The Princess of Wales in Rubies, Cartier Treasures in Melbourne (and More!)
Rubies are gleaming on Kate at Wimbledon, Cartier jewels are sparkling in Australia, and I'm packing my bags for an upcoming trip
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Royal rubies for the Princess of Wales at Wimbledon
The tennis is in full swing at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, and on Saturday, the club’s patron, the Princess of Wales, was red-hot in rubies for day thirteen of this year’s tournament.
Princess Catherine arrived in the Royal Box at Wimbledon on Saturday to watch the ladies’ singles final. Czech players Linda Nosková and Karolína Muchová competed for the title, with Nosková winning the day and receiving the Venus Rosewater Dish from the Princess after her victory.
Kate wore a berry red Roland Mouret dress for the occasion and accessorized with ruby and diamond pieces from her jewelry box. Her earrings feature rubies set in diamond clusters, suspended from a trio of diamond brilliants, while the necklace features a large ruby and diamond cluster strung on a thin silver-toned chain.
Both the necklace and the earrings have been in Catherine’s jewelry collection for some time. She made her first high-profile appearance in the pendant in Warsaw back in 2017. She’s also worn the earrings for a series of important recent events, including the 80th anniversary of VE Day and an Armistice Day service.
Indeed, Kate has worn numerous pieces of jewelry set with bright red rubies over the past fifteen years, including a suite of modern jewels presented to her as a wedding gift in 2011.
ICYMI @ TCJ
I’ve officially declared it Ruby Tiara Celebration Week! We kicked things off with a recent ruby tiara moment from the Princess of Orange.
Could this heirloom royal ruby tiara, with its complicated family history, one day be given outright to Princess Madeleine of Sweden?
For her first state visit to Stockholm as Queen of Denmark, Mary appropriately brought along the tiara and ruby jewels that once belonged to Désirée Clary.
Cartier’s treasures step into the spotlight Down Under
Jewelry lovers in Australia have been suitably dazzled for the past few weeks by the big Cartier exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne. The show, which echoes the exhibition held last year at the Victoria & Albert Museum, is open from now until October 4.
Those who saw Cartier at the V&A will indeed find many familiar pieces included, but the exhibition has also been tailored for its local audience. One of the greatest Australian collectors of Cartier jewelry, Dame Nellie Melba, is appropriately placed in the spotlight. (The diamond stomacher above from her collection, which failed to sell at Christie’s three years ago, is included.) There’s also a fun section dedicated to kangaroo objets d’art created by Cartier and Fabergé. Much of this particular exhibition is thematically organized, with a focus on cultural influences and on color.
If you love royal jewelry, there’s plenty of that on display as well, including pieces that belonged to Queen Mary, Princess Margaret, Lady Mountbatten, and the Duchess of Windsor. Tiaras from the collections of Princess Marie Bonaparte, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, and Queen Azizah of Pahang are also on display, among numerous others.
Tickets for the special exhibition can be purchased online through the NGV website.
From the Hidden Gems Archive
A bountiful bejeweled sale at Bonhams in London
An impressive Fine Jewelry sale was held at Bonhams on New Bond Street in London last week, with a treasure trove of jewelry pieces snapped up by bidders.
Highlights included a collection of jewels from Andrew Grima, whose pieces have been treasured over the years by Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Margaret, and Princess Anne. This gold and diamond brooch, made by Grima in 1966, brought £5,760.
Other spotlight pieces include the highest selling lot of the day, a cultured pearl and diamond necklace by David Morris; a long-lost twin of the Princess of Wales’s engagement ring; an emerald, sapphire, and diamond toi et moi ring that I’d love to have in my own jewelry box; and a whole lot of opals, including an antique pendant that seems right up Taylor Swift’s alley.
You can peruse the entire lot list on the Bonhams website.
Five more things I loved this week
🧳 I’m packing up for a little trip later this week—more on that soon—and I’m excited to finally try this set of travel toiletry containers that Cadence kindly sent me in May. I’m hoping they’re as leak-proof as promised. (I’ll report back.)
🫧 One of those capsules will absolutely be filled with the new cleanser I recently bought, which has helped with my summertime skin congestion enormously.
🪡 I’m still trying to decide which needlepoint canvas to bring to stitch on the plane. I’m thinking perhaps this Ina Garten canvas? (On my new Featherlight Frame, obviously, for the sake of space-saving.)
🚆 I’ve been watching lots of YouTube while prepping content to schedule while I’m gone, and this new review of the fabulous Seven Stars in Kyushu train was fantastic.
💄 Another YouTube favorite (and fellow southern Illinoisan), Emily Noel, inspired me to dig into my makeup stash and rediscover some products, like this blush and this shadow stick.
And next up here at Hidden Gems…
When I left you on Saturday, Queen Elizabeth II had just begun her walk down the aisle of Westminster Abbey for her coronation. This weekend, paid subscribers will join me for the rest of the remarkable day. See you there!
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Catherine’s Roland Mouret dress is one of her best recent choices. Lovely color for her in a silhouette she enjoys but with enough going on to be interesting. And real jewelry! I appreciate that she brings out jewelry pieces that many of us can afford (along with higher end items) but it’s always nice to see some traditional, high quality jewels brought out for day wear.
Love that red dress! The earrings seem very versatile.