The kingdoms of the world have palaces, works of art, and hotels as patrimony and, as if that were not enough, they receive a percentage of the budget of their countries. But much of their fortunes are due to the jewels that have remained in their families from generation to generation. That’s why in today’s article, we will tell you about the Royal jewels, they are really fascinating.
The royal houses of Europe have extraordinary collections of jewels, and the royal house of Sweden has one especially admirable, since they own the jewels of the Empress Josefina Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleón I. The collection goes from sapphires, diamonds, tiaras, necklaces and is called the Leuchtenberg Treasury. It came to the throne by the granddaughter of Josefina, who married King Oscar I of Sweden in 1823, and took the treasure he had inherited from his grandmother to Stockholm.
However, the British royalty has the world’s most valuable collection of jewelry, which are displayed in the Tower Museum in London. Among the collection is what is currently the most expensive jewel of all, the crown of the British Imperial State, priced at 2.04 billion dollars. This jewel has a ruby the size of an egg, brought from India, it has a diamond extracted from the largest stone that has ever been found in the world, and as if that were not enough, it has two thousand and eight hundred stones among diamonds, sapphires, emeralds and four pearls.
There is also the Mellerio ruby tiara, which belongs to the kingdom of Holland. This piece was made in 1889 by King Willem III who ordered it to be made for his wife Emma, as part of an ensemble that included a necklace, brooch and even a fan with rubies. Although when talking about tiaras we cannot forget the pearl and diamond tiara of the Queen of Spain, made by Cartier in 1920 for Queen Ena, which was designed so that the eight pearls are in the center as a representation of laurels.
Another of the most valuable jewels is the Imperial Crown of Russia, which served to crown the sovereigns of the Russian Empire from Catherine II of Russia, until the coronation of Nicholas II of Russia in 1896. It has 4936 diamonds arranged over the entire surface of the crown. The crown is also decorated with one of the seven historical stones of the Russian collection: the beautiful red spinel that culminates the crown and that has a weight of 398.72 carats.
Undoubtedly, being part of royalty means living in a glitzy world full of luxury. We can see it in some of the royal jewels. It seems unfair to many people that there are still monarchs and that they are so wealthy, however, there is no reason to to detract from the work of the goldsmiths who made these majestic works of art.
ALFA