Sisi in Rubies

From Elena Maria Vidal comes this image of Queen Elisabeth's stunning aunt and namesake, wearing jewels which had formerly belonged to Marie-Antoinette. 

Deer Brooches

Here is a post in French about Princess Lilian's love of deer and the hunt, illustrated by her stag-themed jewelry, such as the brooch shown above, part of a citrine parure sold at Christies in 1987. For her Silver Wedding in September 1966, Lilian's husband, King Leopold III, presented her with a diamond brooch, in the shape of a stag's head, designed by Cartier according to Lilian's wishes. This piece became her favorite brooch. She wore it for her last public appearance, in September 1993, for the 20th anniversary of the Leopold III Fund for the Exploration and Conservation of Nature. She also wore it for her daughter Esmeralda's London wedding to eminent scientist Salvador Moncada in 1998. In contrast to many other of Lilian's possessions, which were auctioned off following her death, the cherished diamond brooch remains in her family to this day.

Marie-José's Jewels

A few pieces, formerly belonging to Belgian-born Queen Maria José of Italy, which were auctioned at Christies' in June 2007. Included in the collection were a diamond and turquoise necklace and bracelet, given to the princess as wedding gifts from her parents, and an antique diamond and dark blue enamel bangle bearing the monogram of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. More information and pictures here and here. Above, Maria José is shown wearing a diamond, pearl and yellow gold tiara, said to have been inherited from her great-aunt, Carlota of Mexico.

Carlota's Jewels

A few historic pieces.

Lost Splendor

More of Queen Astrid's clothes, hats and perfumes. It is said that her favorite perfume was Molyneux No. 5.

It is curious that Astrid was and is so admired for her elegance and love of fashion, while Lilian was and is attacked for the same qualities. It makes me think that many of these accusations of vanity and extravagance are little more than opportunistic excuses to vilify, for ulterior motives. It is true that Lilian's glamor, like her personality, was somehow more aggressive than Astrid's, so it is, to a certain extent, not surprising that Lilian would attract more resentment. It still seems decidedly unfair, though.

Gown

A replica of a dress worn by Queen Astrid for her Joyous Entry into Antwerp in 1935.

Tiara of the Nine Provinces

The metamorphosis of the only tiara that the Belgian queens seem to pass down through the generations.

This tiara was a wedding gift from the people of Belgium to Princess Astrid of Sweden, who married the future King Leopold III in 1926. Created by Belgian jeweler Van Bever, the original version of the diadem is a flexible diamond bandeau in a stylized Greek key motif topped with 11 large diamonds on spikes. These large stones, totaling around 100 carats on their own, symbolize the nine provinces of Belgium and the (now former) Belgian colony of the Congo. I've heard a few different explanations for what the 11th diamond stands for, including Belgium as a whole and the Belgian royal family. Obviously, this is where we get our name: I’m calling it the Nine Provinces Tiara, though in English you could also go with the slightly more imposing Diadem of the Nine Provinces or even the Belgian Empire Tiara. (Read entire post)

Queen Astrid's Wedding Gifts

November is the anniversary month of the joyful marriage of King Leopold III and Queen Astrid. Unofficial Royalty has a delightful series of articles on the wedding celebrations, including a description of some of the gifts the bride received.

Wedding gifts began arriving in Stockholm a few weeks before the civil ceremony. The Swedish navy presented Astrid and Leopold with various pieces of silver, while the residents of the city of Stockholm gave the couple a silver and enamel tea set. A diamond and pearl tiara made by the court jeweler Andersson was also given to Astrid. This tiara, now known as the Stockholm Wedding Tiara, has not been seen in several decades. However, Leopold’s second wife, the Princess de Rethy, later wore parts of this tiara as a brooch.

Several items were displayed in Ingeborg’s drawing room before the Swedish ceremony. These gifts included an emerald and diamond necklace from Carl and Ingeborg, a diamond necklace from the Swedish king and queen, a silver and enamel coffee set from the Norwegian royals, and a portrait of the bride’s father.

Shortly before the wedding, a call for donations was made to the Belgian public to fund a national gift to the couple. Collections were also made from various expatriate groups living in Belgium. Within a day, the amount collected reach over 183,000 Belgian francs. While Leopold had requested that the money collected by applied directly to the national debt, the prince was overruled in favor of the purchase of gifts. The items selected from the funds collected included a tapestry in honor of Astrid’s love of Swedish needlework. This tapestry was made over a thirteen-year period by Mademoiselle Dubois, a renowned Belgian weaver.

The first gift presented to Astrid upon her arrival in Belgium was lace given to her by a Belgian girls’ group. Astrid happily accepted the lace, expressing her thanks in the Flemish language.

Also selected from the Belgian collection included a diadem that could be separated into bracelets, rings, a choker, and brooches. The bandeau tiara was made by Belgian jeweler Van Bever and included eleven Congo diamonds. It is now known as the Nine Provinces or Belgian Empire Tiara and has been worn by every Belgian queen since Astrid.

Mourning

Queen Elisabeth of Belgium as a widow.

