Today marks the 95th Anniversary of the Birth of the late Princess Margherita of Savoy-Aosta, the Archduchess of Austria-Este, who was born on this day in 1930! The Italian Princess who married the second son of the last Emperor of Austria-Hungary, today we are featuring on of her most spectacular jewels; the Duchess of Aosta’s Emerald Necklace!
Composed of five square emeralds and five cabochon emeralds in an ornate diamond frame, the exact origin of the necklace is unknown but was likely a gift when Princess Hélène d’Orléans married Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, the 2nd Duke of Aosta, in 1895.
Princess Hélène, Duchess of Aosta wore the spectacular Emerald Necklace for several portraits in the years after her marriage, paired with her magnificent Savoy-Aosta Knot and Star Tiara.
The cabochon emeralds from the Necklace could also be fixed to the top of the base of the Knot and Star Tiara, which was worn for a portrait along with her historic Orléans Emerald Necklace.
While the Orléans Emerald Necklace was sold off in the 1930s, this Emerald Necklace was passed on to the Duchess of Aosta’s niece and daughter-in-law, Princess Anne, Duchess of Aosta, who wore it with the Savoy-Aosta Tiara for a Gala in the 1950s.
More notably, the Duchess of Aosta’s Emerald Necklace was worn by her daughter, Princess Margherita of Savoy, at the magnificent Ball held in France on the eve of her Wedding to Archduke Robert of Austria in 1953. It was Princess Margherita who eventually inherited the Necklace from her mother.
More recently, the Duchess of Aosta’s Emerald Necklace has been worn by Princess Margherita’s daughter-in-law, Princess Astrid of Belgium, who paired it with the Savoy-Aosta Tiara for King Harald’s 70th Birthday Banquet at the Royal Palace of Oslo in 2007.
Princess Astrid also wore the Duchess of Aosta’s Emerald Necklace for the Wedding Gala of Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden in Stockholm in 2010. There is no doubt we will get to see this magnificent heirloom for years to come!
