Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara

Tomorrow will mark the 150th Anniversary of the Birth of Queen Marie of Romania, who was born on this day in 1875! Queen Victoria’s granddaughter who became the popular Queen of the Balkan Nation, ensuring massive territorial gains after the First World War, Queen Marie had a splendid Jewellery Collection, which has headlined by the magnificent Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara!

When Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, the third son of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, in 1874, she received numerous spectacular jewels including her Vladimir Tiara, Diamond Fringe Tiara, Diamond Rivière, Emerald Necklace and several sapphire jewels which reportedly originated from Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, including an ornate Sapphire and Diamond Tiara.

In the 1880s, the Grand Duchess Vladimir wore the original Sapphire and Diamond Tiara for a series of portraits alongside her Sapphire and Diamond Necklace.

The Sapphire and Diamond Necklace was also worn by the Grand Duchess Vladimir for the State Opening of the Russian Duma in 1906, alongside a Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara on loan from her brother-in-law, Grand Duke Alexis, which she had hoped to inherit but was instead left to his nephew. As her sister-in-law, and Queen Marie’s mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, wrote:

The partage of Uncle Alexis’s estate went better than one would have expected. I can assure you that Aunt Miechen sat on her rights and carried away every scrap of things that she could lay her hands on. A great sorrow for her was parting with my mother’s beautiful sapphire parure, which Uncle Alexis had allowed her to wear. But it came by rights to little Dimitri, so Uncle Paul came the other day and simply carried it off under his arm!!!!…

The following year, the Grand Duchess had her earlier Sapphire and Diamond Tiara reset by Cartier to create the spectacular Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik, which featured a massive Sapphire of 137.20 carats and six other cabochon sapphires that had belonged to Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. She also bought a spectacular Sapphire and Diamond Devant-de-Corsage from Corsage to complete the Parure.

Two years later, Grand Duchess Vladimir was portrayed wearing the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace alongside the Cartier Sapphire Kokoshnik and Stomacher in an iconic portrait by Boris Kustodiev.

Kustodiev painted the dominating figure of Grand Duchess Vladimir, proud and dignified and covered in spectacular jewels – she was famous for her jewelry. In fact, it is said that she spent much of the annual pension of 1 million gold francs she received after the death of her husband on her jewelry. In Kustodiev’s portrait, she wears her famous sapphire and diamond diadem commissioned from Cartier 1909; the firm re-used stones belonging to the client, the central sapphire weighing 137.20 carats The tiara later belonged to her niece, Queen Marie of Romania, whose daughter, Princess Ileana, sold it back to Cartier in the Fifties. The stomacher (devant de corsage) worn by the Grand Duchess was also made by Cartier, again using the client’s stones, in 1910. The necklace and earrings appear to be Russian and of an earlier date.

When she fled St. Petersburg following the February Revolution in 1917, the Jewels of the Grand Duchess Vladimir remained in a hidden safe in her bedroom at the Vladimir Palace, until her son, Grand Duke Boris, and a friend, Bertie Stopford, snuck into the Vladimir Palace disguised as workmen, smuggling the Jewels out in a pair of Gladstone Bags, which were then smuggled out of Russia, deposited in a safety deposit box in London. The Grand Duchess Vladimir was the last Romanov to escape Russia, and passed away just a few months later, in September 1920.

Grand Duchess Vladimir left her jewels to her children in groups of stones, with Grand Duke Kyril receiving the Sapphires, Grand Duke Boris the Emeralds, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna, Princess Nicholas of Greece, the only daughter, inherited her mother’s diamonds and pearls, including the Vladimir Tiara, while Grand Duke Andrei inherited the Rubies.

