Today marks the Anniversary of the Birth of the late Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, the elder sister of King Juan Carlos I and aunt of King Felipe VI. The late Spanish Infanta possessed a striking jewellery collection, which combined centuries-old family heirlooms and modern acquisitions and gifts, such as her Sapphire Necklace!
Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Tiara | Queen Isabella II’s Emerald Suite | Sapphire Necklace | Diamond Suite | Turquoise Suite | Queen Maria Cristina’s Loop Tiara | The Jewels of Infanta Pilar of Spain
When Queen Maria Cristina of Spain died, in 1929, her only son, King Alfonso XIII, inherited a huge lot of jewels, valued in more than 780.000 pesetas, which included nineteen unmounted sapphires valued in 7.250 pesetas.
Those unmounted stones were previously set on different pieces of jewellery that the Queen kept redesigning throughout her life, having received several sapphire pieces as wedding gifts from her Austrian family when she married King Alfonso XII, in 1879.
After the fall of the Spanish Monarchy, King Alfonso gifted the lot of unmounted sapphires when his son and heir, Infante Juan, married Princess Maria de las Mercedes in 1935, but the sapphires would remain unset until their eldest daughter, Infanta Pilar, married Luis Gómez-Acebo in 1967, who received the sapphires as a wedding gift, to pair with her Sapphire Tiara.
The Infanta’s husband, the Duke of Badajoz and Viscount of La Torre, commissioned this striking Sapphire and Diamond Necklace composed of the Sapphires from Queen Maria Cristina, along with a pair of matching sapphire and diamond earrings.
The Sapphire and Diamond Necklace made a fabulous pairing with Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Tiara, being worn for several Galas over the years.
Infanta Pilar also notably wore the Sapphire Necklace for her daughter’s Debutante Ball and the Wedding Gala of Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg and Sibilla Weiller in 1994 among several gala occasions.
In her later years, Infanta Pilar found the necklace “too important and too big” to wear, so the central cluster was detached and suspended from a historic pearl necklace she inherited from her mother, which was notably worn for the Portuguese State Visit to Spain in 2006 and the Abdication of King Juan Carlos I in 2014. The Pendant has not been seen since her death in 2020 but let’s hope it appears again soon!
Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Tiara | Queen Isabella II’s Emerald Suite | Sapphire Necklace | Diamond Suite | Turquoise Suite | Queen Maria Cristina’s Loop Tiara | The Jewels of Infanta Pilar of Spain
Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Tiara
Queen Maria Cristina’s Loop Tiara
Queen Isabella II’s Emerald Suite
Infanta Pilar’s Sapphire Necklace
Infanta Pilar’s Diamond Suite
Infanta Pilar’s Turquoise Suite
The Jewels of Infanta Pilar of Spain
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