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Diamond Diadem

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The Diamond Diadem has been featured on various coins, stamps, banknotes, paintings and sculptures of Queen Victoria and Elizabeth II

The Diamond Diadem, historically known as the George IV State Diadem, is a diadem that was made in 1820 for King George IV. The diadem has been worn by queens regnant and queens consort in procession to coronations and State Openings of Parliament. It has been featured in paintings and on stamps and currency.

The diadem was most recently worn by Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom at the 2024 State Opening of Parliament.

Origin

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George IV commissioned Rundell & Bridge to make the diadem in 1820 at a cost of £8,216. The fee included a hire charge of £800 for the diamonds but there is no evidence they were ever returned to the jewellers.[1] George IV wore the diadem over his velvet cap of maintenance in the procession to his coronation at Westminster Abbey.[2] These are the equivalent of £800,000 and £80,000 in 2023, respectively.[3]

Description

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External videos
video icon Short video on YouTube by the Royal Collection Trust (2022)

The gold and silver frame, measuring 7.5 centimetres (3.0 in) tall and 19 centimetres (7.5 in) in diameter, is decorated with 1,333 diamonds weighing a total of 320 carats (64 g), including a four-carat yellow diamond in the front cross pattée.[4] Along the base are two strings of pearls. Originally, the upper string had 86 pearls and the lower 94, but they were changed to 81 and 88 in 1902.[5] Instead of the heraldic fleurs-de-lis usually seen on British crowns, the diadem has four bouquets of roses, thistles and shamrocks, the floral symbols of England, Scotland and Ireland respectively,[6] alternating with four crosses pattée around the top of its base.

Use

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It has been worn by every queen regnant and queen consort from Queen Adelaide, the wife of King William IV, to Queen Camilla, the wife of King Charles III. The diadem may have been reset with jewels from the royal collection for Queen Victoria,[7] although the Royal Collection Trust suggests the original 1820 stones were discreetly purchased from Rundell Bridge and Rundell and remain in situ.[8] Queen Elizabeth II wore the diadem in the procession to her coronation in 1953,[9] and she also wore it in the procession to and from the annual State Opening of Parliament.[10]

In art, stamps, and currency

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Sculpture used to make the Machin series of stamps

The iconic piece of jewellery has featured in many portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, including one painted by Lucian Freud in 2001[11] and one by Raphael Maklouf in 1984 that appears on Commonwealth coinage.

Arnold Machin designed an earlier portrait in the 1960s that was used on coins and the Machin series of postage stamps in the UK.[12]

The diadem has also featured on the coins and banknotes of most Commonwealth realms, and those of Anguilla, Bermuda, British Guiana, British Honduras, British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Fiji, British Hong Kong, Malaya, Malta, Mauritius, British North Borneo, Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Southern Rhodesia, St Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "The Diamond Diadem". Royal Collection Trust. Inventory no. 31702.
  2. ^ Ronald Allison; Sarah Riddell (1991). The Royal Encyclopedia. Macmillan Press. p. 173. ISBN 978-0-333-53810-4.
  3. ^ United Kingdom Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the MeasuringWorth "consistent series" supplied in Thomas, Ryland; Williamson, Samuel H. (2024). "What Was the U.K. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 15 July 2024.
  4. ^ The Journal of Gemmology. Vol. 23. Gemmological Association of Great Britain. 1992. p. 41.
  5. ^ Edward Francis Twining (1960). A History of the Crown Jewels of Europe. B. T. Batsford. p. 169.
  6. ^ Paul D. Van Wie (1999). Image, History and Politics: The Coinage of Modern Europe. University Press of America. pp. 63–64. ISBN 978-0-7618-1222-7.
  7. ^ Sophie McConnell (1991). Metropolitan Jewelry. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art. p. 56. ISBN 978-0-87099-616-0.
  8. ^ "Normally the stones would have been returned to Rundells after the coronation, but in this case there is no sign that the delicately worked diamond sprays and crosses, a masterpiece of the new transparent style of setting, have been disturbed. Equally, there is no evidence that the King purchased the stones outright, so it could be that the bill was met by a discreet barter of old stones from George IV's extensive collection." https://www.rct.uk/collection/31702/the-diamond-diadem
  9. ^ Don Coolican (1986). Tribute to Her Majesty. Windward/Scott. p. 273. ISBN 978-0-7112-0437-9.
  10. ^ Jerrold M. Packard (1981). The Queen & Her Court: A Guide to the British Monarchy Today. Scribner. p. 162. ISBN 978-0-684-16796-1.
  11. ^ "The Queen: Portraits of a Monarch - Lucian Freud". Royal Collection Trust. Retrieved 29 December 2015.
  12. ^ Country Life. Vol. 196. 2002. p. 161.
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