Today marks the 105th Anniversary of the Death of Grand Duchess Vladimir, who passed away on this day in 1920! The Mecklenburg-Schwerin Duchess who married a Grand Duke, becoming an imperious Society Hostess and the last member of the Family to escape Russia, the Grand Duchess possessed a legendary jewellery collection, which included this spectacular Sapphire and Diamond Necklace!
Vladimir Tiara | Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik | Vladimir Fringe Tiara | Vladimir Emerald Necklace | Vladimir Ruby Kokoshnik | Diamond Rivière | Sapphire Necklace | Vladimir Pearl Earrings | Vladimir Emerald Brooch | Emerald Earrings | Sapphire Earrings | Girandole Earrings | Bow Brooch
When Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, the third son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, in 1874, she received numerous spectacular jewels including her Vladimir Tiara, Diamond Fringe Tiara, Diamond Rivière, Emerald Necklace and several sapphire jewels which reportedly originated from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, including this spectacular necklace highlighted with a massive cabochon drop-shaped sapphire alongside pear-shaped and cabochon sapphires set within diamonds.
In the 1880s, the Grand Duchess Vladimir wore the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace for a series of portraits alongside the original Sapphire and Diamond Tiara.
Grand Duchess Vladimir had her the massive Sapphire and Diamond Brooch and the central element of the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace set on her costume of a Boyar in the Novgorod style for a legendary Ball at the Winter Palace, which was the last Imperial Court Ball, described by Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovitch:
“the last spectacular ball in the history of the empire … [but] a new and hostile Russia glared through the large windows of the palace … while we danced, the workers were striking and the clouds in the Far East were hanging dangerously low.”
The Sapphire and Diamond Necklace was also worn by the Grand Duchess Vladimir for the State Opening of the Russian Duma in 1906, alongside a Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara on loan from her brother-in-law, Grand Duke Alexis, which she had hoped to inherit but was instead left to another sister-in-law.
In 1909, the Grand Duchess had the earlier Sapphire and Diamond Tiara reset by Cartier to create the spectacular Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik, which featured a massive Sapphire of 137.20 carats and six other cabochon sapphires that had belonged to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She also bought a spectacular Sapphire and Diamond Devant-de-Corsage from Corsage to complete the Parure.
Two years later, Grand Duchess Vladimir was portrayed wearing the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace alongside the Cartier Sapphire Kokoshnik and Stomacher in an iconic portrait by Boris Kustodiev.
Kustodiev painted the dominating figure of Grand Duchess Vladimir, proud and dignified and covered in spectacular jewels – she was famous for her jewelry. In fact, it is said that she spent much of the annual pension of 1 million gold francs she received after the death of her husband on her jewelry. In Kustodiev’s portrait, she wears her famous sapphire and diamond diadem commissioned from Cartier 1909; the firm re-used stones belonging to the client, the central sapphire weighing 137.20 carats The tiara later belonged to her niece, Queen Marie of Romania, whose daughter, Princess Ileana, sold it back to Cartier in the Fifties. The stomacher (devant de corsage) worn by the Grand Duchess was also made by Cartier, again using the client’s stones, in 1910. The necklace and earrings appear to be Russian and of an earlier date.
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. An inventory taken by Garrard in early 1920 revealed that the Vladimir Tiara was damaged during its journey, with some of the pearls and diamonds missing. 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. When the Jewels were inventoried by Cartier, the central pear-shaped Sapphire had already been removed from the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace.
Faced with harsh financial difficulties in exile, Grand Duke Kyril and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita decided to sell the family jewels. Luckily, a buyer was close at hand, Queen Marie of Romania, the sister of the Grand Duchess, had lost her jewels in Russia during WWI and wrote to their mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna:
I spoke to Ducky about some of Aunt Miechen’s jewellery that Ducky wants to sell as these pieces represent the only fortune the family has left – thank God that the jewels of the old lady are fabulous! She was an extraordinarily greedy woman and she received, throughout her entire life, more than her share of anything. Nando gave me a generous sum of money to buy jewellery, since mine are lost forever… It is however a horrible feeling to take these treasures from a person I love more than anything in the world. But at the same time I know that I am a gift from God to her, as I am ready to pay for the pieces in full and right away without negotiating the prices. Oh, and heaven, these jewels are wonderful, as seldom one can find!”
Queen Marie bought the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik for herself, Ducky’s Greek Key Tiara for Princess Helen of Greece, the soon-to-be Romanian Crown Princess, and a Cartier Sapphire Sautoir for her eldest daughter, Princess Elisabeth, who was about to marry Princess Helen’s brother, King George II of Greece. However, Queen Marie spoke about her indignation with her cousin, Queen Sophia of Greece:
Tino and Sophie have sent no wedding present to Lisabetha! Not the smallest tiniest little item of anything! – nothing! I confess to feeling indignant! Sophie has all her jewels, while I lost all mine and yet we made tremendous efforts to send her daughter a beautiful diadem! Oh!—if only I had my jewels, with what delight I would have given one of my diadems to Lisabetha! Now I have given a diadem to my daughter in law, while my own daughter has none!”
In addition to buying the jewels herself, Queen Marie also wrote in her diary about arranging for the Romanian Government to buy more pieces, including the the central element of the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace as a Brooch as well as the Vladimir Sapphire Earrings for Princess Helen:
I have bought for the government to give to Lisabetha a beautiful set of emeralds, collier and cross, that Baby was selling and for Sitta a superb sapphire brooch with earrings, of Ducky’s share from Aunt Miechen, wonderful, irreproachable stones.
Queen Helen retained the Russian Sapphire Brooch through her numerous exiles and returns to Romania in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s, and was notably pictured wearing the Brooch at the Wedding of her cousin, Prince Phillip, to Queen Elizabeth II in 1947, and the Wedding of her only son, King Michael of Romania, and Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma in 1948, at the start of their final exile.
The sister of King Paul of Greece, Queen Helen was a frequent guest in Athens, and also wore the Sapphire Brooch for the Wedding of her niece, Princess Sophia, to the future King Juan Carlos of Spain in 1962, King Paul’s 60th Birthday Banquet, the Greek Monarchy Centenary, and the Wedding of King Constantine of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark in 1964, which was the last public appearance of the Russian Sapphire Brooch.
By 1966, Queen Helen’s finances were strained, and while she managed to retain some jewels, like the Romanian Greek Key Tiara and her Fleur-de-Lys Brooch, she sold her Villa in Italy and some paintings she had smuggled out of Romania, as well as her Russian Sapphire Brooch, which was sold at Auction in October 1966. It’s current location is unknown.
It is thought that the rest of the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace is still in existence in Germany, but some believe that the cabochon drop-shaped sapphire pendant signed Cartier Paris was sold with an later made seed pearl sautoir at Christie’s Geneva, in 1993 and most recently in Geneva in 2012 for CHF 159,00.
Vladimir Tiara | Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik | Vladimir Fringe Tiara | Vladimir Emerald Necklace | Vladimir Ruby Kokoshnik | Diamond Rivière | Sapphire Necklace | Vladimir Pearl Earrings | Vladimir Emerald Brooch | Emerald Earrings | Sapphire Earrings | Girandole Earrings | Bow Brooch
