Tuesday, September 16, 2014

Luxarazzi 101: Princess Ingeborg's Emerald Brooch

Occasionally when we got nothing else to do, Team Luxarazzi browses through old pictures of the Grand Ducal Family and their relatives hoping to spot some jewellery or other interesting bits and things in them. Recently, we were successful once again when we found one of the grand ducal emerald brooches being worn by Princess Ingeborg of Sweden, grandmother of the late Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte.

The daughter of King Frederik VIII of Denmark was married to Prince Carl of Sweden with whom she had four children, among them the future Queen Astrid of the Belgians. Princess Ingeborg is also the original owner of another brooch in the possession of the Grand Ducal Family. As we usually do, we are also going to name today's emerald and diamond brooch after its first (known) owner and thus make it the "Princess Ingeborg's Emerald Brooch" (though maybe we should start digging a little further back into the family's ancestry to see whether there is another prior owner).

Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte, who either directly inherited the piece from her grandmother or via the detour of her mother, Queen Astrid, regularly wore the brooch as such or as a necklace pendant together with the other emerald jewellery she owned like the Emerald Peacock Tiara or her mother-in-law's Emerald Art Deco Tiara. These days, the brooch, which features a large emerald surrounded by diamonds, is (thus far) exclusively worn by Grand Duchess Maria-Teresa both in its original function as well as as a necklace pendant.

3 comments:

  1. Great find! It's a very beautiful piece. I'm surprised that the brooch did not go with Princess Ingeborg's other emeralds to her other daughter Crown Princess Martha of Norway.

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  2. Thanks! Maybe the brooch had a significant meaning in relation to Astrid, possibly a gift to Ingeborg upon her daughter's birth or something along those lines?

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  3. Oh and by the way, these weren't the only emeralds Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte got from her maternal grandmother. The emerald used to create the emerald peacock tiara apparently also come from Princess Ingeborg.

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