Faced with harsh financial difficulties in exile, Grand Duke Kyril and Grand Duchess Victoria Melita decided to sell the family jewels. Luckily, a buyer was close at hand, Queen Marie of Romania, the sister of the Grand Duchess, had lost her jewels in Russia during WWI and wrote to their mother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna:

I spoke to Ducky about some of Aunt Miechen’s jewellery that Ducky wants to sell as these pieces represent the only fortune the family has left – thank God that the jewels of the old lady are fabulous! She was an extraordinarily greedy woman and she received, throughout her entire life, more than her share of anything. Nando gave me a generous sum of money to buy jewellery, since mine are lost forever… It is however a horrible feeling to take these treasures from a person I love more than anything in the world. But at the same time I know that I am a gift from God to her, as I am ready to pay for the pieces in full and right away without negotiating the prices. Oh, and heaven, these jewels are wonderful, as seldom one can find!”

It wasn’t until after Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna’s death in October 1920 that Queen Marie bought the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik for herself, Ducky’s Greek Key Tiara for Princess Helen of Greece, the soon-to-be Romanian Crown Princess, and a Cartier Sapphire Sautoir for her eldest daughter, Princess Elisabeth, who was about to marry Princess Helen’s brother, King George II of Greece.

As Queen of a formerly enemy country, Marie was ultimately not allowed to enter Germany and join her three sisters for their mother’s funeral in Coburg. She went to Zurich and waited there for their return. Before leaving Romania, Marie had received from her husband a large sum of money to start a new jewelry collection, seeing as hers was lost in Russia. The Queen wished to give the money to her impoverished sister—and so on November 12th she bought the famous Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik tiara. On November 16th, to Queen Marie’s absolute delight, Prince Carol announced his engagement to Princess Helene of Greece. Marie bought for her son to use as engagement ring a beautiful emerald ring, which had belonged to her mother but passed down to her sister Baby. As a wedding present for her daughter in law, the Queen bought (from Ducky) the Diamond Greek Key tiara, which to this day remains in the Romanian Royal Family. The engagement ceremony took place at the Greek Orthodox Church in Lucerne on November 21st.

In addition to buying the jewels herself, Queen Marie also wrote in her diary about arranging for the Romanian Government to buy more pieces, including the the central element of the Sapphire and Diamond Necklace as a Brooch as well as the Vladimir Sapphire Earrings for Princess Helen:

I have bought for the government to give to Lisabetha a beautiful set of emeralds, collier and cross, that Baby was selling and for Sitta a superb sapphire brooch with earrings, of Ducky’s share from Aunt Miechen, wonderful, irreproachable stones.

Tino and Sophie have sent no wedding present to Lisabetha! Not the smallest tiniest little item of anything! – nothing! I confess to feeling indignant! Sophie has all her jewels, while I lost all mine and yet we made tremendous efforts to send her daughter a beautiful diadem! Oh!—if only I had my jewels, with what delight I would have given one of my diadems to Lisabetha! Now I have given a diadem to my daughter in law, while my own daughter has none!”

Queen Marie first wore the Vladimir Sapphire Tiara for a series of portraits in February 1921, and a Gala Performance in Bucharest ahead of the Wedding of King George II of Greece and Princess Elisabeth of Romania, for which she wore the central Sapphire as a Brooch.

Friday, February 11th, 1921. Cotroceni

Spent part of the morning trying on dresses which I must have arranged for the [wedding] festivities. I have nothing new done because of the formidable prices, but I am adapting the dresses I already have. I have grown rather thinner so I look nicer in my clothes and the jewels which came to me from my dear Mama help to make me look much smarter and more royal. Since I lost all my jewels in Russia, I never really looked smart any more. These wonderful pearls of Mama’s are much stunning jewels that everybody with me rejoices over them. After that, I sacrificed myself for nearly two hours, having myself photographed by Julietta in different get ups also with my new diadem—so that the public should have a new, really royal picture.

