Spanish Royal Jewels: Queen Sofia’s “The Eye of Time” Brooch

Queen Sofia of Spain has quite an impressive collection of brooches which could probably rival Queen Elizabeth’s. However, while the British Queen’s collection mostly consists of family heirlooms and historical pieces, the brooches of the Spanish Queen present a far more diverse assortment. 

Original "The Eye of Time" Pendant

One of such pieces is her “The Eye of Time” brooch. I can’t really tell whether it is paste (Queen Sofia has always been quite fond of wearing bijou) or studded with real diamonds. 

Focus on... Kent Jewels: Princess Louise's Emerald Pendant

The emerald and pearl pendant is among the jewels the Kents inherited from Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll.

Princess Michael of Kent wearing the diamond and emerald pendant suspended from a pearl necklace

Like the Daisy Brooches, Princess Louise's emerald pendant was a wedding present, this time from her mother Queen Victoria. Louise wore it on her wedding day suspended from a diamond riviere necklace (also left to the Kents).

Dutch Royal Jewels: The Pearl Button Tiara

The origins of the tiara go back to the first half of 19th century; when Sophie of Wurttemberg married William III of the Netherlands (then a Crown Prince), she brought with her a large number of jewels.

The Pearl Button Tiara

Among them was a Strawberry Leaf Coronet which is purported to be the base of the Pearl Button Tiara. I used the term purported because the base of the coronet (as seen in Queen Sophie’s portraits) and the base of the current tiara look markedly different to me. If you squint hard you can sort of see distant similarities so I guess it’s possible the base of the original tiara was changed over the decades so much it’s barely recognisable now.