Dutch Emerald Parure

~ Saad719

Happy Birthday to the Princess of Orange, who is turning 19 today! The eldest of the Dutch Royal ‘A-Team’ who is set to be the fourth Queen Regnant of the Netherlands, the Dutch Heiress has expressed an interest in royal jewels (If you are reading this YRH, we have some suggestions), and has already worn quite a few splendid jewels from the massive family collection, including pieces from the spectacular Dutch Emerald Parure! 

Dutch Diamond Stars | Dutch Emerald Parure | Mellerio Ruby Tiara | Dutch Royal Jewels

Created by Johann Eduard Schürmann & Co in Frankfurt in 1896, as a Christmas gift from Queen Emma of the Netherlands to her daughter, the then 16-year old Queen Wilhelmina, the Parure consisting of a Tiara, a Necklace, Earrings, a Brooch, Bracelets, and a Ring, which are all extremely versatile. The emeralds themselves date from the 18th century and were brought to the Netherlands by Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia when she married Prince Willem V of Orange-Nassau in 1767, and included the spectacular Duck-Egg Emerald Pendant. The ‘V’ shaped Tiara was originally topped with three pear shaped emerald clusters, which were removed in the 50s to make earrings, and two smaller emerald and diamond clusters have now been moved to the upper sides of the tiara, and these days the Tiara is also worn with pearls and also without any other stones. The versatile necklace has an intricate design interspersed with small emeralds, which a detachable large pendant, from which the  Duck-Egg Emerald Pendant could be hung, as well as a square emerald clasp, which is what is usually worn as the central element these days. The age brooch can also be worn with various pendants. 

While it was a gift to Queen Wilhelmina, she was rarely pictured wearing her Emerald Parure, with a notable appearance in the 1890s, another in the 1930s, and one more in 1956, for Princess Beatrix’s 18th Birthday Gala, when she appears to have worn the brooch as the centre of the Tiara.

Queen Juliana got much more use of the Emerald Parure, wearing it for a Dinner at the Dutch Embassy in London in 1937, as well as numerous portraits and galas through to the 1970s, often wearing the tiara upside down, like she did for the Thai State Visit to The Netherlands in 1960. It was Queen Juliana who put the Parure into the Stichting Historische Verzamelingen Huis van Oranje-Nassau in the 60s, to allow it to be worn by all members of the Dutch Royal Family without being inherited or sold. 

The Tiara was also worn upside down by Princess Irene in the 1960s, while Princess Margriet has worn the piece most often, including for Queen Juliana’s Silver Anniversary Gala in 1962, the Wedding Ball of Princess Beatrix in 1966, as well as for her Wedding Gala of Princess Margriet at the Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden in 1967, alongside numerous occasions up to this day, like the Jordanian State Visit to the Netherlands in 2006, the Gala Dinner for the Diplomatic Crops in 2017, and the Peter Stuyvesant Ball. Princess Margriet is the only person to hear worn the Tiara without any emeralds or pearls for the State Visit from Luxembourg in 2006. 

Princess Beatrix also wore the Tiara and Parure, quite frequently in the 1960s, but also in the 1990s and 2000s, most notably for a State Visit to Indonesia in 1995, while making a lot of use of the versatile parure, wearing the necklace, earrings, and brooch in various configurations.

Embed from Getty Images

While they have not worn the Tiara, Princess Laurentien and Princess Mabel have also worn pieces of the Emerald parure over the years, as did the then Princess Máxima, throughout the 2000s, when she also acquired a pair of modern emerald and diamond earrings, which has often been worn with the historic emerald parure, though it was recently revealed that she had been wearing the brooch upside down over the years, as well as an antique emerald and diamond butterfly brooch. 

Embed from Getty Images

Around the time of the Wedding of the then Prince of Orange and Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002, like the Pearl Button Tiara being adapted to be worn with the Dutch Diamond Stars, the Emerald Tiara was also modified to allow it to be worn with five pear-shaped pearls, which was debuted by Princess Máxima the following year and also worn in 2004, when the Pearl version of the Tiara was worn by Princess Laurentien for the Wedding of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark. That version has also been worn by Princess Beatrix, Princess Margriet and Annemarie Gualthérie van Weezel, when she married Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma in 2010.

Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images

Queen Máxima first wore the Emerald Tiara in 2006, and while she frequently wore the Parure, she did not wear the Tiara, which had the two smaller emeralds added to the sides at that point, until 2014, for a visit from Prince Albert of Monaco. Since then the Emerald Tiara and Parure were worn for the State Banquet during the Dutch State Visit to Portugal in 2017, and the Banquet during the Dutch State Visit to Ireland in 2019. 

Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images
Embed from Getty Images  Embed from Getty Images

The Emerald Parure was worn by Queen Máxima for a State Dinner in China, a Performance at the Sydney Opera House in 2016, the Wedding of Filippos Lemos and Marianna Goulandris in 2017, the Council of State Gala, the Dutch State Visit to India, Queen Máxima’s 50th Birthday Concert, and most recently the Dutch State Visit to Sweden. 

Embed from Getty Images

For her first Prinsjesdag, Prince’s Day, this year, held at the Koninklijke Schouwburg in The Hague, which used to be a royal residence in the days of Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia, the Princess of Orange choose to wear the necklace, the earrings created from two of the original elements, and a bracelet from the historic Dutch Emerald Parure, which were paired with the Dutch Diamond Stars on her hat and Queen Máxima’s Diamond Swirl Brooch on the back of her sash. With such an illustrious history, there is no doubt the Dutch Emerald Parure will be worn for years to come!

Dutch Diamond Stars | Dutch Emerald Parure | Mellerio Ruby Tiara | Dutch Royal Jewels

7

The Royal Post | Dutch Royal Jewels | Mode Koningin Maxima

Leave a Reply