The Duchess of Kent passed away at the age of 92 earlier this week. The Baronet’s daughter who married the late Queen’s first cousin and was a working royal for over 40 years before retiring from royal duties, the Duchess possessed some spectacular heirloom Jewels, and after Queen Mary’s Diamond Crochet Bandeau, today, we are featuring the historic Cambridge Sapphire Parure!
Pearl and Diamond Fringe Tiara | Cambridge Sapphire Parure | Diamond Crochet Bandeau | Kent Festoon Tiara | Aquamarine Tiara | Diamond Girandole Earrings | Diamond and Pearl Suite | Pearl Earrings | Art Deco Diamond Brooch | Diamond Flower Suite | Queen Victoria’s Gold Brooch | Empress Maria Feodrovna’s Sapphire Brooch | Princess Marina’s Black Pearl Brooch | The Jewels of the Duchess of Kent | 90 Facts about the Duchess of Kent
Originating from Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, the youngest daughter-in-law of King George III, the magnificent Sapphire Parure was composed of a grand Sapphire and Diamond Tiara, a pair of Earrings, a versatile Sapphire and Diamond Necklace which could be worn in various lengths, a Stomacher, at least two smaller Brooches, and two pairs of Bracelets.
While the exact date of its creation is unknown, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge was described wearing the Sapphire Parure at St. James’s Palace in May 1835.
“Dress of white satin, richly embroidered in gold; the body and sleeves splendidly ornamented with sapphires and diamonds; train of white satin, with a handsome gold border, and lined with gros de Naples. Head-dress, feathers, sapphires, and diamonds.”
In 1843, the Duchess of Cambridge gave her Sapphire Parure as a Wedding Gift to her elder daughter, Princess Augusta, when she married the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz in 1843, who wore the Parure on her Wedding Day and also for a portrait around 1861.
The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz also wore the Sapphire Necklace with the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara for a series of portraits taken in London around 1889.
Despite the fact she had coveted the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara enough to have her own Tiara made, after Grand Duchess Augusta’s death in 1916, the Cambridge Sapphire Parure was inherited by her beloved niece, Queen Mary, though due to the First World War and the subsequent crisis in Mecklenburg-Strelitz, it wasn’t in her possession until 1920, when Queen Mary wore the Sapphire Parure for a series of portraits, also wearing the central element as a Brooch.
In 1934, Queen Mary gave the historic Cambridge Sapphire Parure as a Wedding Gift to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark upon her Wedding to Prince George, Duke of Kent. The Princess received a Tiara from the groom, a Diamond Rivière from King George V, the Sapphires from Queen Mary, a Tiara and Bow Brooch from her mother, and a Tiara from the City of London among a thousand Gifts for her Wedding, which all went on display at St James’ Palace.
A huge case is devoted to jewels, land the eye is immediately dazzled as the magnificent gifts from the King and Queen. The jewels form probably the most splendid collection ever bestowed on a bride. Queen Mary gave a complete set of sapphire and diamond ornaments, including a tiara. brooches, earrings, bracelets. and a necklet for State occasions, also a modern ruby and diamond bow knot.
Princess Marina notably wore the Sapphire Parure for two series of portraits taken by Cecil Beaton in the mid and late 1930s, and also for a Banquet and Ball in London after the Coronation of King George VI in 1937 as well as the Anglo-Hellenic Ball in London in 1938, usually enlarging the Tiara by adding one of the Bracelets to complete the circlet.
Princess Marina continued to wear the Cambridge Sapphire Parure through the 1950s, rotating it with the Kent Festoon Tiara, her Pearl Bandeau, and the City of London Fringe Tiara, for many State Visits, Tours and Banquets, including her Far East Tour in 1952, the Iraqi State Visit to Britain in 1956, a Banquet at the Royal Hospital in Chelsea in 1956, the Independence of Ghana in 1957, the French State Visit to Britain in 1960, the State Opening of Parliament in 1960, and a Gala Performance at Covent Garden in 1960.
The Sapphire Parure was also worn by Princess Marina for King Paul of Greece’s 60th Birthday Banquet at the Royal Palace of Athens in 1961, the Wedding Ball of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece in 1962, the Princess Alexandra’s Wedding Ball at Windsor Castle in 1963, the Wedding Ball of King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne Marie of Denmark in 1964 and also the Wedding of the future Queen Margrethe of Denmark in 1967, which may have been one of her last appearances in the Parure.
After Princess Marina’s death in 1968, the Cambridge Sapphire Parure was the most important of the jewels inherited by her elder son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, along with her Diamond Girandole Earrings and Bow Brooch, while his younger brother, Prince Michael inherited the Kent Festoon Tiara and Fringe Tiara, and Princess Alexandra got the Pearl Bandeau.
The Duchess of Kent was pictured in the full Cambridge Sapphire Parure on only a few occasions in the 1970s, notably the Japanese State Banquet at Buckingham Palace in 1971, as well as the French State Banquet in 1976.
The Cambridge Sapphire Parure was also notably worn by the Duchess of Kent for a series of portraits taken by Norman Parkinson in 1975 at Amner House in Norfolk, now the country home of the Prince and Princess of Wales.
The Duchess with her younger son Lord Nicholas Windsor. She wears a sapphire and diamond necklace and tiara, part of a parure of her mother-in-law Princess Marina’s.
The Duchess and her husband Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, then a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Roval Scots Dragoon Guards, had recently returned from a State Visit to Iran. The Duke would leave the army the following year.
By the 1980s, financial difficulties forced the Duke and Duchess of Kent to sell only the Cambridge Sapphire Tiara, which later appeared at auction at Sotheby’s in 1993 and at Christie’s in 1998.
While Queen Mary’s Diamond Crochet Bandeau was altered to create the larger Pearl and Diamond Fringe Tiara, elements of the Cambridge Sapphire Necklace were used to create a new ‘button-style’ Tiara and a pair of Earrings while the Bracelets made a Choker.
The Duchess of Kent notably wore the new Sapphire Parure on a handful of occasions through the 1980s, most notably for a Banquet for the Emir of Bahrain at the Guildhall in 1984 and a French State Visit that same year.
More frequently, the Duchess wore the Sapphire Bracelet Choker and Earrings for a handful of gala events through the 1980s.
The Sapphire Parure was also worn by the Duchess of Kent at a Banquet for the President of Senegal at the Guildhall in 1988, which seems to have been the final appearance of the Parure.
By the mid 1990s, the Duke and Duchess of Kent had again gotten into financial difficulties and discreetly sold the remaining Sapphire Parure, around the same time as Princess Marina’s Diamond Girandole Earrings and Bow Brooch. The Sapphire Parure was worn by Moira of Moira Fine Art Jewellery in the 1990s, who have since confirmed that they still retain those pieces but they are not for resale.
The smaller Sapphire Button Tiara was photographed for a book around 2000, but it is unknown if it remained to the Duke and Duchess of Kent since the Duchess had retired from Royal Duties by then.
Pearl and Diamond Fringe Tiara | Cambridge Sapphire Parure | Diamond Crochet Bandeau | Kent Festoon Tiara | Aquamarine Tiara | Diamond Girandole Earrings | Diamond and Pearl Suite | Pearl Earrings | Art Deco Diamond Brooch | Diamond Flower Suite | Queen Victoria’s Gold Brooch | Empress Maria Feodrovna’s Sapphire Brooch | Princess Marina’s Black Pearl Brooch | The Jewels of the Duchess of Kent | 90 Facts about the Duchess of Kent
