10,000 diamonds to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee

LONDON—This was the hottest ticket outside the Olympic games in London. Imagine more than 10,000 diamonds on display including some of the Queen’s personal jewels and several historic pieces that have never been exhibited before. “Diamonds: A Jubilee Celebration” showcases some of the most magnificent jewelry acquired by six monarchs over three centuries. Organized to mark Queen Elizabeth’s 60-year reign, the exhibit at Buckingham Palace also includes works from the Royal Collection chosen for their historic importance as well as artistic significance, not to mention the fact that they reflect supreme skill in diamond cutting and mounting.  

Several pieces of jewelry, such as the Delhi Durbar Tiara, the Kokoshnik Tiara and Queen Victoria’s Fringe Brooch, are on display for the first time. Also on display together, reunited for the first time, are pieces containing seven of the nine principal stones cut from the Cullinan Diamond, the world’s largest diamond, which weighed 3,106 carats as an uncut stone.  

The legendary Cullinan, discovered at the Premier Mine near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905, was at first assumed to be a crystal because it was huge –– three times larger than any other diamond that had ever been discovered. When it was taken to the mine manager’s office, the clerks could not imagine anything as big could be a diamond so they practically threw the stone out the window. After further examination, they were eventually convinced and it was promptly named after Thomas Cullinan, the chairman of the mining company.  

The diamond measuring 10.1 x 6.35 x 5.9 cm was noted for its extraordinary blue-white color and exceptional purity. Large as it already was, it may have even been originally larger because of a cleavage face it had on one side which suggests that it may have once been part of a bigger stone. After its discovery, the Cullinan was sent to London where it was presented to King Edward VII. It was shown to many prospective clients for the next two years but could not find a buyer since no one could figure out how a stone of that size could possibly be cut. It was eventually acquired by the government of Transvaal and given as a gift to King Edward VII as a token of loyalty.  

Queen Mary wears the Coronation Necklace and the Diamond Diadem, 1911-1912. (Photo by Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn)

This gift, however, did not include the cutting of the stone. The celebrated firm of IJ Asscher of Amsterdam had to undertake this task, which was quite complex. Cleaving had to be done since it was too large to be cut into a single gem. Splitting the stone alone took weeks of consideration including four days of making a groove into which the cleaving knife was to be inserted. The first attempt even broke the knife used, although the diamond remained intact. After successfully splitting it into two, the task of further subdividing the two pieces took eight months of grinding and polishing with three polishers working 14 hours a day. Eventually, the team produced nine principal numbered stones, 96 small brilliants and nine carats of unpolished fragments, all amounting to 1,055.9 carats.

The two largest gems from the Cullinan –– the two largest colorless and flawless diamonds in the world –– were formally presented to the king at Windsor Castle in 1909. Today they are set at the head of the Sovereign’s Scepter and into the Imperial State Crown. The remaining seven gems, reunited in the exhibition, were all mounted by Garrard’s or Carrington’s for Queen Mary in various settings, which allowed many possibilities and combinations for the wearer.

Cullinan III, a pear-shaped drop of 94.4 carats and Cullinan IV, a cushion-shaped stone of 63.3 carats, were mounted in a lattice-work setting and placed on Queen Mary’s new crown in 1911. A year after, the Delhi Durbar Tiara was adapted to utilize both stones. The pear drop was sometimes used as a pendant to the Coronation Necklace in place of the Lahore Diamond. The stones were most often worn hooked together as a pendant brooch. 

Queen Mary wears Cullinan Diamonds I-IV for the state opening of Parliament in February, 1911. (W. & D. Downey)

The heart-shaped,18.8-carat Cullinan V was designed to be adaptable as well. Mounted in a fine radiating platinum web with a scrolling and foliage millegrain and pave-set border of brilliant diamonds, it was used as a brooch by Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth who inherited it in 1953. It also forms the detachable center section of the diamond and emerald stomacher made for Queen Mary for the Delhi Durbar in 1911 and can be suspended from the Cullinan VIII Brooch with the Cullinan VII pendant below.

A significant part of the exhibition includes pieces commissioned by Queen Victoria, the only other monarch to celebrate a Diamond Jubilee. There’s the spectacular Coronation Necklace, made for her by R&S Garrard & Co. in 1858 and subsequently worn at the coronations of Queen Alexandra in 1901, Queen Mary in 1911, Queen Elizabeth (The Queen Mother) in 1937 and the present Queen in 1953. Also on exhibit is the miniature crown worn by Queen Victoria for her official Diamond Jubilee portrait in 1897 –– composed of a staggering 1,187 diamonds that belie its tiny size of just 9 x 10 cm. Based on recent findings, the stones on the crown may have been taken from a fringe-pattern chain de corsage. After Prince Albert’s death in 1861, Queen Victoria does not appear to have worn the chaine and when she ordered her small crown in 1870, the fringe elements of the chaine were probably used to provide the stones. Since she spent the rest of her life in mourning clothes, the Small Diamond Crown satisfied the need for a formal head ornament of colorless stones that was suitable for mourning. The crown was later worn by Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary. In 1937 King George VI had it displayed at the Tower of London where it has remained.  

The Queen’s personal jewelry in the exhibit is of particular interest because it marks important events in her life. The South Africa Necklace was presented on her 21st birthday in 1947 when she was still Princess Elizabeth. The Williamson Brooch incorporates the finest pink diamond ever discovered. This rare diamond was a gift from the Canadian geologist, Dr. JT Williamson for her wedding in November 1947. He found the stone in Tanzania that same year.   

Probably the most recognizable piece in the exhibit is The Diamond Diadem, created for the famously extravagant coronation of George IV in 1821. Set with 1,333 brilliant-cut diamonds including a four-carat one in pale yellow, it was barely visible because of the King’s large, velvet plumed “Spanish” hat. Queen Victoria was frequently painted and photographed wearing the diadem and appears wearing it on several early postage stamps. Queen Elizabeth has worn it to and from the State Opening of Parliament since the beginning of her reign and is also seen wearing it in British and Commonwealth stamps as well as certain issues of bank notes and coinage.  

No doubt, these royal jewels have been in the public consciousness and captured the imagination for the past three centuries. “Monarchs have used diamonds to display magnificence, whether in personal adornment or as a statement of power,” said exhibition curator Caroline de Guitaut, “Each piece demonstrates breathtaking workmanship and extraordinary ingenuity in design.  Diamonds have of course long been associated with endurance and longevity, so this is a very fitting way to mark Her Majesty’s 60 years on the throne.” 

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For schedules, tickets and visitor information, log on to www.royalcollection.org.uk.