They represent great value, both historically and financially. It goes without saying that the royals are careful with their family jewels. Yet, despite all the precautions, things do sometimes go wrong.
Suzette asked a question about it via email. “Do royals ever lose expensive jewelry?” You can read the answer in this blog.
Let’s start at the beginning. Jewelry is kept neatly in place with hooks, eyes, hinges and other gadgets. The higher the value, the more thought has gone into the closure. Yet there are now many stories about ‘lost’ jewels. The most recent example took place in January 2024, during a New Year’s reception at the Spanish palace. Queen Letizia wore diamond and sapphire jewelry with her dark blue robe. After shaking many hands, the bracelet apparently had enough of all the movement. The jewel landed on the palace floor with a thud. Fortunately, Letizia saw it happen and quickly picked up the jewel.
During Denmark’s state visit to Germany, Queen Margrethe wore historic family jewels from the estate of Princess Louise of the Netherlands. (For those who don’t know this princess: she is the eldest daughter of Prince Frederik of Orange – Nassau, the second son of King William I.) Upon arrival, five pearls dangled from the impressive brooch on Margrethe’s green dress (left). Once inside, an observant courtier noticed that the largest pearl had disappeared. Margrethe was fooled, while the search for the pearl was quickly started. By the time the Queen was notified, he had been found again. Because the Danish court jeweler had not flown to Germany, the jewel could only be repaired upon his return home.
During the official visit to Bavaria, all attention was focused on Máxima’s coat, but a lot of things also went wrong when it came to jewelry. At one point, the teardrop-shaped sapphire from Máxima’s earrings came loose. The stone has a hook at the top, which can be inserted into the eye at the bottom of the earring. Apparently the problem was noticed, because an hour later the sapphire was dangling from the earring again.
In Slovakia the queen also had to deal with a stubborn sapphire, although it remained stuck.
In 1962, Princess Beatrix received an expensive violet brooch from jeweler Steltman as a gift on the occasion of a ship’s christening. The heart of the flower was made of sapphire, the five leaves of diamonds set in platinum. The princess wore the gift a lot, until she lost it during a working visit. We searched everywhere, but unfortunately without results. No one knew that a young spectator had long ago found the jewel and taken it home in all his/her innocence. It ended up there among all kinds of odds and ends. Because the loss was so great, Beatrix ordered a replica from jeweler Steltman. It came in handy until the original brooch was handed over to the police years later. Because the discovery suddenly left the princess with two exactly the same brooches in her safe, she had the sapphire of the replica replaced by a ruby.
In the late 1980s, Princess Juliana’s Italian holiday home was broken into. In addition to a gold watch, other jewelry was also taken. The RVD did not want to communicate about the value, except that it was “significant”. According to the Telegraaf, sources around the investigation spoke of 700,000 guilders. Unfortunately, it has not been revealed exactly which jewels have disappeared. Unfortunately I can’t find anything about the ending.
In the jacket pocket
Another example: in 1957, Queen Juliana visited the Leeuwarden stock exchange. In the few photos available at the time, there are virtually no jewels to be seen. Perhaps not so strange, because during the visit the queen lost her brooch. The gem was gone and stayed gone, so a police report was sent out. The jewel was described as “two stars placed one above the other, with five points, and is set with brilliants and diamonds.” A certain Mrs. Drost – Posthuma, who had picked up some shiny things from the ground during a visit to the Leeuwarden fair, checked the contents of her coat pocket and found the queen’s brooch. After handing the gem over to the police, she received a message from the “queen.” Unfortunately, the writing turned out to be a lame joke. According to the RVD, the lady did receive an “art object”. Read: a lamp.
The brooch in question:
Do you remember an incident? Feel free to post it in a comment below!
