Today marks the 130th Anniversary of the Birth of Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Princess Yusupov, who was born On This Day in 1895! The only niece of the last Tsar who married the flamboyant wealthy Prince, and lived a tumultuous life in exile, today we are featuring her striking Chaumet Diamond Sunburst Tiara!
Chaumet Sunburst Tiara | Yusupov Cartier Rock Crystal Tiara
When Prince Felix Yusupov, son of Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston and Princess Zinadina Yusupov, married Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia, he acquired the Cartier Rock Crystal Tiara as a gift for his bride in early 1914, but old family heirlooms given to the bride were destined to be reset.
During their honeymoon in Paris, the Prince and Princess Yusopov had numerous Family Heirlooms from both the Romanovs and Yusopovs reset at Cartier and Chaumet, with the Parures worn by Princess Irina during the London Season before the outbreak of the First World War, when they returned to Russia, making a close escape after being temporarily detained by the Kaiser in Berlin.
Among those jewels was the magnificent Chaumet Sunburst Tiara, which was designed to burst like the rays of the sun and was a stock piece modified for the Yusopovs to hold the legendary Polar Star Diamond in its central element, which was once reportedly owned by Joseph Bonaparte who sold it to the Yusopov Princes in the 1820s.
During the Russian Revolution, Prince Felix Yusupov was entrusted with hiding not only the magnificent Yusopov Family Jewels but also the collection of his mother-in-law, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, which were hidden underneath a staircase at the Yusopov Palace in Moscow. While the Prince and Princess Yusopov fled Russia with several historic stones and jewels, the Tiaras were not among them, through the Polar Star Diamond was taken into exile and later sold to Cartier in 1924.
The treasure remained hidden until 1925, when workmen repairing the Palace discovered the Jewels underneath the staircase, which consisted of 13 tiaras, 25 necklaces and 250 brooches, all of which were filmed and photographed when being dismantled by the Bolsheviks, with the metals melted down while the stones were sold abroad. The Chaumet Sunburst Tiara was also pictured and is thus lost to history.
However, there are a few images of Princess Irina Yusopov wearing the Chaumet Sunburst Tiara in a series of portraits, which could have been taken with the original Tiara in the early years of the First World War or it is more likely that they were taken during her years in exile with one of the lookalike Diamond Sunburst Tiaras created by Chaumet or Cartier.
Chaumet Sunburst Tiara | Yusupov Cartier Rock Crystal Tiara
