The poignant significance of Her Majesty’s favourite gem... as she celebrates 65 years on the Throne
HER Majesty is set to become our Sapphire Queen.
On February 6, Britain’s longest-lived, longest-reigning Monarch will have been on the Throne for 65 years, marking her Sapphire Jubilee.
The anniversary of her accession is always a poignant occasion for the Queen, who once said she has only reigned so long because ‘my father died much too young’.
This year, however, will provide a moment of particular reflection. The Queen has had a lifelong passion for sapphires, thanks to her ‘beloved Papa’. He noticed that the cornflower-blue gemstones – said to signify love, purity and wisdom – matched the colour of his daughter’s eyes.
George VI often gave the gift of sapphires to his eldest daughter, from a bracelet for her 18th birthday in 1944 to a brooch in the shape of a flower basket to mark the birth of her first child, Prince Charles, in 1948.
She loved the suite of sapphires her father gave her as a wedding present in 1947 so much that she later had a bracelet and tiara made to match.
She was wearing the jewels when she met Noel Coward at a film premiere, prompting him to comment: ‘The Queen looked luminously lovely and was wearing the largest sapphires I have ever seen.’ Today, the George VI Victorian Suite is reserved for what the Queen calls ‘big dressing’ for formal occasions such as state banquets, while the necklace and earrings are a firm favourite for family occasions.
Other gems in her priceless collection include Prince Albert’s sapphire brooch – given to Queen Victoria on the eve of their wedding in 1840 and worn by every queen since – and a sapphire brooch left to her by Queen Mary that once belonged to the Empress Marie of Russia, mother of the murdered Tsar Nicholas II.
Here we celebrate the glittering history of her stunning sapphires, treasured heirlooms from her dear father and other members of her family.
THE BEST OF THE BUNCH? THIS unusual brooch, below, has diamonds forming grapes and stems, falling from a bow of sapphires. It was a favourite of the late Queen Mother, who often wore it to the races. SHIPYARD SPARKLER AT PRINCESS Anne’s christening in 1950, the Queen wears a platinum chrysanthemum brooch with raised sapphire centre and diamond leaves – a gift for launching the British Princess oil tanker in Sunderland in 1946. She also wore it on her honeymoon. JEWEL OF THE EMIRATES The Queen is said to have ‘exclaimed in amazement’ when presented with the diamond and sapphire necklace, above, by Sheikh Rashid of Dubai in 1979. BRIGHT AS A FEATHER THE Queen received much of her jewellery as wedding gifts in 1947. This one was given by the Regent Street firm Carrington & Co, court jewellers founded in 1780. It is made up of an elaborate diamond feather with a sapphire centre. The Queen wears it with either a blue or lilac coat. TOKEN OF ROMANCE THIS sapphire and diamond brooch was given to Queen Victoria on the eve of her wedding to Prince Albert and worn during the service. It is now Crown jewellery, previously worn only by Queen consorts until the present reign. A LEAF OFF THE FAMILYTREE MADE as a gift from George VI to his wife in 1928, this Art Deco Cartier leaf brooch, with diamond baguettes around a sapphire cluster, was given to the Queen as a wartime birthday present. PERFECT PAIR THESE gold clips, with a centre of sapphires and brilliant-cut diamonds, were given separately to Princess Elizabeth by her parents: as 16th and 19th birthday presents.