Queen Marie of Romania’s Sapphire Bandeau

This week marks 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Marie of Romania, who was born on this day in 1875! Queen Victoria’s granddaughter who became the popular Queen of the Balkan Nation, ensuring massive territorial gains after the First World War, Queen Marie had a splendid Jewellery Collection, which included this Sapphire and Diamond Bandeau Tiara!

When Princess Marie of Edinburgh married Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania in 1893, she received a spectacular Diamond Loop Tiara as a wedding gift from her mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, a Turquoise Tiara and Parure from her father, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and this striking Sapphire and Diamond Bandeau Tiara from the groom, Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania. The Sapphire and diamond elements were detachable, to be worn as brooches.

Prince Ferdinand, in turn, had given her, among many other jewels, a diadem with sapphires and diamonds, detachable (it had 5 sapphires and 4 diamonds) worth 40,000 lei.

While she more frequently wore her Diamond Loop Tiara in the early years of her marriage, Crown Princess Marie notably wore her Sapphire and Diamond Bandeau Tiara for the Coronation of her cousin, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, and Empress Alexandra Feodrovna in Moscow in 1896.

Crown Princess Marie was also pictured wearing the Sapphire and Diamond Bandeau Tiara for a striking portrait by artist Pierre Bellet.

The Sapphire and Diamond Bandeau was worn by Crown Princess Marie for a series of portraits in the later 1900s, around the same time the Bandeau was mentioned in her will in 1908.

The diadem with sapphires and diamonds given by Ferdinand in 1893 goes to my daughter Mignon. The diadem with diamond hoops “which I have from my mother”, notes the Princess, went to Elisabeth. The diadem with turquoises was intended for Prince Nicolaei, together with all the jewels containing turquoises.

With the outbreak of the First World War, which Romania joined in 1916, the now Queen Marie sent all of jewels, along with Romania’s gold reserves to Russia for safekeeping, especially as much of Romania was soon occupied and the Royal Family had to retreat to Moldavia. However, while Romania emerged victorious from the War and almost doubled its territory, thanks to Queen Marie’s efforts, Russia had undergone their Revolutions, and the Bolsheviks had confiscated Queen Marie’s Jewels, which were never returned. Efforts to recover the jewels have been made as recently as 2018, but their eventual fate is unknown. Queen Marie later recalled:

I took a quite childish pleasure in my new dresses and beautiful jewels. Mama had been extraordinarily prodigal, giving many of her own magnificent Russian gems. These have all now been annexed by the Bolsheviks. It was difficult to realise that they were all mine.

To replace her jewellery collection, Queen Marie had to acquire the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik, a Cartier Pearl Tiara, a massive Cartier Sapphire Pendant and a Diamond Sautoir among other jewels, as well as a Diamond Fringe Tiara that was eventually inherited by Mignon, Queen Marie of Yugoslavia.

Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik