, State Banquets and other glittering royal events, so there is no doubt we will continue to see the versatile Vladimir Pearls for years to come. 

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3 thoughts on “Vladimir Pearl Earrings

  1. The Vladimir Tiara, often worn by HM the Queen, originally had the drop pearls. Are any of these pearls from the tiara, which is sometimes worn with emerald drops?

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