Today marks the 80th Anniversary of the Death of Princess Beatrice, who passed away on this day in 1944! The youngest daughter and lifelong companion of Queen Victoria, Princess Beatrice inherited some magnificent Royal Heirlooms, including Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara!
Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara | Sunray Fringe Tiara | Diamond Star Tiara | Diamond Pampilles | Empress Eugenie’s Andean Emerald Cross
Originally made by Joseph Kitching in 1844, the piece was altered by Garrard’s in 1848, and again in 1860, when ‘Strawberry leaves, scrolls and Rubies‘ were added to the original ruby and diamond bandeau designed by Prince Albert. Princess Beatrice added an additional row of diamond elements at the base, and the tiara was last altered in 1933 by Cartier, when the Marchioness of Carisbrooke had the rubies removed.
In July 1849, Queen Victoria wrote in her journal;
Much pleased with a beautiful necklace, earrings & a brooch of rubies & diamonds, which dearest Albert had arranged for me, out of stones of own, with the addition of new ones I purchased with money inherited from Aunt Augusta and Aunt Sophia. The parure is really beautiful, & Albert has such wonderful taste…”
Queen Victoria was depicted in the initial bandeau in a 1855 Winterhalter portrait.
Queen Victoria liked the Tiara so much, that the ruby parure was one of the few coloured stones she wore during her mourning, most notably at the Wedding of her daughter, Princess Louise, and the Marquess of Lorne in 1871.
Upon her death in 1901, Queen Victoria left the tiara and parure to her youngest daughter, Princess Beatrice. She added additional elements at the base and wore the Tiara in a portrait by Spanish artist Joaquin Sorolla y Bastidaa as well as for the Christenings of some of her grandchildren.
However, Princess Beatrice preferred wearing the Sunray Fringe Tiara also inherited from Queen Victoria for the most important events, like the Coronation of her brother, King Edward VII, in 1902 and the Coronation of her nephew, King George V, in 1911.
In the late 1920s, Princess Beatrice loaned Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara to her daughter, by then Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, who wore the tiara and parure for a series of portraits by Christian Franzen y Nisser and a Dinner at the Spanish Embassy in London in 1930.
At some point in the 1930s, Princess Beatrice passed the tiara to her son and daughter-in-law, the Marquess and Marchioness of Carisbrooke, who had the piece altered by Cartier in 1933, when the rubies removed by Cartier.
The next year, the Tiara was notably worn by the Marchioness for her portrait by Phillip de Lazlo, who recorded:
On 7 July 1934 the artist recorded in his diary: “Began Carisbrook[e] pic…I had a splendid start & more – & better than I thought & glad to have began a new portrait – so much better then [sic] the first – beginning – she can look most charming – the Queen Victoria tiara suits her admirably.”[6] The tiara belonged to the sitter’s mother-in-law Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria, from whom she had inherited it. Its strawberry leaf design had originally been set with rubies before the sitter took it to Cartier in 1933 to have them replaced with diamonds. Further sittings took place 9, 10, 24 and 26 July; the artist noted in his diary that 26 July was: “the last sitting with Lady Carisbrooke & need one or two more in the autumn.”
The Marchioness of Carisbrooke notably wore Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara with Queen Victoria Eugenie’s Diamond Rivière for the Coronation of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Westminster Abbey in 1937.
The following year, Lady Carisbrooke wore the Strawberry Leaf Tiara at the 1938 State Opening of Parliament.
The Marchioness of Carisbrooke also wore Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara for a Gala Performance at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden during a 1939 State Visit from France.
After the late 1930s, the tiara disappeared from public view, and its current whereabouts are unknown, but it was likely sold or broken up between 1939 and 1953, since Lady Carisbrooke borrowed Queen Victoria Eugenie’s Cartier Emerald Tiara for the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.
In 2009, a diamond brooch/pendant thought to have been a lozenge piece from the tiara was sold at Bonhams, and in May 2016, a ruby and diamond brooch belonging to the parure was sold at Christie’s.
Queen Victoria’s Strawberry Leaf Tiara | Sunray Fringe Tiara | Diamond Star Tiara | Diamond Pampilles | Empress Eugenie’s Andean Emerald Cross
