Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte’s Art Deco Sapphire Necklace

Today marks the 95th Anniversary of the Birth of the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, who was born on this day in 1927! The Belgian Princess who became the consort of the world’s only Grand Duchy, to mark the anniversary, we are featuring her Art Deco Sapphire Necklace Tiara!

A striking piece featuring a massive cabochon sapphire set in a geometric diamond frame, the provenance of this piece is unclear but it appears to have been acquired by or for Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte of Luxembourg at some point in the 1980s. The central element is detachable to be used as a pendant, while the two other elements can also be worn as brooches.

Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte first seems to have worn her Art Deco Sapphire Necklace as a Tiara for a series of official portraits taken in the late 1980s or early 1990s, paired with her Congo Diamond Necklace and Diamond Earrings.

Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte wore the central pendant suspended from her Belgian Scroll Tiara, paired with the Congo Diamond Necklace, for the Luxembourg State Banquet at the Royal Palace of Stockholm in 1991.

The Art Deco Sapphire Necklace was also worn as a Tiara by Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte for a series of portraits in the 1990s, this time paired with her Sapphire Necklace (that can also be worn as a Tiara).

In 1996, Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte wore the Art Deco Sapphire Necklace with the Belgian Scroll Tiara and her Sapphire Brooch for King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 50th Birthday Banquet at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.

Another prominent appearance of the Art Deco Sapphire Necklace was in 2002, when it was worn by Grand Duchess Joséphine Charlotte for Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee Dinner at Windsor Castle.

After her death in 2005, many of Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte’s jewels were put on auction by her children, a sale that was alter cancelled due to public outcry, but this Art Deco Sapphire Necklace was not included, and instead appeared on Grand Duchess Maria Teresa at King Carl XVI Gustaf’s 60th Birthday Banquet at the Royal Palace of Stockholm in 2006, paired with the Chaumet Choker Tiara.

A few years later, Grand Duchess Maria Teresa paired the Art Deco Sapphire Necklace with the Belgian Scroll Tiara for a State Banquet at the Royal Palace of Oslo, during a State Visit to Norway in 2011.