Queen Mother’s Cartier Bracelet Bandeau

Post author:Royal Staff
Post published:August 4, 2023
Post category:News

Today marks the Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, who was born on this day in 1900! The Scottish Aristocrat who unexpectedly became the popular wartime Queen and then the beloved Queen Mother for half a century, we have featured many of her jewels over the years and to mark the day today, we are featuring the Queen Mother’s Cartier Bracelet Bandeau!

Consisting of a set of five Art Deco Cartier Diamond Bracelets, of which three are set with baguette rubies, emeralds and sapphires, the Bracelets were individually gifted by the then Duke of York to the Duchess for Birthdays and Christmases between 1923 and 1925.

The Duchess of York wore all five of the bracelets stacked on her arm in early series of portraits taken in the mid-1920s, along with her Lotus Flower Tiara and her Strathmore Rose Tiara.

When she had received all five bracelets in 1925, the Duchess of York also acquired a Bandeau mount from Cartier, which allowed the piece to be worn as a Bandeau assembled as a combination of three of the five bracelets.

The Cartier Bracelet Bandeau began to be worn in the late 1920s and was quite frequently seen in the years before the Duke’s accession, pictured much more than the Turquoise Parure, Lotus Flower Tiara, and Strathmore Rose Tiara which were also in her collection during that period.

The Duchess of York notably wore the Cartier Bracelet Bandeau for a Ballet Performance by the Camargo Ballet Society at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1933, and later that year, it was worn with her Sapphire Brooch for a Red Cross Gala.

By the late 1930s, as fashions changed and the Duchess of York had become Queen, the Bracelet Bandeau was not publicly worn as a Bandeau and even the Bracelets were rarely pictured, though they made a notable pairing with Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara for the King and Queen’s first Official Portraits.

By the 1970s, the Queen Mother had given the Cartier Art Deco Bracelets to her daughter, the Queen, who began wearing them in an assortment of configurations from that period, for Gala Performances and Dinners to State Banquets.

In 1983, the Queen loaned one of the Art Deco Cartier Bracelets to her daughter-in-law, the Princess of Wales, for her first Tour of Australia, when the Bracelet was paired with the Spencer Tiara, her Qatar Pearl Earrings, and Prince of Wales Feathers Pendant for a State Dinner in Hobart.

The late Queen continued to wear the Cartier Art Deco Bracelets in recent years, with notable appearances at her 92nd Birthday Concert in 2018 and for the Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace in 2019, paired with the Vladimir Tiara and Greville Emerald Necklace, which was her last Tiara event of her long reign. The Bracelets have not reappeared since the Queen’s passing last year but lets hope they make an appearance soon!