Today marks the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of the Princess of Battenberg, who was born on this day in 1825! The Polish Countess who married a Hessian Prince and became the ancestor of Sovereigns around Europe, the Princess had some striking jewels, which included this Diamond Corsage!
The exact origin of this Diamond Corsage is unknown, but it was among the possessions of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine who had morganatically married Countess Julia von Hauke who was later created the Princess of Battenberg.
The Princess of Battenberg notably wore this Diamond Corsage with a grand Diamond Tiara and Diamond Necklace for a portrait in the 1870s, which remains in the Mountbatten collection and was hung in the Schlossmuseum Darmstadt a few years ago.
The Princess of Battenberg seems to have worn the Diamond Corsage when her son, Prince Henry, married Princess Beatrice, the youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, in 1885. Upon her passing a decade later, the Diamond Corsage was inherited by Princess Beatrice.
When Lady Irene Denison married the former Prince Alexander of Battenberg, the eldest son of Princess Beatrice, in 1917, two days after he relinquished his German Princely Title and a few months before being created the Marquess of Carisbrooke, she received ‘a cluster of diamond roses’ from her mother-in-law.
a cluster of diamond roses which belonged to the grandfather of her Royal fiance, given her by Princess Beatrice.
But sprays of diamond roses and diamond rivieres and a diamond and sapphire pendant take some carrying off when the sun’s at its meridian, don’t they Part of the price, of course, for being a semi-royal bride, but a pretty high one to pay, I think.
The following year, the Marchioness of Carisbrooke wore the Diamond Corsage for a portrait taken shortly after the end of the First World War, paired with a Diamond Sautoir she had received as a Wedding Gift from her sister-in-law, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain.
The Marquess and Marchioness of Carisbrooke faced many finical difficulties over the following decades and thys altered and later sold off many jewels, including Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara, sadly that must be the fate of the Princess of Battenberg’s Diamond Corsage as well!
