Today marks the 125th Anniversary of the Death of Victoria, Princess Royal and Empress Frederik, who passed away on this day in 1901! The eldest daughter of Queen Victoria who married Emperor Frederik of Germany and was the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm II, today we are featuring Empress Frederik’s Diamond Roses!
Shell Tiara | Pearl Corsage Brooch | Pearl Earrings | Diamond Roses
But first, lets learn about Empress Frederik! The first child and eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, the Princess Royal grew up between Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, Balmoral Castle, and Osbourne House, where she was joined by eight younger siblings, including the future King Edward VII, and was given a liberal education by the Prince Consort. In 1858, the Princess Royal married Prince Frederick of Prussia, the second-in-line to the Prussian Throne, and the couple had eight children, including Kaiser Wilhelm II and Queen Sophia of Greece. The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Prussia (and later of Germany) shared politically liberal views, which put them in opposition to the Royal Court particularly after the rise of the conservative Otto von Bismarck. Emperor Frederik only reigned for 99 days in 1888, until his untimely death of Cancer, and the Empress, in opposition to her son’s conservative views, built the Schloss Friedrichshof in Kronberg im Taunus, where she resided until her death in 1901, just a few months after Queen Victoria’s death.
The exact origin of these magnificent Diamond Roses is not known. Each Tudor Rose is set with large Diamonds and they could have been old heirlooms or newer acquisitions honouring Empress Frederik’s British heritage.
Then then Crown Princess of Germany wore five Diamond Roses on a black velvet choker for a series of Official Portraits taken in 1883, a few years before the Emperor’s short reign and her subsequent widowhood.
Empress Frederik’s Diamond Roses were inherited by her daughter, Princess Viktoria of Prussia, who was married to Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe and may have worn the some of the Diamond Roses atop a Diamond Bandeau which is now the base of the Schaumburg-Lippe Sapphire Tiara. While the Princess died penniless after her second husband spent much of her fortune and had her auction off her belongings, the Diamond Roses seem to have remained in the Schaumburg-Lippe Family.
Nearly a century later, the Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe wore one of the Diamond Brooches for the Wedding of Count Gustav zu Solms-Laubach at the Wallfahrtskirche Birnau am Bodensee in 2000.
In 2007, the now Dowager Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe wore two of the Empress Frederik’s Diamond Roses for the Wedding of her son, Prince Alexander, to Nadja Anna Zsoeks. Let’s hope we see these spectacular heirlooms worn again soon!