Queen Elisabeth and the Friends of Lace

Charlotte Kellogg relates the efforts of the Queen and other great ladies to assist Belgian lace workers, especially during the harsh German occupation of 1914-1918.

Long before the war Queen Elizabeth in Belgium, like Queen Margharita in Italy, had sought means to protect the lace worker, through centuries the victim of an economic injustice, not to say crime, and to rescue and develop an industry threatened from many sides. In 1911 she gave her royal encouragement to a group of prominent Belgian women who organized as "Amies de la Dentelle", Friends of Lace, and began a lace saving campaign by trying to remedy the deplorable condition of most of the lace schools, the defective teaching, long hours and pitiful pay. They could insist in the schools, as not elsewhere, on the right to inspect, to grant or refuse patronage. They subsidized worthy institutions, and advocated the establishment of a lace normal school and of a special school of design. Education they felt to be the main road leading out of the prevailing misery, and they were making progress along this road, when suddenly the Invader poured over their borders.

While other women hurried to open refuges and hospitals and soup kitchens, a few of the Friends of Lace remembered first the lace makers; and by November 1914, had effected a war emergency organization, known as the Brussels Lace Commitee, with Mrs. Whitlock as honorary president. Unfortunately most of the lace dealers failed to cooperate with them, but they won the approval of the powerful Belgian Comité National, which, with the Commission for Relief in Belgium, carried on the relief of the occupied territory throughout the war. And with an initial gift of $25,000 from America to be converted into lace, they were able to start their work. It soon came to be directed altogether by four women; The Comtesse Elizabeth d'Oultremont, Lady in Waiting to Queen Elizabeth, the Vicomtesse de Beughem, an American, Madame Josse Allard and Madame Kefer-Mali. At the same time the aid and protection of workers on filets and other commonly called "imitation" laces was assigned by the Comité National to another group of women, the "Union Patriotique des Femmes Belges"...

During the first few months the situation seemed utterly hopeless; thread was impossible to obtain, and even if the thread were forthcoming, no one could say who would buy the laces they might encourage the women to make; the Germans were cutting off successive sections of the lace making areas where they had established sub-committees, and were forbidding communication with them. And yet these four women continued bravely to create the foundations of a great lace business- for an extraordinary commercial organization grew from their efforts.

However, despite all their intelligence and devotion, such a result would have impossible but for a hard won diplomatic victory In early 1915 Mr. Hoover forced an international agreement which permitted the C.R.B to bring thread for the Lace Committee in Belgium, and to take out an equivalent weight of lace, to be sold in the Allied countries for the benefit of the workers...And once these international guaranties were obtained, the Belgian Comité National was able to arrange for the the distribution of the lace to the various, even remote lace centers, and for the return of the finished lace to Brussels. They granted the women a subsidy of $10,000 and insured to each dentellière the chance to make at least three francs worth of lace a week- a small minimum, to be sure, but everyone understood it might be increased later, and that if each of the many thousands of workers was to have an equal opportunity, it  could not in the beginning be more. After this the Lace Committee had about 45,000 women on its lists. The work in the schools and out of them began to bear fruit. The sweating system, and payment in kind (in clothing and food) were practically wiped out, and inspection and control established. Everywhere the standard of execution and of design was raised; old patterns were restored and improved, and, by the end of the war, 2237 new designs had been added...

The Germans early originated a "Lace Control" of their own, and tried in every possible way to win over the Belgian workers and to buy up all the lace in the country. They accused the Brussels Committee of being a political and patriotic body existing chiefly to defeat the occupying power and the Flemish activists. Then there were other courage-testing difficulties. But despite all obstacles and perils, the women persisted, and continually the precious skeins of "Carry On" were flung out from Brussels to the farthermost corners of the land, binding all together in a firm and beautiful web of hope and confidence. For the enemy was right in suspecting the Committee of a purpose deeper than that of merely trying to save women from the soup-line; they carried on a patriotic work of the highest importance. (Bobbins of Belgium: a book of Belgian lace, lace-workers, lace-schools and lace-villages, Funk & Wagnalls Company, 1920, pp. 15-21)

Beauty

The present Queen Paola of the Belgians as a young woman.

Astrid: Queen of Fashion

I am researching Delly Poelmans, modiste to Queens Elisabeth and Astrid. If anyone has any information or pictures, please let me know. The fine collection of essays, Astrid: 1905-1935, edited by Christian Koninckx, contains a section on Astrid's fairytale wardrobe, with a discussion of the various Belgian and foreign designers she patronized, including Delly Poelmans, who created many of her colorful, fanciful hats.  In 1920, Delly Poelmans had obtained Elisabeth's permission to style herself Modiste de S.M. la Reine,  the official milliner of Her Majesty the Queen. Her business, located just behind the royal palace, continued to serve a broad clientele of Brussels society ladies through 1934-1935, the year King Leopold III reigned with Astrid at his side. Like her mother-in-law, the new Queen also favored Delly Poelmans. Upon Astrid's death, the designer requested authorization to style herself Modiste de S. M. la Reine Astrid. On August 23, 1937, nearly two years after the Queen's passing, she was finally granted the honor to do so. Today, the Belgian royal collection contains about twenty hats crafted by Delly Poelmans, and once worn by Astrid. Since color photographs of the Queen are rare, the hats can give us an idea of the original colors of the accompanying dresses, often lost, faded or damaged. The Queen loved soft, rich, subtle colors and intricate floral patterns. Although she favored simple, practical clothes in private, she always appeared in public splendidly attired in the most fashionable possible way. The styles of the period, abandoning the corsets of the previous century, flattered her tall, elongated, graceful figure, while her bobbed hair and Delly Poelmans' hats set off the beauty of her head and neck.

