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| Empress Maria Feodorovna's Sapphire Parure |
The Romanovs had one of the most impressive jewellery collections of all times. None of the current Houses, not even the British one, can match the splendour of the Romanov Court. One of the most interesting and, unfortunately, mysterious parures belonged to Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia, wife of Alexander III and mother of Nicholas II.
The Empress is depicted wearing this parure (most of it anyway) of the famous portrait by Konstantin Makovsky. The sketch for the portrait was actually drawn at the wedding celebrations of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, the daughter of Emperor Alexander II (and thus Maria Feodorovna’s sister-in-law) who married Prince Alfred, the son of Queen Victoria.
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| Maria Feodorovna wearing her sapphire parure |
