Vasa Earrings

Today marks the 200th Anniversary of the Death of Queen Frederica of Sweden, who passed away on this day in 1826! The Baden Princess who became the Swedish Queen before being exiled and later divorced, the nearly three centuries-old Vasa Earrings were among the jewels taken by Queen Frederica into exile, which later returned to the Swedish Royal Family through her great-granddaughter and remain valued heirlooms!

A pair of magnificent Diamond Earrings which feature a large briolette diamond in a diamond frame, these Earrings date back to the middle of the 18th century. Crown Princess Victoria said:

It is such a fantastic craft that you have even been able to do it. That you have been able to shape them as small globes – at that time. It is infinitely long ago. And imagine that they have got along over the years”

These magnificent Diamond Earrings originate from Queen Louisa Ulrika, the wife of King Adolf Frederik and mother of King Gustav III, who declared his dynasty descended from the Royal House of Vasa, which ruled the Kingdom of Sweden from 1523 to 1654.

Princess Frederica of Baden was married in 1797 to King Gustav IV Adolf, who was deposed in 1809 after Finland was lost to Russia, and the Royal Family were sent into exile, taking with them many of the Royal Heirlooms which included the Vasa Earrings.

Queen Frederica’s eldest son was made the Prince of Vasa by the Austrian Emperor, and his only surviving child, Princess Carola of Vasa, became the last Queen of Saxony and inherited all the Vasa Heirlooms.

Queen Carola gave the Vasa Earrings to her cousin, Princess Victoria of Baden, a great-granddaughter of Queen Frederica, when she married Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden in 1881, symbolically returning the Earrings to Sweden. However, Queen Victoria did not have her ears pierced and was thus never pictured wearing them.

Queen Louise was first pictured wearing the Vasa Earrings in the early 1950s, but seems to have been pictured in them rather rarely.

From the late 1950s, the Vasa Earrings were often worn by Princess Sibylla, who usually paired them with the Connaught Diamond Tiara.

The Vasa Earrings were also worn by Princess Christina during her tenure as the Swedish First Lady, also with the Nine Prong Tiara.

Queen Silvia has worn the vasa Earrings on countless occasions over the past 50 years, quite often with the Connaught Diamond Tiara, while she has preferred the Karl Johan Earrings with larger Tiaras.

The late Princess Lilian wore the Vasa Earrings on a number of occasions, usually with Queen Sofia’s Nine Prong Tiara or the Baden Fringe Tiara.

Unlike other members of the family, the Vasa Earrings have only rarely appeared on Crown Princess Victoria, who once declared: “I dare not use them, I don’t, They are too valuable,” but then wore the Earrings for her 10th Anniversary Portraits and also the Nobel Prize Ceremony.

However, over the past few decades, the Vasa Earrings have been a particular favourite of Princess Madeleine, who has worn them on numerous occasions with the Modern Fringe Tiara and also the Connaught Diamond Tiara and more recently the Napoleonic Cut Steel Tiara. There is no doubt the heirloom Vasa Earrings will be worn for years to come!