Today marks the Anniversary of the Death of Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, who passed away on this day in 1969! Queen Ena had a splendid jewellery collection, full of family heirlooms and contemporary acquisitions and commissions. Many of her jewels remain with the Spanish Royal Family, and are now worn by Queen Sofia and Queen Letizia, but others appeared on the market over the years, where they have fletched impressive sums at auction, which includes this Cartier Conch Pearl Bracelet!
In 1885, when Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom married Prince Henry of Battenberg, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert received a treasure trove of wedding gifts. The most important and valuable were, of course, those bestowed by her mother. Alongside a splendid Diamond and Ruby Parure and a Diamond Star Tiara, Queen Victoria also gave her daughter a suite comprising a necklace, a pair of earrings and a brooch set with diamonds and pink pearls.
Conch pearls are among the rarest organic gems in the world. Formed inside the queen conch mollusc rather than an oyster, they cannot be cultured and are prized for their soft, porcelain-like lustre and delicate pink hues, often showing a characteristic flame-like structure that gives them a unique, almost luminous appearance.
Princess Beatrice was later photographed wearing her conch pearl jewels. The large brooch is particularly striking: its upper section is shaped as a delicate shell, centred by a pearl and suspending a sizeable drop-shaped pink pearl. It also appears that the princess acquired a set of matching hairpins, complementing the suite and reinforcing its status as one of her most distinctive personal adornments.
In 1906, the conch pearl suite served once more as a bridal gift, passed from mother to daughter. Princess Beatrice of Battenberg presented it to her daughter, Princess Victoria Eugenie, on the occasion of her marriage to King Alfonso XIII of Spain. The parure at that stage comprised an aigrette, a necklace and a brooch.
Curiously, Queen Ena does not appear to have been photographed wearing the suite in its original form. However, she clearly made it her own. In a 1909 inventory written in English in her own hand, she lists: “a small diamond necklace with ten pink pearl drops and pendant hanging from it, a diamond shell brooch with large pink pearl in the centre with pink pearl drop, a large diamond bow pendant with three small pink pearls, a pair of large pink pearl earrings, a small brooch with pink pearls and diamond and a flexible platinum bracelet with pink pearl in centre surrounded with diamonds”. From this, it seems that the aigrette she received from her mother was dismantled and transformed into the pair of earrings and the bow-shaped pendant.
During the 1920s, Queen Ena took an even bolder step. Her Majesty commissioned Maison Cartier to dismantle the necklace and earrings—both later marked with an “X” in her inventory—and rework the stones into a wholly new creation: a remarkable bracelet. Designed as a highly articulated band of vines, it appears to burgeon with conch pearl “fruits”, set with diamonds, and subtly accented with black enamel.
This bracelet clearly relates to Cartier’s well-known “tutti frutti” jewels of the period, with their lively, fruit-like designs inspired by Indian jewellery. Those pieces usually combine several brightly coloured gemstones, such as emeralds, rubies and sapphires, often carved to enhance the effect. Queen Ena’s bracelet, however, takes a different approach. Instead of a mix of colours, it relies solely on the soft pink tones of the conch pearls, which already have a naturally textured, flame-like surface. The addition of black enamel at the base of each “fruit” gives a gentle sense of shadow and depth, making the design feel more lifelike. The result is both more restrained and more unusual, and places the bracelet among Cartier’s most distinctive creations of the inter-war years.
Unfortunately, no photographs of the Queen wearing this bracelet are publicly known. The shell brooch, however, remained in her possession and was worn well into her later years before being inherited by her younger daughter, Infanta María Cristina.
In the decades since, several similar shell brooches have appeared on the auction market, some set with conch pearls and others combining pink, white and grey pearls. These have often been attributed to the Roman jeweller Petochi, and it is widely believed that Queen Ena’s brooch was among those later dispersed.
As for the bracelet, it followed a different path. It was among the jewels inherited by one of the queen’s grandsons, Don Gonzalo de Borbón y Dampierre, the youngest son of Infante Jaime, Duke of Segovia, and Emmanuelle de Dampierre. The piece was worn by his wife, Emanuela Pratolongo, on several notable occasions: the wedding gala of Infanta Elena in Villamanrique in 1995, the wedding celebrations of Infanta Cristina in 1997, as well as the festivities surrounding the marriage of Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Sibilla Weiller in 1994.
Emanuela even commissioned a dress inspired by the bracelet’s motifs, wearing it alongside the jewel at the pre-wedding gala of the Prince of Asturias and Letizia Ortiz in 2004.
In 2012, this “unique and highly important conch pearl, enamel and diamond bracelet, Cartier, late 1920s” was sold at auction in Geneva. The catalogue noted that no other significant Cartier jewel was known to combine the soft pink tones of conch pearls with black enamel and diamonds in quite this way. While the fruiting vine motif echoed other tutti frutti creations, the overall effect was markedly different: restrained in colour, yet highly dynamic in composition. The principal gems—varying slightly in size and tone—were arranged asymmetrically, lending the bracelet a subtle tension beneath its otherwise harmonious design. It’s current location is unknown.
This article was written by assistant editor, David Rato, who runs the Spanish Royal Jewels account on Instagram!
