British Royal Jewels: Countess of Wessex's Mystery Necklace

The last of our five necklaces offers a delicious (and unsolved) mystery.

The mystery diamond necklace worn by the Countess of Wessex for the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria

The Earl and Countess of Wessex are the Queen’s regular ambassadors for foreign royal events and the wedding of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden and Daniel Westling was no exception to that rule. At first glance, the Countess’s choice of jewellery was fairly conservative and uninteresting. Sophie’s tiara was her wedding one (which personally I abhor), and she appeared to be wearing one of the Queen’s necklaces. Only she wasn't. At least, not a necklace Her Majesty has ever been seen wearing before.

British Royal Jewels: King Faisal Diamond Necklace

There are five necklaces in the British jewellery vaults that are sometimes hard to distinguish and often get confused with each other. Four of them belong to the Queen, and one – to the Countess of Wessex.

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia Necklace

The first of those necklaces is King Faisal Diamond Necklace. It was made in 1952 by Harry Winston and initially kept to showcase the firm’s diamond jewellery collection. Fifteen years later, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia purchased the necklace and presented it to Queen Elizabeth during his state visit to Britain in May of 1967.

British Royal Jewels: The Smaller Aquamarine Tiara

This is one of those tiaras reappearance of which caused quite a lot of surprise: most royal watchers had completely forgotten about it because it was believed to have been broken up decades ago.

The Smaller Aquamarine Tiara

In 1971 the Queen made some changes to the Aquamarine Tiara (made by Gerrards to compliment the Queen’s Brazilian Aquamarine Parure), using stones and parts from an existing smaller aquamarine tiara. Back then and until last year most experts assumed that the Smaller Aquamarine Tiara had been dismantled to create the new piece. And since this tiara hasn't been seen since 1970s, there was absolutely no reason to doubt that. 

And then the Countess of Wessex quashed those neat theories by wearing the Smaller Aquamarine Tiara to the pre-wedding gala of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume of Luxembourg and Countess Stephanie de Lannoy in October of 2012. 

Jewellery Gifts Received by Female Royals in 2012

The Buckingham Palace has already released the list of gifts received in 2012, and now the Clarence House has followed the suit. To view the list of the Queen's jewellery gifts, have a look at this post - The Queen's Diamond Jubilee Jewellery Gifts.

Below are the jewels received by other female royals. In case of the Duchesses of Cornwall and Cambridge, the list includes only gifts received on overseas tours; it is more than likely they received other presents too, for example from foreign dignitaries on state and official visits to Britain. It is, for instance, virtually certain that either or both of them received parures from the Amir of Kuwait (as both the Countess of Wessex and the Princess Royal did).

Gifts received by the Duchess of Cornwall

- Beaded medallion, a medallion, a pendant, two brooches from unspecified individuals

- Two shell necklace from the people of Boera village (Prince Charles got two of those as well)

- A Brooch from the Governor of Papua New Guinea

- A Brooch from the Premier of New South Wales

- A Brooch from the Australian Monarchist League