Queen Amalia’s Diamond Parure | The Royal Watcher

Today marks the Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Amalia of Greece, who was born on this day in 1818! The Duchess of Oldenburg  who became the Queen of the first Greek King from 1836 to 1862, and spent the rest of her life in exile in the King’s native Bavaria, we are featuring Queen Amalia’s Diamond Parure which we just saw in Paris!

Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara | Diamond Parure | Bavarian Amethyst Parure | Diamond and Pearl Tiara

Queen Amalia of Greece wore a pair of grand diamond earrings and diamond brooches for a portrait by Joseph Karl Stieler in 1837, the year after her marriage to King Otto of Greece.

According to family tradition, at some point Queen Amalia passed along her diamonds to Count Maximilian von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, who had them reset by 1867, when his son, Count Karl, married Countess Mathilde Wolff-Metternich zur Grach. The Parure now comprises a fringe necklace of graduated old-mine cut diamonds with a central diamond cluster pendant, a pair of ear pendants, each set with old-mine cut diamonds with a diamond cluster top, and three diamond-set sunburst brooches, mounted in silver and gold, mid-19th Century.

The Diamond Parure came up for Auction at Sotheby’s in Geneva in 1995, and appeared at Christie’s in Geneva in 2014, where it fetched CHF 269,000 after an estimate of CHF 45,000 – CHF 70,000.

Queen Amalia’s Diamond Parure is now part of the Qatar Royal Family’s Al Thani Collection, and is currently on display in the ‘Dynastic Jewels’ Exhibition at the Hôtel de la Marine in Paris.

Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara | Diamond Parure | Bavarian Amethyst Parure | Diamond and Pearl Tiara

Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara