Sad news today! Countess Jacqueline de Ribes has passed away at the age of 96. The French Aristocrat and Socialite was a legendary Fashion Icon and Designer, once voted the ‘Most Stylish Woman in the World’.
The daughter of Jean de Beaumont, Comte de Beaumont, vice president of the International Olympic Committee, and Paule de Rivaud de La Raffinière, she spent the Second World War in Hendaye and at the ccupied Château of the Count and Countess Solages before liberated by American soldiers and returning to school at the convent of Les Oiseaux in Verneuil. In 1948, she married Vicomte Édouard de Ribes, a Banker who subsequently became Comte de Ribes and Officer of the Legion of Honour, Croix de guerre, and had two children, Elizabeth and Count Jean.
A Fashion Icon since the 1950s, the Countess de Ribes employed Oleg Cassini and a young Valentino and appeared the first time on the International Best Dressed List in 1956, being named to the International Best Dressed List Hall of Fame in 1962 and being voted the “Most Stylish Woman in the World”. The Countess also served as the producer of the Cuevas Ballet, served on the boards of many museums and institutions and won the won the prestigious Women of Achievement Award for her humanitarian causes and advocacy of nature conservation and ecology.
Composed of three magnificent scrolled Diamond Fleur-de-Lys topped by pear-shaped pearls set within Celtic knots on a diamond base, the maker of this Tiara is unknown but it shares many characteristics with Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Gift Tiara created by Garrard in the 1860s.
The Tiara reportedly originates from the collection of Wilhelmina, Lady Dalmeny and the last Duchess of Cleveland, who left this Tiara to her daughter, the 2nd Baroness Leconfield upon her death in 1891.
The 3rd Baroness Leconfield was the sister of the Socialite Dorothy Rawson, Lady Warrender, married to the 8th Baronet, who seems to have borrowed the Diamond Fleur-de-Lys and Pearl Tiara from her sister on numerous occasions through the 1930s.
Lady Warrender also wore the Diamond and Pearl Tiara when she modelled an Edwardian Gown designed by Victor Stiebel.
Lady Warrender also wore the Diamond Fleur-de-Lys Tiara for the Empire Ball at Grosvenor House in London in 1935, part of the ongoing celebrations to mark King George V’s Silver Jubilee, a few years before the Baronet was raised to the peerage as Baron Bruntisfield in 1942, three years before the couple’s divorce.
At some point in the 1970s, the splendid Diamond and Pearl Tiara was sold off at auction at Christie’s in London, possibly after the death of the 6th Baron Leconfield in 1972.
The Diamond Fleur-de-Lys and Pearl Tiara next appeared on the glamorous Countess Jacqueline de Ribes, who notably wore it for the Wedding Ball of the Count of Quintanilla and Princess Teresa zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn in 1973.
A few years later, the Countess wore one of the Diamond Fleur-de-Lys as a Brooch for a party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City celebrating the museum’s exhibit “Glory of Russian Costume” in 1976.
The next year, a larger Brooch was created from all three of the Diamond Fleur-de-Lys for an event at Le Grand Hotel in Paris, which were also worn by Countess Jacqueline de Ribes for a party at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City in 1979 and a party hosted by Tiffany & Co. at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City in 1980.
Countess Jacqueline de Ribes also wore all three of the three Diamond Fleur-de-Lys on her shoulder for the 100th Anniversary Gala of Metropolitan Opera at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City in 1984.
In 1986, the three Diamond and Pearl Fleur-de-Lys Brooches made a striking statement as the Countess Jacqueline de Ribes attended the Film Society of Lincoln Center Gala honouring Elizabeth Taylor in New York City.
Countess de Ribes only wore two of the Diamond and Pearl Fleur-de-Lys Brooches for a Gala Dinner at the White House in in May 1981, but they continued to be frequently worn through the 1980s, most prominently for a meeting with Queen Sofia of Spain during a performance by the Washington Opera at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C in 1986.
In 1988, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes wore the Diamond and Pearl Fleur-de-Lys Tiara for a magnificent Ball at the Hotel Lambert in Paris, then owned by her friends, Baron Guy and Baroness Marie-Hélène de Rothschild.
Countess Jacqueline de Ribes continued to wear her Diamond and Pearl Fleur-de-Lys Brooches through the 1990s and 2000s, including for a Costume Institute gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1996, at the “Gala de l’Entente Cordiale” at Opera Garnier in Paris in 2004, for the opening of an exhibition at Centre Pompidou in 2006, and the dinner party of the Societe Des Amis Du Musee D’Orsay in 2014.
Most recently, Countess Jacqueline de Ribes wore the larger Diamond and Pearl Fleur-de-Lys Brooch as she attended Le Diner des Amis du Musee d’Orsay in Paris in October 2023.
Countess Jacqueline de Ribes’ Diamond Tiara
Devonshire Tiara
Devonshire Diamond Rivière
Ruby Clasp
Wellington Tiara
Diamond Earrings
Diamond Tassel Earrings
Buccleuch Diamond Belt Tiara
Buccleuch Emerald Tiara
Buccleuch Mayflower Tiara
Buccleuch Turquoise Tiara
Buccleuch Pearl and Diamond Tiara
Bagration Spinel Tiara
Rosebery Tiara
Diamond Necklace
Westminster Myrtle Wreath Tiara
Diamond Fringe Tiara
Westminster Halo Tiara
Northumberland Tiara
Duchess of Sutherland’s Tiara
Duchess of Bedford’s Tiaras
Marlborough Tiara
Portland Tiara
Duchess of Norfolk’s Sapphire Necklace
Rutland Tiara
Argyll Tiara
Manchester Tiara
Dufferin Tiara
Bath Tiara
Milford Haven Ruby Kokoshnik
Duchess of Devonshire’s Tiaras
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