Queen Amélie’s Diamond Choker Tiara

Happy Birthday to the Duchess of Braganza, who turns 57 today! The Portuguese aristocrat, who grew up between Portugal, Angola, and Brazil, married Dom Duarte Pio, the Duke of Braganza, pretender to the defunct Portuguese throne, the Duchess wears several spectacular jewels, of which we are featuring one of the most significant family heirlooms at her disposal: Queen Amélie’s Diamond Choker!

Queen Amélie’s Diamond Tiara | Diamond Bandeau Tiara | Diamond Choker Tiara | Floral Necklace Tiara | The Portuguese Royal Tiaras

Queen Amelie possibly acquired this stunning Collier de Chien after the proclamation of her husband as King of Portugal in 1889. The Queen was an enthusiast of this kind of choker necklaces which accentuated her tall figure and slender neck. This one in particular presents a geometric design, almost like a x-patterned fence made of silver and gold and punctuated by important diamonds. It is quite likely that the choker was created using stones from a Diamond Necklace which Amelie received as a wedding gift from her mother-in-law, Queen Maria Pia, which mirrored the design of the Diamond Tiara given to her by King Luis I on that same occasion.

In one of her most recognizable portraits, Queen Amelie can be seen pairing her Diamond Choker Necklace with the Diamond Star Tiara and Riviéres which are part of the Portuguese Crown Jewels.

After the fall of the Portuguese Monarchy in 1910, the Dowager Queen Amelie was able to retrieve all her possessions (jewels included) which had been left behind in Lisbon. The Queen still had opportunities to wear her jewels in her years of exile. In 1951, when Her Majesty died, having outlived his childless son, her jewels were divided between members of her French family, namely her three sisters, the Duchess of Aosta, the Duchess of Guise and Infanta Luisa of Spain, as well as her godson, Dom Duarte Pio of Braganza, and some of her many nieces, nephews, and close friends. In the case of her Diamond Collier de Chien, it was inherited by Dom Duarte Pio, the then heir to the headship of the Royal House of Braganza, as his father was the pretender to the defunct Portuguese throne.

It took several decades for the Diamond Choker to be seen again in public. After Dom Duarte’s marriage to Dona Isabel de Herédia in 1995, the new Duchess of Braganza began wearing the family jewels which had been stored in a bank vault for many years.

Together with the Diamond Tiara and the Emerald Devant de Corsage, the Collier the Chien was lent by the Duke and Duchess to ‘Jóias Reais no Norte de Portugal’ exhibition that took place in the city of Oporto in 1995.

Since then, the Duchess of Braganza has worn the Diamond Collier de Chien on several occasions. Additionally, a supplementary frame was commissioned so that the piece can be converted into a tiara, which the Duchess wore during King Carl XVI Gustaf 60^th Birthday Celebrations in 2006.

More recently, the Choker was for with the Diamond Tiara for the State Banquet given in honour of the King and Queen of The Netherlands during their State Visit to Portugal in 2017.

This article was written by assistant editor, David Rato, who runs the Spanish Royal Jewels account on Instagram!

Queen Amélie’s Diamond Tiara | Diamond Bandeau Tiara | Diamond Choker Tiara | Floral Necklace Tiara | The Portuguese Royal Tiaras