Teck Diamond Hoop Necklace

Today marks the 20th Anniversary of the Death of Princess Margaret, the Queen’s only sister, who died on this day in 2002! As one of the leading members of the Royal Family for her entire life, the late Princess had a magnificent jewelry collection, which included the splendid Teck Diamond Hoop Necklace!

Princess Margaret’s Tiaras | Poltimore Tiara | Turquoise ParureSnowdon Floral Tiara | Teck Diamond Hoop NecklaceDiamond Earrings | Ruby Girandole Earrings | Emerald Earrings | Pearl Earrings | Sapphire EarringsDiamond and Pearl Riviere | Diamond Clips | Star Brooch

Composed of twenty-two diamond hoops set with central collet diamonds, this splendid necklace was created in the 1860, likely around the time Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge married Prince Francis of Teck in 1866. It could have been a wedding gift either from the British Royal Family or her in-laws, the Württemberg Royal Family.

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Princess Mary Adelaide, the Duchess of Teck frequently wore her Diamond Hoop Necklace along with her Teck Crescent Tiara, for almost all of her Royal Events and most of her portraits. Notable appearences came at the Wedding of her daughter, Princess May, to the Duke of York, later King George V, in 1893 and the Wedding of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud of Wales in 1896. The Diamond Hoop Necklace was also worn as a Tiara as well as a dress ornament for the Devonshire House Ball in 1897, just a few months before her death.

After the Duchess of Teck’s death in 1897, the Crescent Tiara and Diamond Hoop Necklace were inherited by her elder son, Prince Adolphus, the 2nd Duke of Teck and later the 1st Marquess of Cambridge, while the Cambridge Emeralds were inherited by Prince Francis and the Teck Ears of Wheat Tiara and Teck Sapphire Stomacher went to Prince Alexander (later the Earl of Athlone). The Tiara and Diamond Hoop Necklace were pictured on the 2nd Duchess at the Coronation of King George V in 1911, though it is not known if both jewels were still in her possession or on loan from Queen Mary, who acquired both pieces from her brother and sister-in-law at some point.

Queen Mary was not pictured wearing either the Crescent Tiara or the Diamond Hoop Necklace, and she passed them both to her daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, at the time of her accession in 1937. Queen Elizabeth wore the Diamond Hoop Necklace as a Tiara for the Royal Variety Performance in 1937 and in 1938, with Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace, as well as for a portrait with the Coronation Necklace and her Coronation Rivière, in the late 1930s.

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Later, after the Second World War, the Diamond Hoop Tiara was worn for a Gala Performance at Covent Garden in 1946 and as a necklace with the Greville Tiara for a Gala Performance by the Sadler’s Wells Ballet at Covent Garden in 1956.

The Queen Mother likely gave the Diamond Hoop Necklace as a Wedding Gift to her younger daughter, Princess Margaret, in 1960, and the Necklace was first worn for the Wedding Ball of King Baudouin and Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón later that year, paired with the Poltimore Tiara.

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There were notably appearences of the Diamond Hoop Necklace throughout the 1960s,  often for a plethora of portraits usually paired with the Poltimore Tiara or Lotus Flower Tiara or just by itself, with appearences during the Jamaican Independence Celebrations in 1962 and the Belgian State Visit to Britain in 1963.

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The Teck Diamond Hoop Necklace continued to be worn by Princess Margaret through the 1980s and 1990s, with appearences for the Swedish State Visit to Britain in 1975, in the Philippines in 1980, at the Queen Mother’s 80th Birthday Gala, the American State Visit to Britain in 1982, for the 21st Birthday Gala at Windsor Castle in 1985, the Spanish State Visit to Britain in 1986, the ‘Dance of the Decades’ at Buckingham Palace in 1990, and the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh’s Golden Wedding Anniversary in 1997. In the latter years of her life, the necklace made a few appearences at the State Opening of Parliament and also at a few Galas, with a final appearance at a Gala Performance given for her 70th Birthday in 2000.

After Princess Margaret’s death in 2002, the Teck Diamond Hoop Necklace was not among the jewels included in the famous 2006 auction, and now belongs to her only son, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, though since he has separated from the Countess of Snowdon, we may not get to see this splendid heirloom worn for years to come!

Princess Margaret’s Tiaras | Poltimore Tiara | Turquoise ParureSnowdon Floral Tiara | Teck Diamond Hoop NecklaceDiamond Earrings | Ruby Girandole Earrings | Emerald Earrings | Pearl Earrings | Sapphire EarringsDiamond and Pearl Riviere | Diamond Clips | Star Brooch

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