Saturday, February 26th, 1921. Cotroceni

The great day is drawing near. There is excitement, expectation in the air, but alas the weather takes no share, remains dull and ugly. I keep thinking of Mama. She never saw any of my children marry, I would have so liked her to have that pleasure, she would so much have approved. It is also sad that my sisters are not here. I am sure they will be thinking of us with all their hearts. Lisabetha is in good dispositions, it touches and gratifies her the part everybody is taking in her marriage. Her way with Georgie becomes nicer & nicer, I do hope all will be well with them. I had a great bundle of fresh flowers I could take to Mircea, he has so little share in all that is going on. I got Lisabetha to give me her whitest freshest hyacinths to take to him. Little Mircea, he would have been eight now. What sort of little boy would you have been, Mircea? I wonder… In the evening another big gala at the theatre. We all dressed up our smartest. I was in black velvet & had my superb sapphire diadem on for the very first time, but oh! what a weight!”

In addition to wearing the Tiara during the festivities, Queen Marie wore the central Sapphire of the Tiara as a Pendant from her famous pearls the following month for the Wedding of Crown Prince Carol of Romania and Princess Helen of Greece in Athens.

Thursday, March 10th, 1921. Athens

A bright, but stormy day, with a bitterly cold wind and much dust. Was ready early. At a punctual 10, I was already at the Palace, where most of the family was already collected for the civil marriage. Our trying old Minister Antonescu blundered through it, much in the same way as he had done at Bucharest. Sitta was sweet in a long satin dress and the beautiful lace veil given to her by the town of Bucharest. She also wore the diamond diadem from us, which enchanted her heart and is certainly the finest thing she possesses. She was sweet and lovely, placid and serene, quite a different style to Lisabetha, less handsome, less of a legendary vision, but all what one’s heart could desire. Carol looked tall, well-grown and immensely proud of the beautiful girl at his side. The wedding procession was extremely well done, their court being well-kept and there are good traditions they can fall back upon. They are accustomed to receive royalties here, so they are less hap-hazard than we are. I drove with Carol – we had four black horses and two outriders. Sitta followed with Sophie in a carriage with many windows, drawn by four white horses, with four outriders on white horses. Tino drove with Aunt Olga [the Dowager Queen of Greece]. Sitta is tremendously loved here. She and Tino are the really popular members of the family. Georgie is little known; he is still an unknown quality to them – it remains to be seen what position he will make to himself. The cathedral is huge and modern, while the service is more or less the same as ours in Romania.”

I had purposely chosen a dress of sober grey and golden brocade, pretty and becoming, but well in contrast with the bride. On my head I wore a grey tulle turban with small golden grapes and a long veil edged with fine gold lace. I wore hanging from my pearls the enormous centre sapphire from my crown, a noble jewel indeed, especially when I hang my most perfect pearl-pear from it like a huge drop of frozen milk.

At the end of 1921 she has some very interesting passages in the diary about her jewelry, which she calls saving the family in case of exile. She gathered them not only to look good in good times, but also to be used in the hard times.

The following year, Queen Marie wore the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara with her Cartier Diamond Sautoir and a 478-carat Cartier Sapphire Pendant after her Coronation Ceremony in Alba Iulia in 1922.

In 1924, Queen Marie wore the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik with her Cartier Diamond Sautoir and 478.68-carat Cartier Sapphire Pendant as she sat for Philip De László in London in 1924.

De László first met the sitter in Vienna in 1899 when she was still Crown Princess Marie of Romania, though she did not commission a portrait until she came to London on an official state visit in 1924. She visited de László’s studio on 21 May and recorded the sittings in her diary in great detail: “He wants of course to make something that would stand out from all he has done… he wants to have it for his exhibition in June. So he asked me to put on my Russian sapphire and diamond diadem, he draped me in gold, with a sort of golden veil on my head, a marvellous harmony of gold in gold with only eyes and the sapphires a blue touch in the whole. He is a stupendously quick worker and it is wonderful to see him work, he is [so] full of delight when he begins a picture which enchants him that one feels he would like to shout with joy and excitement.

