A diamond celebration for the Queen’s Jubilee

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Gilly Turney is dazzled by 10,000 diamonds on display at Buckingham Palace to mark The Queen’s Jubilee

The Diamond Diadem sparkles and glistens as its 1,300 brilliant-cut diamonds catch the light.  Worn by Her Majesty the Queen for her portrait on British and Commonwealth stamps, some coins and bank notes, and for every State Opening of Parliament since her reign began, this Crown is one of The Queen’s most-recognizable pieces of jewellery, and among the many crowning glories (literally!) on display in a special exhibition at Buckingham Palace.

‘Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration’ is a breath-taking display of Royal jewels, acquired by six monarchs over three centuries, arranged to celebrate The Queen’s 60 years on the throne.   More than 10,000 diamonds are on show, set in some of The Queen’s personal jewels, both inherited by Her Majesty and acquired during her reign, as well as works from the Royal Collection.

The exhibition is part of the 2012 Summer Opening of Buckingham Palace, and the tour through the splendid State Rooms with their fine artworks, grand furniture, ornate ceilings and décor is an appropriate lead-in to this dazzling jewellery exhibition.

Chosen for their artistic significance, historical importance, and for the supreme skill in diamond cutting and mounting that the Royal Jewels embody, the exhibition shows the many ways in which diamonds have been used and worn by British monarchs over the last two centuries. They range from the expected crowns, tiaras, brooches, earrings, necklaces, to a fan (Queen Alexandra’s Coronation Fan, a fantasy in white ostrich feathers and brilliant diamonds), a Table Snuff Box (Frederick the Great of Prussia’s, encrusted with 3,000 rose and brilliant-cut diamonds), a sword and scabbard (presented to King Edward VII by the Maharajah of Jaipur), and a diamond-hilted sword (George IV’s, decorated with hundreds of diamonds in gold settings).  

Several pieces, such as the Delhi Durbar Tiara made for Queen Mary in 1911, and Queen Alexandra’s Russian-inspired Kokoshnik Tiara, are on display for the first time, as is a collection of jewellery cut from the world’s largest-ever diamond.

But first, I look at the famous Diamond Diadem: set with 1,333 brilliant-cut diamonds, including a four-carat pale yellow brilliant, it consists of a band with two rows of pearls on either side of a row of diamonds, above which are diamonds set in the form of a rose, a thistle and two shamrocks, the national emblems of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

Despite its feminine associations, the piece was actually made for the famously extravagant coronation of George IV in 1821.  Worn often by Queen Adelaide, consort of William IV, the Diadem was inherited in 1837 by Queen Victoria, who was frequently painted and photographed wearing it, and is seen on several early postage stamps, including the Penny Black. It passed to Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, Queen Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother), then to Her Majesty The Queen.

Queen Victoria, the only other monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee, seems to have had an ‘eye’ for fabulous jewellery and many of her original pieces are included in the exhibition:  the Small Diamond Crown, commissioned after Prince Albert’s death in 1861, is just 10cm in diameter, weighs 140 grams, and has 1,187 brilliant-rose and mixed-cut diamonds and diamond chips, set in a silver openwork frame, laminated with gold; the Fringe Brooch, on display for the first time, is a typically mid-19th-century style and consists of a large emerald-cut central stone, thought to have come from the Sultan of Turkey, surrounded by small brilliant-cut diamonds, with nine pavé-set chains suspended from 12 large brilliant-cut diamonds.  

The Queen wore the Fringe Brooch at the State Banquet for the President of Turkey in 2011, along with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara (another familiar piece seen on banknotes and coins); the magnificent Coronation Necklace (so named as it has been worn at four Coronations including The Queen’s in 1953) with its pendant Lahore Diamond (22.48 carats); and the emerald-cut diamond in platinum-set Greville Peardrop Earrings, all on show in the exhibition.

The exhibits are beautiful and none more so than the exquisite jewellery cut for Queen Mary from the Cullinan Diamond, the largest diamond ever found. Weighing 3,106 carats in its rough state, measuring 10.1 x 6.36 x 5.9cm, and notable for its blue-white colour and exceptional purity, the Diamond was cut into nine numbered stones. Seven of the stones were set into a ring, a necklace, and three brooches for Queen Mary, including the Cullinan III and IV Brooch, with its pear-shaped drop (94.4 carats), worn by The Queen for the Diamond Jubilee celebrations at the National Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral in June.  This exhibition brings together these seven stones for the first time since they were cut apart. The other two are in the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.

The Cullinan Diamond was discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905. No one had previously seen a diamond of such a size and it was at first thrown out of the mine manager’s window as they thought it a worthless crystal.

Finally they were persuaded and it was named after the chairman of the mining company, Thomas Cullinan. In 1909 the two largest gems were formally presented to King Edward VII at Windsor Castle.  These are the two largest colourless and flawless cut diamonds in the world and are set at the head of the Sovereign’s Sceptre and into the Imperial State Crown

 Outstanding, too, is The Queen’s Williamson Diamond Brooch: a jonquil flower with, at its centre, what is considered to be the finest pink diamond ever discovered. Found in October 1947 at the Mwadui mine in Tanganyika, owned by Canadian geologist and royalist Dr John Thorburn Williamson, after whom it was named, the uncut stone weighing 54.5 carats was presented by Dr Williamson as a wedding present to the then Princess Elizabeth in November that year.

The stone was cut into a 23.6 carat round brilliant and when The Queen acceded to the thrown in 1962 there was speculation that the stone might be mounted for used at the coronation.  Instead it was set as the centre of the brooch designed by Cartier in 1953.  Dr Wiiamson wished to add further pink diamonds to the gift, but as these were not forthcoming, he gave The Queen 170 small brilliant-cut diamonds, 12 baguette-cut diamonds and 21 marquise diamonds, which make up the petal stalk and leaves of the brooch.

Diamond is the hardest natural material known, and has for centuries carried associations of endurance and longevity.  These qualities, allied to the purity, magnificence and value of the stones, have led rulers to deploy diamonds in regalia, jewellery and precious objects. Individual diamonds have achieved great renown, passing down the generations and between enemies or allies as potent symbols of sovereignty and as precious gifts.

Many of these extraordinary stones have undergone a number of transformations during their history, having been re-cut or incorporated into new settings as fashions and tastes have changed.  As exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut said:

The exhibition shows how over the past three centuries monarchs have used diamonds to display magnificence, whether in personal adornment or as a statement of power…Diamonds have of course long been associated with endurance and longevity, so this is a very fitting way to mark Her Majesty’s 60 years on the throne.