Hereditary Grand Duchess Cecilie of Hesse and by Rhine, Princess Cecilie of Greece and Denmark
Cecilie was the third child and daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Through her mother, she was a great-great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
On 2 February 1931 at Darmstadt, Cécile married Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Above we see her wearing the altered emerald and diamond jewels in medieval style from 1905, from the workshop of Courtjeweller Koch/Kreuter Hanau. The drawing of the emerald tiara or impressive coronet is still in the archive.
The circlet goes as an even band round the head and is equally splendidly decorated from all sides. The circlet sits on top of the head like a crown and is one of the most expensive types of tiaras as they are generally richly surfaced with gemstones. Princess Cecile's is of cabochon-cut stones set in clusters of rose diamonds and arranged in a pseudo-medieval style. The large oval cabochon elements could be detached and could be probably worn separately, which makes this tiara also suitable for less grand occasions.
Hereditary Grand Duchess Cecilie of Hesse and by Rhine wore the emerald parure at the coronation of George VI of Great Britain and Ireland in London May 1937, with the emerald choker, the emerald stomacher, the emerald necklace, and the emerald earrings with pendant.
On 16 November 1937, Georg Donatus, Cecilie, their two young sons and Georg's mother Grand Duchess Eleonore left Darmstadt for London, where they planned to attend the wedding of Prinz Ludwig von Hessen und bei Rhein and Hon. Margaret 'Peg' Campbell Geddes. The aircraft in which they were travelling crashed in flames after hitting a factory chimney near Ostend, Belgium, killing all on board. Cecilie was eight months pregnant with her fourth child at the time of the crash, and the remains of the baby were found in the wreckage.
The Gothic tiaras were designed in the context of a particular German fashion, which had its foundation in the changing political circumstances of the ninetenth century. After the Franco Prussian War of 1871 and the unification of the German state a new national feeling was together with the desire for a new national style. This chose themes of the German and medieval tales and fairy stories. Medieval was used to cover everything which was created from the twelfth to the sixteenth century in Germany, embracing the Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance style. These styles were rarely used in stylistic purity but freely mixed with other styles. The ornamentation was clearly designed to imply a "Mittelalter" - "medieval or Gothic feeling of a coronet", yet there are little similarities to orginal medieval jewellery pieces.
The way the gemstones were cut was also meant to represent "medievalism". Though the cabochon-cut did exist in Gothic jewellery, the lapidaries of the Middle-Ages were not able to cut the facetted gemstones that surmount the circlet. Additionally claw setting was an invention of the nineteenth century, to let light through to the gemstones.
The daughter of Queen Victoria, Princess Royal, the Crown Princess of Prussia was very fond of that style and she loved to paint her children in such costumes. It's said the most expensive item which the jeweller Koch/ Kreuter had made was for her in medieval style a necklace with pendant jewel.
The Collier de chien was produced in 1905 and had the number 24756 in the Kreuter Archive. An 11 row bracelet with chains is known to match the emerald parure.
Sources: Archiv Philippsruhe;Archiv Ursula Butschal;Archiv Kreuter;Wikipedia
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