Today marks the 205th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Victoria, who was born on this day in 1819! The ‘Grandmother of Europe’ who mourned her husband for over 40 years, and whose Reign saw immense change and expansion of the British Empire, becoming second-longest reigning British Monarch and the British Empress of India, Queen Victoria possessed some magnificent jewels, which included her spectacular Golden Jubilee Necklace!
To celebrate Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, a committee of ladies raised money for a commemorative statue of her late husband Prince Albert, and the fundraising was so successful that they ended up raising far more than was required and decided that the funds should go to the St. Katherine’s Fund for Nurses, while others wanted to purchase a necklace for the Queen, both plans were approved by the Queen, but there was opposition, and the idea of a smaller jewelled badge was shot by the Queen saying she would “at once exchange it for another jewel.”
Eventually, Queen Victoria received this Diamond and Pearl Necklace from Carrington & Co, for £5000 in 1888, composed of:
eight graduated brilliant-set trefoil links, 12 smaller links and a snap, each centred by a graduated pearl, the crowned quatrefoil centre with pearl drop; the centre and six flanking links detachable for use as brooches or pins … the necklace reduced by two small links at a later date.”
At Osborne House, on 30th July 1888, the Duchess of Buccleuch presented the set to Queen Victoria in a red leather presentation box. Inscribed on the box was a message that reads:
To Victoria Queen & Empress A Token of Love & Loyalty from the Daughters of Her Empire in remembrance of Her Jubilee June 21st 1887”
Queen Victoria wore her Diamond and Pearl Necklace for a series of portraits soon afterwards and reportedly ‘became very attached to the necklace’, which she left to the Crown upon her death in 1901.
While Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace was not worn over the next few decades, recently unearthed pictures of Queen Mary show her wearing the central element of the Golden Jubilee Necklace as a Brooch and the smaller elements on her hat.
Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace was seen again on the late Queen Elizabeth II at the State Opening of Parliament in 1952, paired with George IV State Diadem and Queen Victoria’s Pearl Earrings.
Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace became a favourite of the Queen in the 1950s, being often worn with Vladimir Tiara as well as the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara and Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara.
In the mid-1960s, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace was replicated, without the Crown element, for the Queen’s cousin, Princess Alexandra of Kent, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy, whose Necklace can also be worn with turquoises.
Over the following decades, the Queen frequently wore Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace with the Duchess of Gloucester’s Pendant Earrings and the Vladimir Tiara on countless occasions, becoming one of her most iconic pieces of jewellery.
However, Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee Necklace made only a few rare appearances on the Queen in the last decade of her life, being worn with the Vladimir Tiara, but more frequently with the George IV State Diadem, like for the State Opening of Parliament in 2016, which was the last time the Necklace was publicly worn, but lets hope it will be worn again soon!
