Today marks the Anniversary of the Death of Queen Mary, who passed away on this day in 1953! The Teck Princess who lived through the reigns of six monarchs and was the Queen Consort for twenty-five years, as well as a Queen Mother to two Kings and the Queen Grandmother to Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Mary assembled much of the British Royal Family’s massive Jewellery Collection, so we are featuring Queen Mary’s Diamond Sautoir today!

Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara | Vladimir Tiara | Delhi Durbar Tiara | Cambridge Emerald Parure | Lover’s Knot Tiara | Fringe Tiara | Gloucester Honeysuckle Tiara | Teck Turquoise Tiara | Cambridge Sapphire Parure | Iveagh Tiara | Amethyst Tiara | Ladies of England Tiara | Surrey Fringe Tiara | Queen Mary’s Diamond Sautoir | The Jewels of Queen Mary

When Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, the third son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, in 1874, she received a spectacular Diamond Rivière composed of 38 diamond collets, with the 14 largest bought abroad, which was ordered by Empress Maria Alexandrovna.

The Grand Duchess Vladimir was the leading St Petersburg Society Hostess for over four decades and wore her Diamond Rivière in numerous configurations, including on her kokoshnik for a legendary Ball held at the Vladimir Palace in 1883.   

When she fled St. Petersburg following the February Revolution in 1917, the Jewels of the Grand Duchess Vladimir remained in a hidden safe in her bedroom at the Vladimir Palace, until her son, Grand Duke Boris, and a friend, Bertie Stopford, snuck into the Vladimir Palace disguised as workmen, smuggling the Jewels out in a pair of Gladstone Bags, which were then smuggled out of Russia, deposited in a safety deposit box in London. The Grand Duchess Vladimir was the last Romanov to escape Russia, and passed away just a few months later, in September 1920.

Grand Duchess Vladimir left her jewels to her children in groups of stones, with Grand Duke Kyril receiving the Sapphires, Grand Duke Boris the Emeralds, Grand Duke Andrei the Rubies, while Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, the only daughter, inherited her mother’s diamonds and pearls, including the Vladimir Tiara. However, Princess Nicholas was then in exile and soon sold the Vladimir Tiara as well as the Diamond Rivière to Queen Mary.

Queen Mary seems to have first worn the Vladimir Diamond Rivière as a Bandeau for the Royal Variety Performance at the London Coliseum in 1923.

In 1928, Queen Mary had the Vladimir Diamond Rivière reset into a Diamond Sautoir by A.Sintzenich, which could be divided into two smaller Necklaces of varying lengths, one with nineteen large diamonds, and the other with ten, while the remaining sections of the sautoir form two bracelets of four large diamonds.

Throughout the 1930s, Queen Mary was often pictured wearing the magnificent Diamond Sautoir at numerous Gala Events, like when it was worn with the Lover’s Knot Tiara for a Concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1934.

Queen Mary also wore the splendid Diamond Sautoir for several Official Portraits, paired with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara, the Delhi Durbar Tiara, and the Gloucester Honeysuckle Tiara.