Queen Victoria’s Historically Significant Coronet Is Acquired By Victoria And Albert Museum

Queen Victoria's sapphire and diamond coronet, designed by Prince Albert, made by Joseph Kitching, London, 1840- 1842. Photo credit: Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) said Tuesday it has acquired Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond coronet. The historically significant small crown was designed by her husband, Prince Albert, in 1840, the royal couple’s wedding year. The jewel was gifted to the V&A by William Bollinger.

The coronet is scheduled to go on display in 2019, the bicentenary year of the birth of both Victoria and Albert, and will serve as the centerpiece of the museum’s renovated William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery, which tells the story of jewelry in Europe from the ancient world to the present day.

The design of the coronet was based on the Saxon Rautenkranz, or circlet of rue, which is set diagonally across the shield in Prince Albert’s coat of arms, museum officials said. It was made by Joseph Kitching, a partner at Kitching and Abud, who were appointed “Jewellers to the Queen” in 1837. In 1842, the coronet was featured in the first and most renowned portrait of the Queen painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. 

“The painting depicts Victoria as a figure of youth and beauty, regal, but free of the crown and scepter, the traditional emblems of monarchy,” the museum said. 

The image was shared throughout Europe and the British Empire in a series of replicas, copies and engravings.

The coronet also represents a symbol of enduring love. In 1866, on the first occasion when Victoria felt able to attend the state opening of Parliament following Albert’s death in 1861, she chose to wear the coronet instead of her crown, which was carried on a cushion.

“Representing both the passion of the young royal couple, and a powerful symbol of the widowed queen, it will be of deep fascination to visitors and scholars alike,” said Tristram Hunt, V&A director. “It will instantly become part of the identity of the museum itself.”

The day before their wedding on Feb. 10, 1840, Albert gifted Victoria a sapphire brooch. The couple then arranged Victoria’s collection of sapphires into a suite of jewels, of which the coronet became the centerpiece, according to the museum. The coronet was inherited by King Edward VII and then by King George V and Queen Mary, who gifted it to their daughter, Princess Mary, on her marriage to Viscount Lascelles in 1922. 

It was then sold into private hands, and in 2015 became the subject of an application to export it from the UK. This was later withdrawn. 

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Royal China for the Royal Baby Available for Purchase

The official trust of the royal family has released a set of china commemorating the new son of Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

Royal Collection Trust presented the official range of china Wednesday and has made it available for preorder. The items are decorated with scrolls incorporating the name and birth date of their son (who has reportedly been given the title of Prince of Cambridge), with the lion and unicorn from the Royal Arms supporting the coronet of the duke and duchess of Cambridge, surrounded by oak leaves from the Middleton coat of arms.

The four-piece set was be made in Stoke-on-Trent, a pottery center in Staffordshire, England, by the same potteries that produced the official china celebrating the marriage of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011, and marking The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 and the 60th anniversary of the Coronation this year. Using methods and techniques that have remained unchanged for 250 years, every item is hand-made from fine bone china and gilded in 22K gold before being gift-wrapped in tissue paper and boxes designed for the occasion.

The items include a pillbox for 30 British pounds ($46), a small loving cup for 39 pounds ($60), a dessert plate for 45 pounds ($70) and a limited-edition loving cup for 195 pounds ($300), of which 2,013 will be produced. Three of the items are pictured above.

All profits from the sale of the china are dedicated to The Royal Collection Trust, a registered charity. The Royal Collection is one of the largest and most important art collections in the world, and one of the last great European royal collections to remain intact. It is held in trust by The Queen as Sovereign for her successors and the nation. It is not owned by her as a private individual. The aim of The Trust are the care and conservation of the Royal Collection, which receives no public funding, and the promotion of access and enjoyment through exhibitions, publications, loans and educational programs.

“The range is contemporary in style, while maintaining the traditional formality of royal commemorative china,” said Nuala McGourty, Royal Collection Trust’s retail director. “The design also makes reference to the heritage of both parents.

The china can be preordered online by following this link.  

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