Happy Birthday to Princess Tatiana of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, the former Princess of Hesse, who turns 85 today! The accomplished Princess who was married to the Head of an illustrious German Royal Family, and is also the sister-in-law of Princess Benedikte of Denmark, today we are featuring the magnificent Hesse Amethyst Parure!
Hesse Ears of Wheat Tiara | Hesse Amethyst Tiara | Hesse Emerald Tiara | Hesse Fleur-de-Lys Tiara | Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara | Hesse Star Tiara | Hesse Turquoise and Moonstone Tiara | Hesse Medieval Emerald Tiara
Composed of a Diamond Bandeau Tiara set with large faceted Amethysts, a large necklace, a smaller necklace, a pair of earrings, a buckle brooch, an amethyst brooch with a pendant, and four additional amethyst and diamond elements, the entire Parure seems to have been created around the time of the marriage of Princess Mafalda of Savoy to Prince Phillip of Hesse in 1925.
Princess Mafalda notably wore the Amethyst Bandeau Tiara along with the large necklace, earrings, brooches, and massive stomacher for a series of portraits taken in the late 1920s or early 1930s.
In the 1930s, the Amethyst Tiara and Parure were worn by Princess Sophie of Greece and Hesse, the sister-in-law of Princess Mafalda, for a series of portraits that have been widely published since.
During the Second World War, Princess Mafalda was arrested by the Gestapo and sent to the Buchenwald Concentration Camp, where she passed away after an Allied Bombing Raid in 1944. Princess Sophie lost her husband in a plane crash during the War, and lost another sister-in-law in an Allied Bombing Raid.
After the Second World War, the Hesse Family Jewels were buried in a cellar at the main family seat of Schloss Friedrichshof, which was being used as a club by American Soldiers, until they were discovered and stolen by the American club manager and her future husband. The theft not discovered until Princess Sophie was preparing for her second marriage in 1945, and while the culprits were found, only 10% of the jewels were returned in 1951, which included the Hesse Ears of Wheat Tiara, though the fate of the Amethyst Parure still remains a mystery.
Not long after her marriage to Prince Moritz of Hesse in 1964, Princess Tatiana wore a newly created Amethyst and Diamond Parure with Amethysts set into a Tiara created by Koch in 1957, which could also be worn with Pearls and Emeralds. The Amethysts are believed to be those salvaged from the theft and created into this magnificent Parure.
In 1967, Princess Tatiana wore the Amethyst and Diamond Parure for a portrait by Horst P. Horst for the October issue of Vogue, which was taken at Schloss Fasanerie.
Her Royal Highness Princess Tatiana of Hesse, wearing a patterned dress of purple and various shades of blue, seated in Schloss Fasanerie, the baroque palace that is the family home of the Hesse family near Fulda, Germany. She is sitting at a table in the “China-Kabinett,” an eighteenth-century room panelled in Chinese paper. Yellow tulips droop from a Chinese porcelain bowl on the table.
The following year, Princess Tatiana wore the Amethyst and Diamond Tiara and the Parure for the Wedding Gala of her brother, Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and Princess Benedikte of Denmark at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen in 1968.
Even after her divorce, Princess Tatiana wore the Amethyst and Diamond Parure for the Wedding of her niece, Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, and Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth in 1998. Let’s hope we see it worn again soon!
Hesse Ears of Wheat Tiara | Hesse Amethyst Tiara | Hesse Emerald Tiara | Hesse Fleur-de-Lys Tiara | Hesse Strawberry Leaf Tiara | Hesse Star Tiara | Hesse Turquoise and Moonstone Tiara | Hesse Medieval Emerald Tiara