I sat heroically with my heavy diadem on my head for two hours before and two hours after lunch, but the result is stupendous. I never in my life have seen a man to paint like that – it is almost witchcraft. Being hard up for time he did not lose any time in drawing in his picture first, he just painted it. The beauty of the colouring is marvellous and he seems to take hold of the best in the face and to bring it out with startling intensity…it’s like a living presence in the room, add to the striking ‘get up’ we combined with our double good taste and you have really a great work of art before you…This portrait will be a recompense for the artistic torture endured by being so often painted by bunglers of all nationalities…he painted as one who had magic in his fingers, a human blessed by the gods when he laid down his brush and the picture was finished and it rose up before us all a living, pulsing, alive woman, in a gold dress and veil…We all shook hands and congratulated each other mutually, like after the birth of a child in whom many hopes concentrated.”

The Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara became Queen Marie’s trademark tiara, well suited to her byzantine tastes, being worn for several portraits and galas over the years, including on her landmark visit to the United States in 1926, shortly before being widowed, as her daughter recalled:

My mother wore it at her coronation in 1922. She chose it, also, to wear on state occasions during the visit she made to this country. And so the tiara and I both entered the United States twice, and together.

In 1931, Queen Marie gave the Kokoshnik as a wedding gift to her youngest and favourite daughter, Princess Ileana, when she married Archduke Anton of Austria, but also wore it at the Silver Jubilee of King George V in 1935, as Princess Ileana recalled:

I lent it to her to wear at the Jubilee of King George V of England, and she left it in her bank in London because of unsettled conditions at home. After her death I had no small trouble in claiming it, but I got it away from England just before World War II actually began.

In the summer of 1935, the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik was among the Jewels displayed at an Exhibition of Russian Art in London, along with the Vladimir Fringe Tiara, Queen Alexandra’s Amethyst Tiara, Princess Mary’s Russian Sapphire Devant de Corsage and Queen Olga’s Diamond Rivière.

Princess Ileana talked about rarely wearing the Sapphire Kokoshnik Tiara in her memoir ‘I Live Again’:

I myself wore the lovely sapphire and diamond tiara on only one state occasion, and that was at a large ball which the Legitimist Party gave in the Hofburg in Vienna, four years after I was married.

Princess Ileana loaned it back to Queen Marie to wear at King George V’s Silver Jubilee in London, where it stayed in a bank vault until after her death, and made escapes from Austria and Romania, where Princess Ileana and her family escaped to in 1944, living at the famous Bran Castle.

Princess Ileana recalled wearing the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik for Christmas at Schloss Sonnberg in Austria in 1943:

We had the large tree in the castle, and the village children and as many officers and soldiers as we could manage were invited to share it. To make the occasion as festive as possible we all dressed in our best, and I wore the lovely sapphire and diamond diadem because so much of the time my family and my household of soldiers saw me only in traveling clothes or nurse’s uniform. There were carols, and gifts, and the joy of the children, which triumphed for a brief time over the thought of a world at war-and another year had come to a close.

One I remember was a servant girl working for a Viennese woman who had come in distress to live at Sonnberg. I had insisted, over the protests of her mistress, that the Russian girl be invited to that last Christmas tree in the castle, where I wore the diadem. She had surprised everyone by suddenly bursting into tears, and when she could control herself she explained in broken German that her parents had–safely hidden away from the Communists-a picture of the Czarina wearing just such a diadem, and that I reminded her of it, and of her home.

After fleeing to Romania, Princess Ileana also wore Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik for Christmas at Bran Castle in 1947, just days before the end of the Romanian Monarchy:

Christmas at Bran was a pleasant one for the children. Anton arrived just in time with surprises and gifts bought in Switzerland, and also with unobtainable necessities for the hospital which he had been able to find for me. There were the usual celebrations, and for the very last time I wore my beautiful sapphire and diamond diadem.

On Christmas Eve I laid aside my familiar red uniform and its white apron and coif, and I put on a silver evening gown with a little clinging train. I took my remaining jewels out of their hiding place —

my mother’s beautiful sapphire and diamond diadem, my diamond bracelets, the great diamond cross hung on my grandmother’s ropes of pearls, my diamond and ruby earrings.

I put them on.