Fit for a Princess

The Bata Shoe Museum in Toronto, Ontario, Canada has several pairs of Princess Lilian's shoes in its collection.

Princess Lilian was known for her glamour and sense of style, and this is evident in her elegant footwear. The shoes now in the Museum's collection were custom designed for Princess Lilian by Roger Vivier, one of the most innovative shoe designers of the 20th century. He maintained an eye for cutting edge design, referencing the history of fashion while incorporating modern elements of science and engineering. The Museum is delighted to have these shoes, rich in both history and beauty, in its collections. (Read full article)

The Royal Wedding Dress on Display

Via The Royal Channel, here is a virtual exhibit, presented by Caroline de Guitaut, Curator of the Royal Collection, of the wedding gown and wedding cake of the new Duchess of Cambridge.

Charlene's Jewels

Here is an article about the Lorenz Baumer 'Diamond Foam' tiara worn by the new Princess of Monaco at the evening events following her spectacular wedding. In addition, here is a short program on the Van Cleef & Arpels 'Ocean' diamond and sapphire necklace, another gift from Prince Albert to his bride.

A Royal Bride

Yesterday was the anniversary of the marriage of King Leopold I and Queen Louise-Marie of the Belgians in 1832. Here is an image of the sprightly young French princess, matriarch-to-be of a new royal dynasty, in her wedding gown.

Princess Ingeborg's Sense of Fashion

Queen Astrid of the Belgians was famous for her sense of fashion; perhaps she inherited some of her elegance from her mother, Princess Ingeborg of Sweden. Here are some images of Ingeborg on Grand Ladies, a site I discovered today through Tea at Trianon. Above is a cape, from around 1900, which belonged to the Princess, below are pictures of Ingeborg posing with her little daughter Astrid and her son Carl.

Lilian's Jewels

An enjoyable display. (I wasn't too thrilled by all the comments that follow, though; there is the usual anti-Lilian venom and some of the facts are garbled. Why do so many people think that Lilian was pregnant when she secretly married King Leopold III in September, 1941? No, Prince Alexandre was born ten months after the wedding...)

Princess Lilian apparently attracted a great deal of popular ire by wearing jewelry which had belonged to her husband's tragically deceased first wife, Queen Astrid, so idolized by the Belgians. I do not quite grasp why wearing Astrid's jewels is supposed to have been so outrageous; after all, Lilian had "inherited" the Queen's husband, so why should she not have "inherited" some of her accessories, too? Still, it was clearly a psychological error. Be that as it may, however, here are pictures illustrating Lilian's use of Astrid's jewels. Above, we see Astrid wearing a diamond and emerald tiara, a gift from her parents-in-law, King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth, on the birth of her eldest son, Prince Baudouin. Below, we see Lilian wearing the same piece, as a necklace.

The Tiara of Queen Elisabeth

Here is an article on the famous diamond and platinum Cartier tiara of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians.  After her death, it passed to her son, King Leopold III, to be worn by his second wife, Princess Lilian. After Leopold's death, Cartier repurchased it from Lilian in 1987. There is a great deal of outrage on the internet at Lilian's sale of Elisabeth's tiara and other jewelry which had graced earlier Belgian royal ladies. Critics complain that the magnificent tiara, in particular, ought to have been left to Queen Paola and Princess Mathilde. The fact is, though, that it did not belong to Paola and Mathilde. At that point, it was Lilian's to dispose of as she saw fit. Unlike the jewelry used by other European royal houses, the adornments of the Belgian queens and princesses have never belonged to the state; they have always been the personal property of the ladies in question. In consequence, following the deaths of their owners, they have usually been dispersed, auctioned off or left to heirs outside Belgium. Today, the Belgian royal family has only two tiaras inherited from previous generations; all the rest of the jewelry of Queens Louise-Marie, Marie-Henriette, Elisabeth and Astrid has passed to other hands. This may seem unfortunate, but I find it unfair to single out Lilian for so much indignation, since the dispersal of Belgian royal jewelry is a tradition pre-dating her by far.

Interestingly, Lilian was related to the Cartier family by marriage. Jean-Jacques Cartier, who recently passed away, was married to Lilian's sister Lydia Baels. 

Marie Antoinette (2006)

An interesting critique of Sofia Coppola's film from Tradition in Action.