Queen Alexandra's Jewels

Queen Alexandras’s Amethyst Heart | Royal Wedding Gift to the late Queen Elisabeth the Queen Mother | Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon

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| Royal Wedding Gift to the late Queen Elisabeth the Queen Mother | Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon Queen Alexandra’s Amethysts – A Royal Wedding Gift Returns When Catherine, Princess of Wales, appeared wearing a magnificent amethyst, pearl and diamond necklace in September 2026, she brought back into the public eye a jewel that had been seen only once in recent decades. But its story begins more than a century earlier, with Queen Alexandra and her particular love of amethysts. Alexandra’s fondness for the purple gemstone was well known during her lifetime. Already in 1913, the British press remarked that “Queen Alexandra has a great affection for amethysts.” Twenty years later, the Birmingham Daily Gazette remembered her affection for the stones in considerably more detail. According to the article, Alexandra wore amethysts more often than any other gemstones except diamonds and pearls. Her amethyst jewels regularly accompanied her on the January visits that she and King Edward VII made to the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire at Chatsworth. They were particularly associated with the famous theatrical evenings held in the Tower Ballroom at Chatsworth, then romantically described as the Palace of the Peak. On one such occasion, Alexandra appeared in a gown shimmering with amethyst coloured sequins from décolletage to the tip of the train. She completed the effect with an amethyst tiara, necklace and bracelets, together with pearls. It is a wonderfully evocative glimpse of Alexandra and her jewels: the purple stones were not simply part of a large royal collection, but gems she evidently enjoyed wearing. And this makes the wedding present she chose for her future granddaughter in law particularly charming. In 1923, when her grandson Prince Albert, Duke of York, married Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, Queen Alexandra presented the bride with an extraordinary sautoir of pearls, amethysts and diamonds. With the jewel came Alexandra’s affectionate handwritten message: “For my dear future grand daughter Elisabeth from her affte Grand Mother.” The original necklace was very long, in the fashionable sautoir style. Rows of small pearls were punctuated by amethysts, while the centre was dominated by a large heart shaped amethyst surrounded by diamonds. Other amethyst clusters and drops added colour and movement to the long necklace. The Birmingham Daily Gazette returned to this very jewel in 1933, recalling that when the Duke of York married, Alexandra had given his bride “a sautoir of pearls studded with circular amethysts”, with a large heart shaped amethyst pendant bordered with diamonds. The newspaper provides another particularly valuable detail. It records that Elizabeth, by then Duchess of York, wore Alexandra’s wedding gift during the period of family and Court mourning following Queen Alexandra’s death in 1925. The necklace was altered considerably in the years that followed. Shortened and redesigned from Alexandra’s long sautoir, it became the three row necklace known today, retaining the amethysts and, most importantly, the unmistakable great heart shaped amethyst. For many decades it virtually disappeared from public view. Then, in 2012, Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, unexpectedly wore the historic necklace to the London premiere of Skyfall. It was the first time in generations that the jewel had attracted such public attention. And now, fourteen years later, it has appeared once again. On 22 September 2026, Catherine, Princess of Wales, wore Queen Alexandra’s amethyst wedding gift for the Royal Film Performance in London. More than a century has passed since the elderly Queen Alexandra chose one of her own favourite gemstones as a wedding present for the young Elizabeth Bowes Lyon. The long Edwardian sautoir has changed its form, and three generations of royal women have passed since it was presented in 1923. But at its centre remains the same great heart shaped amethyst. A very personal wedding gift from Queen Alexandra, and a jewel with a story that has now come full circle.
Queen Alexandra’s Amethysts – A Royal Wedding Gift Returns

When Catherine, Princess of Wales, appeared wearing a magnificent amethyst, pearl and diamond necklace in September 2026, she brought back into the public eye a jewel that had been seen only once in recent decades. But its story begins more than a century earlier, with Queen Alexandra and her particular love of amethysts.

Alexandra’s fondness for the purple gemstone was well known during her lifetime. Already in 1913, the British press remarked that “Queen Alexandra has a great affection for amethysts.”….




Wedding Gifts & Presents| Duchess of York | Jewels of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother


Queen Mother’s Amethyst Sautoir Necklace history:

Queen Alexandra’s Amethysts | Royal Wedding Gift to the late Queen Elisabeth the Queen Mother | Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon

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