Happy Birthday to Princess Thyra of Hannover, who turns 50 today! The Forester from the illustrious von Westernhagen Noble Family, who is married to Prince Heinrich von Hannover, Princess Thyra once wore a spectacular heirloom from her husband’s namesake great-great- grandmother: Crown Princess Thyra’s Köchert Diamond Choker Tiara!
A spectacular Diamond Choker, of openwork design, composed of alternate scrolling garland and stylised floral panels, was made by Köchert circa 1890, with a maker’s mark ÆK for Köchert. The Hanoverian Royal Family then resided in exile at Schloss Cumberland in Austria, where this Choker was acquired for Crown Princess Thyra, the sister of King Frederick VIII of Denmark, King George I of Greece, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia.
Not long after her wedding, Crown Princess Thyra wore the Köchert Diamond Choker with the Hanoverian Crown Pearl Earrings suspended from a string of pearls on her corsage in a portrait with Queen Charlotte’s Diamond Riviere, Diamond Cross and Diamond Bow Brooches.
Crown Princess Thyra also wore the Köchert Diamond Choker with the Hanoverian Crown Pearls for another portrait quite a few years later, before being inherited by her daughter-in-law, Princess Victoria Louise, Duchess of Brunswick. In her widowhood, the Duchess of Brunswick had a falling out with her son, Prince Ernest Augustus, since she retained the Brunswick Tiara and other historic jewels, (which even became the subject of a court case) and thus Princess Ortrud had relatively few jewels as the Consort to the Head of the illustrious House of Hannover, and since she passed away just a few months before her mother-in-law, she never got access to the entire collection.
It wasn’t until 1999 when the Köchert Diamond Choker reappeared when it was worn as a Tiara by Thyra von Westernhagen when she married Prince Heinrich von Hannover, the youngest son of Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover and Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a great-great-grandson of Crown Princess Thyra, in 1999.
In 2017, the Hanoverian Royal Family put Crown Princess Thyra’s Diamond Choker on Auction at Christie’s Important Jewels Sale in London, with the piece selling for GBP 137,500, high above the estimate of GBP 17,000 – GBP 26,000. The current location is unknown.
Hanoverian Floral Tiara | Hanoverian Crown Pearls | Brunswick Tiara | Hannover Diamond Necklace Tiara | Prussian Diamond Tiara | Emerald Laurel Wreath Tiara | Diamond Choker Tiara | Hanoverian Topaz Parure
Pss Thyra is wearing it with a backing of some sort.