Mellerio Ruby Parure

Originally the design was made with sapphires but Queen Emma choose rubies in stead. It is by far the most complete parure in the Orange-Nassau collection. The tiara consists of five diamond festoons with a large ruby in the center and smaller one on top. The festoons are connected by three strings of diamonds.

When in mourning after the death of her husband, King Willem III, Queen Emma was portrayed with the silver fitting model of the tiara without the rubies. When she was older, Queen Emma frequently wore only the lower section of the devant de corsage, the medallion, as a pendant *.

Queen Wilhelmina received this parure after Queen Emma died in 1934. She wore her mother's parure several times during the 1930's. Queen Juliana was very fond of this parure and has worn it the most often. She wore the large devant de corsage during her investiture ceremony in  1948 1).

Queen Beatrix never wore the complete parure. She occasionally wears the tiara and then mostly hidden away in her hairdo, a simpler bracelet with one diamond and ruby cluster , the small brooch and the earrings . She doesn't seem to like the necklace, although she has worn it at least once in the 1960's. Princess Maxima and Princess Laurentien have worn different parts of the parure like the earrings, bracelet, brooch and necklace. Recently Princess Maxima surprised everyone by wearing the tiara, which is considered a major piece in the collection and is usually reserved for the Queen. The large devant de corsage seems to have been taken apart. The lower part, which was already used as a separate pendant by Queen Emma, still exists as such but the other diamond and ruby clusters are now also removed from the large corsage frame and used as ornaments on bracelets 8) and as pendants 9).