How strange and unfamiliar I looked, staring back at myself from my dressing room mirror. I knew that I was looking at a ghost from the past as I surveyed my splendor. (Did I know it was the last time? How did I know?…)

Perhaps because it was the last Christmas in Romania, that day stands out clearly to me, not for any special event, but because every minute since then has made it dearer to me. The snow was deep and crunched underfoot; the sky was full of stars; the songs of the children were clear and joyful; all faces seemed to smile and love one another; the gifts had been made with care and forethought. It was one of those times which warm the heart and make it content.

On December 30th, her nephew, King Michael, abdicated and the family were exiled again, this time ending up in Argentina, where the Tiara again made a daring escape after being pawned to provide funds for Romanian refugees. In 1950, Princess Ileana traveled with the Kokoshnik to United States, wrapped in nightgown because she was too poor to insure it. She then sold the Tiara back to Cartier to build a new life for herself and her children, eventually becoming a nun. Princess Ileana said:

It was both beautiful and splendid, but my children were in need. As it stood, it neither fed us nor clothed us nor warmed us. I could not even wear it.” The Kokoshnik was probably broken up and has disappeared into the pages of history. She recalled:

There is one thing I cannot show you, one very important thing which I was allowed to bring with me from my old life, and which made the foundation of my new one. You can see it in a photograph of my mother there on the table, but no picture can give you any idea of the living glow and the rainbow fires in the sapphire-and-diamond tiara she is wearing.

“A tiara!” you say. “Now that is what one expects of a princess!”

Yes, I can agree with you. This was truly a royal diadem. Nicholas I of Russia had it made for his wife when he became emperor in 1825. Through his granddaughter, my mother’s mother, it descended eventually to me. My mother wore it at her coronation in 1922. She chose it, also, to wear on state occasions during the visit she made to this country. And so the tiara and I both entered the United States twice, and together. My mother had given it to me when I was married in 1931. I lent it to her to wear at the Jubilee of King George V of England, and she left it in her bank in London because of unsettled conditions at home. After her death I had no small trouble in claiming it, but I got it away from England just before World War II actually began. I kept it in Austria until 1943, when I smuggled it into Romania, and from there I saved it from the communists when I left in 1948. It went to Switzerland with me, and then to Argentina, where I pawned it to put money into an unfortunate business that failed. Its adventures as a single piece of jewelry were then almost over, for it became evident that I must try to sell it in order to pay our debts.

Because by this time I was suffering severely from arthritis, I received permission in May, 1950, to come to the United States for medical treatment. As I gathered all my forces, physical and financial, to make this trip, I felt desperately that I was nearing the end of my endurance. I pawned everything I had of value in order to leave my family in Buenos Aires the money to live on, and in order to redeem the tiara. I could not afford to insure something whose “breakup” value had once been appraised at $80,000, so I decided to wrap it in my nightgown and keep it with me in a small bag. Thus with $300, a ticket to Boston and a hidden tiara, I prepared to enter the United States for the second time.

It was a thirty-hour trip by air—over the Andes and finally over the Caribbean—and I had plenty of time to think. Bursitis in my left arm made me barely able to move it, and my back and feet were one continual ache from arthritis.

Six months earlier my two older children had received scholarships in preparatory schools—one in Pennsylvania and one in Massachusetts—and their letters had been showing a growing confidence and contentment. For most of their lives they had been the victims of war and its accompanying anxieties, first in their father’s homeland and then in mine, and the younger children could not remember any other conditions. My husband and I had sought security and a new life for them in Switzerland and then in Argentina, but we had not found it. Could it be that somehow, in the friendly country I had visited as a girl, I might find a new home for them? What princess who is also a mother would not give up a diadem to gain a home for her children!

Anxious, weary, in pain but strangely hopeful, I finally arrived in Miami, where the long flight was interrupted. I lined up for customs inspection. When it was my turn and I answered that I had something to declare, I asked if I could unpack my bag in private. The officer was good-humored, but a little impatient with my hesitation. When I insisted, he made it clear that he thought I was being a nuisance.

“What have you got there, anyway—a corpse?” he asked.

