Queen Victoria's Emerald & Diamond Tiara

Happy Tiara Tuesday!  This week we bring you a lovely tiara from the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria’s Emerald and Diamond Tiara.
Queen Victoria, whose name created the Victorian Era, reigned for 63 years and 7 months from June 1837 to January 1901, creating the longest reign in the history of the British Monarchy.  This tiara was one of her most exquisite pieces in her enormous collection of jewelry, as well as one of her favorites.  The current whereabouts of this tiara are unknown, and there is unfortunate speculation that the tiara has been dismantled.  The piece was designed by her husband, the Prince Consort, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in the Gothic style during 1845.  Queen Victoria’s Emerald and Diamond Tiara was made in 1845 by Joseph Kitching for £1,150.  Prince Albert had a deep passion for science and the arts, as well as trade and industry, and was involved in many creative and artistic pursuits.

The Gothic style is characterized by a strong clarity of pattern and line, creating a more graceful aesthetic when compared to the heavier Romanesque jewelry.  The style also developed to focus more heavily on stones, and you see a wider variety of shapes and cuts being showcased in Gothic jewelry.  This tiara features diamonds and emeralds, creating a scroll pattern and brilliantly displaying the emerald droplets around the rim.

The tiara is famously pictured in Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s painting The Royal Family in 1846, portraying the Queen and her young family.  It circles the head almost completely (and may have been altered at some point to fit another person’s head), and is made up of emeralds and diamonds set in gold.

The tiara was not listed in the 1897 account of Victoria’s jewels, which indicated she bequeathed them to someone else, presumably a descendant.  The tiara has been sighted on Princess Victoria of Hesse, Queen Victoria’s granddaughter, and on Caroline Dewar, a Scottish aristocrat.  The tiara was last seen at an exhibition in Wassar, in 1997.

It is tragic to think this stunning tiara may have been dismantled.  We can only hope it is hiding in a vault, biding its time before making a dazzling new appearance.

Thanks for reading!  Happy Tiara Tuesday!