Queen Emma's Diamond Parure
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Queen Emma's Diamond Parure |
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| In 1879 Dutch Jeweller Van Kempen was commissioned by King Willem III to create a new parure for his new wife, Queen Emma, born princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Using Princess Wilhelmina's famous Rundell tiara and the House Diamonds of the Orange-Nassaus, Van Kempen created a circular tiara with a laurel wreath base topped with large round sunbursts and large upright pearls, a diamond necklace containing the famous 17th century Holland or Stuart diamond (39,75 carats) and a diamond devant de corsage. Queen Emma wore the parure for the first time in public in 1882, at the wedding of her sister Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont to Prince Albert, the Duke of Albany. It is suggested that Queen Emma did not like the parure much as she was rarely seen wearing it in public. In 1897 Queen Dowager Emma sent the parure to Jeweller Schürmann in Frankfurt - with many other pieces - to make a new diamond tiara for the investiture, as Queen, of her daughter Wilhelmina. The last photograph of (parts of) the parure dates from 1897/8 when a young Queen Wilhelmina poses with the necklace and the upper parts of the tiara set on a white gold wire frame. Not long after the necklace was dismantled to create a Tiara for the House Diamond Parure. The upper parts of the original tiara, the sunbursts and large pear shaped pearls, now set on a wire frame have been exhibited once in the 1990's but have not been seen since. |
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| First design by Van Kempen | The Devant de Corsage (final design) | ||
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| Close Up Tiara | Close Up Necklace and Devant de C. | ||
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| HM Queen Emma | HM Queen Emma | HM Queen Emma | |
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| HM Queen Wilhelmina | HM Queen Wilhelmina | HM Queen Wilhelmina | |