Vladimir Pearl Earrings | The Royal Watcher

Happy Birthday to Princess Michael of Kent, who celebrates her 81st Birthday today! One of the most glamorous members of the extended Royal Family, Princess Michael possesses a remarkable collection of heirloom Royal Jewels, which includes the Vladimir Pearl Earrings!

The three large pear-shaped Pearl Pendants supposedly originate from the imperious Grand Duchess Vladimir, who possessed a magnificent jewellery collection.

The Grand Duchess was often pictured wearing a plethora of wonderful large pear-shaped Pearls, which hung from earrings, brooches, necklaces and the famous Vladimir Pearl and Diamond Tiara.

When she fled St. Petersburg following the February Revolution in 1917, the Jewels of the Grand Duchess Vladimir remained in a hidden safe in her bedroom at the Vladimir Palace, until her son, Grand Duke Boris, and a friend, Bertie Stopford, snuck into the Vladimir Palace disguised as workmen, smuggling the Jewels out in a pair of Gladstone Bags, which were then smuggled out of Russia, deposited in a safety deposit box in London. The Grand Duchess Vladimir was the last Romanov to escape Russia, and passed away just a few months later, in September 1920.

Grand Duchess Vladimir left her jewels to her children in groups of stones, with Grand Duke Kyril receiving the Sapphires, Grand Duke Boris the Emeralds, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, the only daughter, inherited her mother’s diamonds and pearls, including the Vladimir Tiara, while Grand Duke Andrei inherited the Rubies.

While Grand Duchess Elena sold several jewels, like the Vladimir Pearl and Diamond Tiara to Queen Mary, three of the pear-shaped Pearls were given to her daughter, Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent, who wore two of the pearls as earrings with her Pearl Bandeau Tiara, the Kent Festoon Tiara and Kent Diamond Fringe Tiara in the 1950s and 1960s.

Princess Marina used the third Pearl as a pendant suspended from brooches, including Princess Louise’s Daisy Brooches, her Pearl Brooch and Princess Louise’s Emerald Brooch.

After Princess Marina passed away in 1968, the Vladimir Pearls were inherited by her younger son, Prince Michael, who has a deep fascination with his Romanov heritage. When he got married a few years later, they began to be worn by his wife, Princess Michael, who has worn the Pearls in a variety of creative ways of the years, using different configurations of the earrings.

Princess Michael has also attached the pearl pendant to a plethora of different necklaces and brooches, among them Princess Louise’s Emerald Brooch, Princess Marina’s Pearl Brooch or Empress Maria Feodorovna’s Diamond Brooch.

In recent years, Princess Michael has often worn the Vladimir Pearl Earrings with the Kent Festoon Tiara, often suspending the earrings from a Diamond Bow, and wearing the third Pearl as a Pendant on a necklace or brooch. There is no doubt we will continue to see the versatile Vladimir Pearls for years to come!

Kent Festoon Tiara