The diamonds that she couldn’t accept as a gift
COLLINGWOOD, founded in 1817, had been the Spencer family jewellers since Diana was a girl, so when it came to choosing a shimmering suite of diamonds for her official engagement portraits, taken by Lord Snowdon in February 1981, there was no better place to turn.
Lady Diana selected an antique diamond necklace and matching girandole earrings for the sitting at Highgrove House.
Collingwood wanted to present her with the diamond set as a wedding gift, but Palace officials declared such a valuable present inappropriate. Instead, the jeweller gave the Princess a pair of diamond and pearl earrings. However Diana continued to borrow the set, wearing the necklace for King Khalid of Saudi Arabia’s visit to London in June 1981.
The Collingwood diamond suite was subsequently offered for sale by an Iranian jeweller, who claimed they were Spencer heirlooms sold to pay for the wedding.
He had bought them from an unscrupulous dealer, who had offered the Snowdon portrait as proof they belonged to Diana’s family. Thankfully the fraud was uncovered before the sale could be made.