Eine weitere Prinzessin aus dem Hause Orléans gehörte zur gleichen Zeit wie die Herzogin von Vendôme zu den Kundinnen des Juwelierhauses Mellerio.
Am 20. August 1921 heiratete Prinz Ferdinand d’Orléans, Herzog von Montpensier (1884–1924), Bruder des Herzogs von Orléans und französischen Thronprätendenten, auf Schloss Randan Marie-Isabelle González de Olañeta, Marquise de Valdeterrazo (1897–1958), siehe oben.
Der Herzog von Montpensier hatte von seiner Mutter, der ersten Gräfin von Paris, ein Diamantdiadem mit griechischen Motiven geerbt, das während der Weltausstellung in London bei Mellerio dits Meller erworben worden.
Ende desselben Jahres, 1921, ließ seine Gemahlin, deren Familie bereits seit mehreren Jahrzehnten zu den Kunden von Mellerio dits Meller gehörte, ein neues Schmuckstück, ein moderneres Diadem im Netzdesign („résille“) arbeiten.
On 20 August 1921, Prince Ferdinand d’Orléans, Duke of Montpensier (1884–1924), youngest son of the Count and Countess of Paris, married the Spanish aristocrat María Isabel González de Olañeta, Marchioness of Valdeterrazo, at the Château de Randan in France.
The Duke had inherited an important diamond tiara featuring classical Greek meander motifs from his mother, Marie Isabelle d’Orléans, Countess of Paris (1848–1919). Created by Mellerio dits Meller for the London International Exhibition of 1862, the historic jewel had been presented to the Countess of Paris as a wedding gift in 1864.
In late 1921, the new Duchess of Montpensier commissioned a separate, more fashionable diamond tiara from Mellerio dits Meller, designed in the modern openwork lattice or résille style.
The 1921 diamond lattice tiara should not be confused with the earlier Greek meander tiara inherited by her husband. The latter remained a separate jewel and is documented in the Sotheby’s Royal & Noble Jewels auction catalogue of November 2026, with its distinctive nineteenth-century Greek-key design preserved.
The two Mellerio creations illustrate changing tastes in aristocratic jewellery, from the classical revival of the Second Empire to the refined geometric openwork designs fashionable in the early 1920s.
Two surviving preparatory drawings by Mellerio dits Meller reveal the creative process behind the magnificent diamond résille tiara commissioned for María Isabel González de Olañeta, Duchess of Montpensier, in 1921.
The first design featured an elegant, airy diamond lattice crowned by a prominent rectangular emerald. A second proposal presented a different arrangement of diamonds, with a large central diamond instead.
The upper design was ultimately selected, but with one significant modification: the emerald was replaced by a diamond.
These fascinating designs offer a rare glimpse into the creation of an aristocratic jewel and the choices that shaped its final appearance.
The Duchess of Montpensier wore also the large Diamond and Pearl Stomacher, from her mother-in-law the Countess of Paris, see above two of the large parar shaped pearls are worn, of her, as earpendant.
Sources: Mellerio Archives; Royal Magazin Research Archive, Ursula Butschal; Sotheby’s, Royal & Noble Jewels, Geneva, 11 November 2026
My grandmother, the Duchess of Guise, had a younger brother, Ferdinand of Orleans, Duke of Montpensier, who was charming but somewhat wayward: taking drugs, among other things. His sisters, one of whom was my grandmother, decided to marry him off. They found the rare pearl they were looking for in a wealthy girl of the minor Spanish aristocracy, Isabella de Valdeterrazo, Aunt Bellina to us.
The marriage took place, and the first thing that Bellina did was to send away her new sisters-in-law and to isolate her husband.
In his will he had left a treasure trove of jewels and objets d’art to the head of the Maison de France. However, Aunt Bellina confiscated his drugs until he made a new will in which she would be the beneficiary. Then, strangely enough, he took an unusually large dose of drugs and died. Aunt Bellina inherited everything. Her sisters-in-law would never see her again.
She had, among other things, inherited the magnificent castle of Randan in the Auvergne, property which had for centuries belonged to the House of Orleans. One day, mysteriously, the castle caught fire. Bellina insisted that the insurance company reimburse her. The insurance refused on account of their finding petrol cans not far from the castle and the curious disappearance of all the precious objects from the building before the fire.
Bellina turned up everywhere, chiefly in Spain, as the Duchess, widow of Montpensier. She was always followed by her faithful and discreet secretary, Jose Maria de Huarte.
On a certain Friday evening in the year 1958, Bellina suffered a heart attack. Curiously, the secretary could not find a doctor until the following Monday. In the meantime, Bellina had died. Her will was opened. She had bequeathed everything to her secretary. Legal fees of 80% were demanded by the Spanish tax authorities. “No,” replied the secretary, “I am the groom.” Indeed Bellina had married him in secret. This was galling for the Spanish duchesses who for decades had had to bow to what they believed to be the widow of the Duke of Montpensier who, as it turned out, was no more than the wife of a secretary.
I was in Morocco in my grandmother’s office when a telegram was brought to her. She opened it, thought, and said, “Well, it was her heart that killed Bellina. I did not know she had one.”
Quelle:Mellerio Archive,Archive Ursula Butschal;
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Emerald and Diamond Parure |Royal France |Jewels Queen Marie Amelie |Joyaux de la Reine Marie-Amélie
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