Happy Birthday to Princess Dorothea of Hesse, Princess of Windish-Grätz, who turns 90 today! The daughter of Prince Christoph of Hesse and Princess Sophie of Greece and Hanover who married Prince Friedrich Karl of Windisch-Grätz and is a first cousin of King Charles III, Princess Dorothea possessed some spectacular jewels, including the magnificent Hesse Aquamarine Tiara and Parure!
The elegant Aquamarine and Diamond Parure is composed of an unsigned Tiara, in the garland style set throughout with rose- and cushion-shaped diamonds and decorated with five pear-shaped aquamarines, along with the necklace, signed by Fabergé, designed as a line of step-cut aquamarines in rose diamond borders connected by cushion-shaped and rose diamond ribbon bow motifs and a similar bracelet.
Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich gave the different pieces of the Aquamarine and Diamond Parure to Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna around 1900, and while she was not photographed wearing the piece, she seems to worn the Tiara without the Aquamarines for a few portraits.
After Grand Duke Sergei’s assassination in 1905, Grand Duchess Ella sold or distributed her legendary jewellery collection about relatives. While most of the major jewels were given to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlova, the Aquamarine Tiara and Fabergé Parure was given to her brother, Grand Duke Ernest of Hesse and by Rhine, who married Princess Eleonore of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich that year, but she was also not pictured the Aquamarine Parure.
In 1959, the last Prince of Hesse gifted the Hesse Aquamarine Tiara and Parure to his cousin, Princess Dorothea of Hesse, whose grandmother, Princess Alice of Greece, was the niece of Grand Duchess Ella. Princess Dorothea wore the Fabergé Aquamarine Necklace and Bracelet with a Diamond Bandeau the Gala held in Munich on the eve of her Wedding to Prince Friedrich Karl of Windisch-Grätz.
A few years later, Princess Dorothea wore the Hesse Aquamarine Tiara for the spectacular Wedding Ball of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece at the Royal Palace of Athens in 1962.
The following day, Princess Dorothea wore the Fabergé Aquamarine Necklace for the Wedding of Prince Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Sophia of Greece.
The Hesse Aquamarine Tiara and Fabergé Parure remained in Princess Dorothea’s possession until 1996, when it, along with a few other heirloom jewels, was auctioned at Sotheby’s.
A few months later, the Hesse Aquamarine Tiara was worn by model Chandra North on the runway of the Versace Spring/Summer Haute Couture Show at the Ritz Hotel in Paris in January 1997, following which neither the Tiara or Parure have been seen again!
Bijoux Royaux en Folie
