The Royalty Nerd

The other day, I dropped my wedding ring while putting it back into my jewelry box and I nearly had a heart attack. Now, my wedding ring is irreplaceable to me but let’s be real, it’s a drop in the diamond bucket compared to these jewels. Here are some royal jewel mishaps, because not even royal jewelry is immune to bumps and breaks!

A Lost Pearl:

In 2021, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and her son and heir, Crown Prince Frederik paid a visit to Germany. During the visit, there was a banquet in honour of the occasion, and the Queen brought along some jewels with a long history relating to the region.

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She wore the pearl poiré tiara and brooch, which was created in 1825, commissioned by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.

Let’s count those pearl drops shall we? One, two, three, four, five.

A short while later, inside the banquet, we got another look at the Queen.

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Let’s count those pearl drops again. One, two, three, four.

The central drop fell off at some point between photos outside, and photos inside. And what’s more, is Margrethe didn’t actually notice! She was only told of the mishap after the fact, when a member of her team spotted the missing pearl and quickly rescued it. Thankfully, there was no harm done to the piece, and the pearl and brooch were reunited back in Denmark.

Wedding Tiara Woes:

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For her wedding, the then Princess Elizabeth wore a fringe tiara that first belonged to her beloved grandmother Queen Mary.

But there was a slight mishap on Elizabeth’s wedding day. She didn’t realize that the tiara also functioned as a necklace, and accidentally brushed against the clasp keeping it together. The tiara opened up while she was getting ready for the big day.

Now, as a princess with multiple tiaras on hand, this might not seem like a big deal, and indeed, the Queen Mother apparently said that there were other tiaras she could wear. Thankfully though, Garrard jewellers (who created the piece in the first place) were available to quickly repair the piece in time. Crisis averted!

Puppy Food:

Called the world’s most famous pearl, La Peregrina almost became puppy chow in 1969.

La Peregrina has a long, long history while in the possession of several royals, including multiple Spanish monarchs. It was also owned by Elizabeth Taylor, royalty in her own way. It was purchased for her (for only $37,000!!) by Richard Burton and while in a suite at Caesar’s Palace, she noticed that the pearl was missing. Careful not to alert Richard, Elizabeth searched for it to no avail.

Then she spotted her puppy, chewing on something. The pearl.

500 and then some years of royal history being gnawed on by a puppy. Thankfully, the piece was okay. Cartier designed the necklace that displays La Peregrina and Elizabeth was happy to lend the piece to various pearl exhibitions over the years. The necklace and pearl was sold in 2011 for over 11 million dollars at Christie’s.

A Lost Pearl, Part Two:

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The New Year’s Military Parade is an annual event in Spain. In 2022, Queen Letizia wore Queen Ena’s grey pearl brooch for the event. The brooch is part of the Joyas de Pasar, which is a collection of jewels that Queen Ena put together with the intention of being passed from Spanish monarch to Spanish monarch. As Queen of Spain, Letizia wears pieces from the collection on a fairly regularly basis.

Now, January in Spain is definitely not the same as January in Canada, but temperatures are still low. So that year, Letizia wore a jacket over her dress.

However, it’s the jacket that caused some issues here. As they stood on the raised platform, her jacket knocked loose the heirloom jewel.

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King Felipe VI came to the rescue though, quickly scooping up the brooch and returning it to Letizia.

Royal (Ring) Pains:

During the coronation of a new British monarch, several important jewels are presented and used during the ceremony. For a long time, each monarch received a new coronation ring. It was created specifically for the occasion and was the personal property of the monarch.

In 1838, a new ring was created for the coronation of Queen Victoria. Now this blunder comes from the jeweller: Rundell Bridge & Rundell misunderstood the instructions for the creation of the ring, and sized it for Victoria’s pinky finger, rather than her ring finger. That small mistake ended up causing her quite a lot of pain, as the ring was forced on to her ring finger anyway during the ceremony. She had to ice her finger afterwards just to get the ring off.

She left her ring to the Crown, and it now resides in the Tower of London!

Champagne Problems:

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Pictured above in a beautiful shamrock tiara is the 4th Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, Maureen. She came from an already wealthy and illustrious family you might recognize: the Guinness family. She and her sisters were known as the Guinness Golden Girls.

During Maureen’s daughter’s coming out party (essentially, a big party for young aristocratic folks ‘coming out’ to join high society), Maureen indulged perhaps a bit too much on the bubbly and slipped and fell on the dance floor. Maureen’s pride was bruised, and the tiara took a tumble as well. According to her granddaughter, Maureen quit drinking then and there.

Don’t worry though, the tiara wasn’t too badly damaged and it was worn afterwards.