However, when he finally led me to an office it was obvious that he did not know quite what to do when a tiara turned up in the luggage he inspected. He touched the central sapphire a little gingerly. Since it weighed 125 carats, itwas nearly the size of a man’s pocket watch. Was it real? he wanted to know. When I assured him that it was, he looked still more harassed, but finally he decided that he would send it to Boston “in bond.” Together we wrapped it in a newspaper and put it into a box, which he duly sealed and ticketed. It was with a qualm, I confess, that I watched it put into the luggage compartment of the plane for Boston before I myself embarked. If it should somehow be lost, I was losing everything I had, and it was now out of my hands!

ARRIVING in Boston, I was told that since it was Sunday, all offices were closed, and I would have to wait to claim my “package.” I knew no one in Boston except the friend who, with her husband’s help, had arranged for me to come to this country. Since she could not be sure of the time of my arrival, I was to let her know when I got to the airport. I found a telephone and stood looking at it stupidly, giddy from my thirty hours’ flight and full of pain: I had no idea how to use a dial telephone, but I was in the United States, where people are kind. A friendly gentleman found the Number for me and called my friend. While I waited for her to come and fetch Ins I tried to forget my anxiety by looking back across the years since I had seen her—twenty-five, to be exact.

I had been fifteen years old then, learning my way in social work, and an enthusiastic member of the Romanian Girl Reserves. Helen Jackson—dark-haired, with a gay, round face and twinkling eyes—had come to Bucarest to help start the industrial section of the Y.W.C.A. there. Her song§ and fun put us all at ease, and I loved the opportunities to be with her group of girls. Helen, her job completed, left Bucarest to carry on elsewhere; I grew up; the years passed with their joys and griefs. She was now Mrs. John Beale, with hair turned gray, but kindness still unchanged.

Helen and Jack Beale opened the doors of their home to me until I found a home of my own. They drove me to Newton along the Charles River, and I found it beautiful—so green and sunny, so clean and free. Then and there I fell in love with New England.

In the joy of seeing my two older children again—so changed and grown in the months they had been away—in the need of rest and immediate medical care at the Lahey Clinic (once I had found a temporary haven, I seemed for a time almost to collapse from the long anxiety I had suffered), the diadem was temporarily pushed to the back of my mind. When I did think of it, I felt confident of its safety in this friendly country.

Ten days of rest and hospital treatment made me able to find my way to the customhouse and inquire for my “parcel.” It took some time for the officials to trace it, and I felt some stabs of alarm until it was finally located in a safe in another building.

Everyone was very matter-of-fact about the whole thing, both then and the next day, when we all met by appointment in an office of the customhouse. Everyone was very matter-of-fact until the parcel was opened, and the officials saw what had been lying about the office for ten days—for even I, who was so familiar with it, felt always a thrill of delight at the radiance of blue-and-white fire when the tiara was suddenly brought into the light.

The faces of the men revealed their shocked amazement. They gasped. Then one smiled, relieved.

“But of course you have this insured!” he said.

“No,” I told him calmly. “Why should I? It has escaped the Nazis and the communists. Naturally I did not expect to lose it here!”

They were evidently uncertain whether to laugh or to scold me; but from that moment we were friends! One of the men asked me to autograph a visitors’ register he kept—”with all your titles and things!” he explained; and I was tempted to draw him a little sketch of the tiara as a souvenir. The age of the jewel was found to make it free of customs, so eventually I walked off with it under my arm—still in its somewhat battered cardboard box—and I mailed the package to a jeweler in New York.

Sometimes it was guarded by police, at other times my son carried it about in the subway! Finally, after much trouble, worry, and heartbreak, it was sold for a sum much below its value. It was both beautiful and splendid, but my children were in need. As it stood, it neither fed us nor clothed us nor warmed us. I could not even wear it! So I was grateful on the day when it was gone, even though I felt a traitor to the past and all the proud heads that had worn it.

However, while the Vladimir Sapphire Kokoshnik had to be sold, Princess Ileana retained a Diamond Scroll Tiara from Empress Marie Louise as well as Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna’s Pearl Brooch, which remain with her descendants to this day.

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