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THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA BROOCH
Formed as a plaited circle, with pearl centre and 12 brilliants in cut-down collet settings around the edge,
suspending a collet chain and three detachable baroque pearl pendants. It was very similar to sketches of the court jeweller A.E.Köchert,Vienna of this time around the year 1870.
THE BROOCH was given to Prince Francis of Teck (1870–1910), in 1870. Frank’s will states, “The jewel given me by my godfather Francis Joseph Emperor of Austria I leave to Eleanor Constance, Countess of Kilmorey ............ ” Probate of the Prince's will was briefly reported in The Times on Wednesday, 22 February 1911, the newspaper noting that probate of his will and a codicil, both dated 29 January 1902, had been granted to his two brothers in London on 17 Februay 1911, by order of the President of the Probate Division of the High Court, 'without annexing a copy of the will and codicil'. The Prince had left estate with gross value of £23,154 3s 1d and net personalty of £670 16s [The Times, issue 39515, 'Prince Francis of Teck's Estate', 22 February 1911]. No further details of the will's contents were made public, and it remains sealed.
However, draft notes for the will, made by Prince Francis on 1 January 1902 at the offices of Rawle Johnstone & Co, 1 Bedford Row, London WC [Nash (2027) 155]. were found by Michael Nash of the University of East Anglia, amongst the Kilmorey papers at the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland at Belfast.an extract of a section of the notes in which the Prince wrote, 'my emeralds, pearls, etc. in fact all my jewellery that I inherited from my Mother I leave to C.O.X. with a hope that C.O.X. will have the emeralds re-set to suit C.O.X. - and also if C.O.X. so to reset any of the articles as C.O.X. sees fit. I ask C.O.X. to leave all these jewels on C.O.X' death to D.T. or in case D.T. be deceased, to his son G.T. or failing him if so be he be [sic] too deceased to my niece M.T.'.
These persons are identified by Nash: C.O.X. as the Countess of Kilmorey, D.T. as Adolphus ('Dolly') Teck (1868-1927), and G.T. and M.T. as the latter's two children George Teck (1895-1981) and Margaret Teck (1897-1984).
Prince Francis's mother, Princess Mary Adelaide of Teck, who died in 1897, had not in fact left a will taken for probate, so it is not known what he had inherited from her. A copy of the short will of his father, Francis, Duke of Teck, dated 4 August 1882 is attached to the latter's Administration granted in London on 28 February 1900 to his daughter Mary, Duchess of York, and this remains unsealed and open to inspection, but does not assist us.
Francis ('Frank') Joseph Leopold Frederick, Prince of Teck, born at Kensington Palace, London, 9 January 1870, the second son of Francis, Prince and Duke of Teck (died 21 January 1900), by his wife Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (died 27 October 1897), the daughter of Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge the seventh son of King George III. His father had been created Duke of Teck by the King of Wurttemberg in 1863, a title recognized in Austria in 1864.
Prince Francis was an incorrigible gambler. Whilst quartered in Ireland on 27 June 1895 and already owing £1,000, he lost a further £10,000 on a single bet at The Curragh in a race for the Steward's Plate. Believing a horse called Bellevin superior to the race's other three horses, Prince Francis had backed it at 10 to 1, but Bellevin lost to the unconsidered Wingfield's Pride by a length and a half [Sport (Dublin), 29 June 1895, page 6; South Wales Echo, 28 June 1895, page 3; Kenneth Rose, King George V (1983) 37-38].
Although bailed out by his sister -Queen Mary and brother-in-law The King and exiled to India in disgrace the Prince was ' cheerfully unrepentant'. Indeed Pope-Hennessy thought him 'one of those who find the burden of gratitude too heavy to bear' [James Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary (1959) 323]. His mother blamed his friends in Ireland for his 'racing, betting and horse propensities' but he had been indulged and taught to bet by her and spoiled by a wealthy godmother who paid his college fees. He was described by Kenneth Rose as an engaging idler and a spendthrift but, like his mother, he 'knew no boundaries' [Jane Ridley, George V (2021) page 126]
The Countess’s Eleanor Constance, Countess of Kilmorey will are noted : 'I give the jewel (consisting of a diamond and pearl centre corsage ornament with three pear shaped pearl drops) which I received from the late Prince Francis of Teck and referred to in his will as given him by his God father Francis Joseph Emperor of Austria to Her Royal Highness the Princess Victoria of Great Britain and Ireland daughter of His late Majesty King Edward the Seventh if she survives me but if not then the same is to go with the jewels ....
The Schedule above referred to :
pair of solitaire diamond earrings
single stone diamond ruby entourage ring
18 row Pearl dog collar with five enamel and diamond bars
2 rows of 239 pearls on one diamond and pearl snap
1 single row or 105 pearls on 3 brilliant snap
pair of grey pear and diamond entourage earrings
one diamond crown pin containing hair of George IV and Queen
one diamond half hoop bracelet
six white pearl and one plack pearl diamond double heart and coronet brooch
pearl and diamond coronet and K pendant sapphire and 2 brilliant ring in gold
brilliant and 2 ruby ring in gold
rigid gold watch bracelet set with diamonds engraved with inscription from Queen Victoria
'Bonheur' pencil bracelet
"1825" in diamonds sapphires rubies and emeralds
fine regular emerald and diamond half hoop bracelet in gold (center forming brooch)
peridot and diamond pendant blue enamel and diamond 'K' and coronet brooch with diamond loop
two turquoise and double diamond entourage pendant
pair of turquoise and diamond earrings
pair of coral rose earrings given me by the late Prince Leopold
black enamel and gold watch with Viscounts coronet
and N. 'Eye' riviere set in gold.
Ellen Constance Kilmorey Signed by the testatrix Ellen Constance Countess of Kilmorey in our presence and by us in hers - Alice Julia Gray Newcastle Co Down Spinster - Hunter Moore Newry Solr."
This Schedule was signed in 1915. I presume that the 'large pearl and diamond bar corsage ornament' is the one received from Prince Francis in 1910 and passed to Princess Victoria as a result of this Will in 1936.
The Countess died in 1920 and the brooch presumably went to Princess Victoria, not pictured with this pearl brooch. The brooch was later either given to or left to Queen Mary by Princess Victoria (who died in 1935)
Probably it was bought from Princess Victoria by Queen Mary and was bequeathed to The Queen by her grandmother in 1953.
Sources:Roberts - Queen's Diamonds;A.E.Koechert Archive;Lady's Own Paper;Archive Ursula Butschal;Antony Camp;
