Princess Alexandra’s Sapphire Necklace

Happy Birthday to Princess Alexandra of Kent, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, who turns 86 today! The only daughter of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, Princess Alexandra is the Queen’s only paternal female cousin and has worn some spectacular jewels over the past seven decades as a working royal, among which is her Sapphire Necklace!

Composed of an antique cluster of sapphire and diamond elements linked with a pave-diamond scroll that is set with large sapphires and diamonds, the provenance of the necklace is unknown, but it is reported to be a gift to Princess Alexandra from the Hon. Angus Ogilvy at some point in the late 1960s, though it is possible that the central sapphire could be an element of the Cambridge Sapphire Parure, a piece of which may have been inherited by Princess Alexandra while the rest of the Cambridge Sapphires went to her brother, the Duke of Kent.

Princess Alexandra debuted her Sapphire and Diamond Necklace for a Gala held in the early 1970s, with her Ogilvy Tiara, which had sapphires added, likely to coordinate with the necklace, which is how it was worn for the Queen’s Silver Jubilee Gala at Covent Garden in 1977, when sapphire were added to her antique diamond frame earrings.

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Princess Alexandra later wore her Sapphire and Diamond Necklace at the State Banquet hosted by the Queen in honour of French President Mitterand at Buckingham Palace in 1984.

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The following year, Princess Alexandra wore the sapphire version of her Ogilvy Tiara with her Sapphire and Diamond Necklace at the Guildhall Banquet hosted by the Lord Mayor of London for President Banda of Malawi.

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In 1991, Princess Alexandra wore the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace for the Return Banquet hosted by the Polish President at Claridges Hotel, wearing the sapphire version of her Ogilvy Tiara two days after wearing the pearl version for the State Banquet at Windsor Castle.

A rare non-Tiara appearance of the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace came in 1992, when Princess Alexandra and Sir Angus Ogilvy visited the Columbia Lighthouse Charity for the Blind in Washington, on a visit to the United States.

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One of the last public appearances of the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace came in 1993, when Princess Alexandra attended the Return Banquet given by the King and Queen of Malaysia at the Dorchester Hotel. Formal return Banquets ceased shortly afterwards and since she is rarely pictured at State Banquets, Princess Alexandra has not been pictured in the turquoise or sapphire versions of her Ogilvy Tiara, nor the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace, but lets hope it reappears soon!