Today marks the 5th Anniversary of the Death of Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh, who passed away on this day in 2021! The late Duke of Edinburgh used diamonds from a Tiara given to his mother by her uncle, Tsar Nicholas II, to create this magnificent Diamond Bracelet as a wedding gift for the late Queen, which was most recently seen on the Princess of Wales!
When Princess Alice of Battenberg, daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse, married Prince Andrew of Greece, son of King George I and Queen Olga of Greece, in Darmstadt in 1903, she received this spectacular Aquamarine and Diamond Parure given by Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna, the uncle and aunt of the bride. Likely made by Fabergé, the Parure consisted of a Tiara topped with large Aquamarines, an Aquamarine and Diamond Necklace, a pair of Earrings, a Bracelet and a large Brooch.
Princess Alice was close to her uncle Tsar Nicholas II and after the three three separate Wedding ceremonies in Darmstadt, hit him on the head with a shoe:
Shoes were tied to the back of the carriage. When they set off, rice and slippers were thrown at them. Ernie and the Tsar were to the fore, rushing after them into the crowd, hotly pursued by excited policemen and plain- clothes Russian detectives, clutching umbrellas. Mark Kerr told the tale:
The Emperor went straight for the backs of the people, who were anxiously awaiting the passing of the Royal carriage. Putting his head down, he rammed them and gradually pushed his way through the six files of human beings, shedding the children from his coat-tails on the way, and reached the street at the moment when the carriage was going by with Princess Alice bowing her acknowledgments to the cheering crowd. At this moment she received the full bag of rice, which the Emperor had carried, in her face, followed by the satin shoe. Casting dignity aside she caught the shoe, and leaning over the back of the carriage hit the Emperor on the head with it, at the same time telling him exactly what she thought of him, which so over-came him that he stood still in the middle of the road shrieking with laughter.
After this the bride and groom transferred into their new Wolseley car, a gift from the Tsar in a soberer moment before he began to enjoy the wedding, and departed for the Heiligenberg.
Princess Alice most notably wore the Aquamarine Tiara and Parure for a series of portraits taken in the years soon after her marriage, when the couple were settled in Athens.
Princess Alice took the Aquamarine Tiara and Parure with her when exiled from Greece in 1921, most notably wearing them for a portrait around the time of the Wedding of Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and her sister, Lady Louise Mountbatten, in 1923.
The Aquamarine Tiara and Parure were among the jewels deposited by Prince Andrew in a bank in Paris when Princess Alice was admitted into an asylum, remaining there through the Second World War until being retrieved by Princess Alice in early 1947.
Her jewels had been deposited in the Paris branch of the Westminster Bank in Andrea’s name since 1930 when she went to Kreuzlingen and the house at St Cloud was closed down. Signatures were needed from Philip and the three daughters, after which she could take possession of them. Theodora and Sophie signed promptly, while Margarita demurred, even making a claim on the estate. Eventually she too signed.
In the summer of 1947, when her only son, Prince Philip, was about to propose to the future Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Alice had the Aquamarine Tiara dismantled to create the Engagement Ring.
In June she was involved in the matter of an engagement ring. Alice took some of her diamonds to the jeweller Philip Antrobus at 6 Old Bond Street and had these designed as an engagement ring, a large diamond in the middle, surrounded by a cluster of five smaller stones, as Philip dare not show his face at jewellers, for fear of being recognized. I think the ring is a great success.’ The jeweller was later quoted in the press saying that he had no idea for whom the ring was intended.
She visited Louise in Sweden and in October she went to Paris once more to collect her dress and finally her jewels. When the jewels were valued, there were some nasty surprises: Andrea’s star of the Elephant of Denmark was missing and another star proved to have paste diamonds (Andrea having sold the originals and replaced them). At least Alice’s Imperial Russian Order was in good condition. ‘My St Catherine’s star had exceptionally fine, white diamonds, much finer than Auntie Ellen’s even,’ she wrote to Philip.
By the time of the wedding in November, the soon-to-be Duke of Edinburgh used the remaining diamonds to create this large, geometric, Art Deco bracelet, crafted by Philip Antrobus, with the design dictated by the groom.
In the early years of her married life, the then Princess Elizabeth wore her Wedding Gift Bracelet on a variety of occasions, not just for Banquets, but also for all sorts of Portraits and Galas.
After becoming Queen in 1952, and gaining access to one of the world’s largest private jewellery collections, the Wedding Gift Bracelet was worn in an early series of portraits, along with some more historic royal heirlooms.
The Wedding Gift Bracelet remained a favourite over the following decades, worn for a wide variety of occasions including their 25th Anniversary Portrait, until a final notable appearance in the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Portrait in 2012, when it served as a sentimental nod to her long-serving consort.
At the Chinese State Banquet in 2015, the Duchess of Cambridge surprised everyone when she wore the Queen’s Wedding Gift Bracelet, a rare move, as the Queen was known to retain personal jewels, but reflective of the high regard in which she held the now Princess of Wales.
The then Duchess of Cambridge also wore the Queen’s Wedding Gift Bracelet the following year for the Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace.
The next year, the Queen’s Wedding Gift Bracelet was also worn by the Duchess of Cambridge for the British Academy Film Awards at the Royal Albert Hall in London, following which it has not been publicly seen, but lets hope it reappears again soon!
