Queen Giovanna’s Bracelet Bandeau

Happy Birthday to Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria, Princess of Koháry, who turns 90 today! The only daughter of the Bulgarian Tsar and the Italian Princess who married and divorced a Leiningen Prince, moved to Canada, and is now the Head of the house of House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, Princess Marie Louise has worn several specular heirlooms, but today, we are featuring Queen Giovanna’s versatile Bracelet Bandeau!

 Bulgarian Köchert Tiara | Queen Giovanna’s Bracelet Bandeau

But first, lets learn about Princess Marie Louise! The first child and only daughter of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria and Princess Giovanna of Italy, she was the elder daughter of Tsar Simeon II, and after being exiled from Bulgaria in 1946, she lived first in Egypt and then moved to Spain, where she studied at the Medical Nurse College of the Spanish Red Cross Society. In 1957, Princess Marie Louise married Prince Karl of Leiningen, the second son of the 6th Prince of Leiningen and Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia. The couple later moved to Canada and had two sons, Prince Boris of Leiningen and Prince Hermann Friedrich of Leiningen, before divorcing in 1968. 

Princess Marie Louise remarried to Bronisław Tomasz Andrzej Chrobok in 1969 and had two further children, Princess Alexandra-Nadejda and Prince Pawel of Koháry, and is now known as the ‘Princess of Koháry’, after becoming the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry in 2012. Princess Maria-Louise is a member of the Board of Trustees of the American University in Bulgaria, and just weeks ago, after years of legal disputes since their restitution, it was confirmed that Tsar Simeon and Princess Maria-Louise are the rightful owners of the Vrana Palace and Park. We wish HRH a very Happy Birthday and Many Happy Returns! 

Composed of looped antique Diamond elements, with a large central pearl in the central element, this Bracelet is of unknown origin and may have originated from the Savoy Royal Family or even the Saxe-Coburg Gotha or Bourbon-Parma Royal Families. The Pearl and Diamond Bracelet Bracelet was  worn as a Bandeau by Queen Giovanna, soon after the marriage of the Wedding of the Italian Princess to Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria in 1930.

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The Pearl and Diamond Bracelet remained with the Royal Family into their exile, and was worn by Princess Marie Louise, the only daughter of Tsar Boris and Queen Giovanna, for the Wedding Gala of Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and her first cousin, Princess Maria Pia of Savoy in Cascais in 1955.

In latter years, Queen Giovanna’s versatile Pearl and Diamond Bracelet passed along to Tsaritsa Margarita, who notably wore it for one of her earliest portraits and also for the Wedding of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia and Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia in 1976.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

While Queen Margarita has not worn many family heirlooms in recent years, Queen Giovanna’s Pearl and Diamond Bracelet has been among the rare jewels that have appeared, first with the central clasp of the bracelet as a Brooch for the Wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden in 2010 and also just the bracelet for the Wedding Gala of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy in 2012. Lets hope we see this special Heirloom worn again soon! 

Bulgarian Köchert Tiara | Queen Giovanna’s Bracelet Bandeau

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