Royal Flashback of the Day: Peter and Autumn's Windsor Wedding

As the year of Windsor weddings continues, it's time for another look back. This couple just celebrated their tenth anniversary: Peter and Autumn Phillips.

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The Princess Royal's son married Canadian Autumn Kelly on May 17, 2008 at St. George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Following the service, the couple departed via open carriage for their reception at Frogmore House.

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Autumn's wedding gown was a bespoke design from Sassi Holford made of Italian duchesse satin and Chantilly lace. The dress featured a three-tier sash above an A-line skirt with a cathedral train decorated with bows and lace inserts. A beaded lace bolero covered the bride's shoulders.

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Autumn wore the Festoon Tiara on loan from her new mother-in-law in her hair. The classic pearl and diamond earrings and matching necklace were the perfect basics for a new royal jewelry collection; fittingly, they were gifts from Peter.

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The bridesmaids wore strapless Vera Wang, and Princess Anne? Well, we just saw her festive brown outfit again earlier this month. No one-and-done special occasion outfits for her, thankyouverymuch.

Peter and Autumn's wedding kicked off the list of weddings of the Queen's grandchildren that's still growing. Of course, it was also the wedding where then-Kate Middleton flew solo as a guest (with Prince Harry's then-girlfriend) while Prince William was off at a different wedding, so some of the rest of this got a little overshadowed.

Psst: The blog will be back on Monday!

July 25, 2018

Royal Flashback of the Day: Edward and Sophie's Windsor Wedding

The wedding of the Earl and Countess of Wessex in 1999 might be a good prototype for what we'll see later this month...or it might not, because who knows?! But still, it was a televised royal wedding at St. George's Chapel that was not a state occasion and included a carriage ride through Windsor, so at least some of the circumstances are similar. Let's look back...

One immediate difference: Edward and Sophie chose to hold their wedding a little later in the day, so the ladies wore longer dresses and ditched the hats (mostly; the Queen had a headpiece and the Queen Mother wore a hat anyway) so they were ready for the evening party. The couple played up their wedding venue with capes echoing the famous Garter robes for the children in the bridal party, which was super cute.

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Sophie wore a necklace and earrings designed by Prince Edward and a tiara on loan from the Queen, which hadn't been seen before that day and was made or altered for her from existing pieces. The bride's ensemble was by designer Samantha Shaw and included a coat with a train over a dress. The wedding gown was made of ivory silk organza with tulle and silk crepe, adorned with pearls and cut-glass beads.

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There's the dress that was underneath, worn on its own as the couple left for their honeymoon. Very similar, but maybe I like this even more than what we saw at the ceremony?

And there's your video, for a complete walk down memory lane. Happy Friday!

May 04, 2018

Royal Jewels of the Day: The Fife Tiaras at Kensington Palace

We updated the status of the Fife Tiara back in January here, after news broke in 2017 that the tiara had been given to the U.K. government in lieu of inheritance tax and was scheduled to be displayed at Kensington Palace. That display - part of the reopened Victoria Revealed exhibition - opens today (March 30) and includes not just the big diamond Fife Tiara but two other Fife family tiaras. And, well:

BE STILL MY HEART. You can check out our entry on the Fife Tiara's history here.

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

Here's what the exhibition press release has to say about it:

"The majestic Fife tiara, given to Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Louise on her wedding day, is today considered one of the finest works produced by celebrated Parisian jeweller Oscar Massin, and represents the very zenith of tiara design. A gift from Louise’s husband the Duke of Fife, it comprises hundreds of diamonds ranging in weight from one to ten carats, and features a spectacular row of pear shaped ‘swing set’ diamonds, which would have dazzled onlookers when worn."

We also now have an opportunity to see those diamonds move:

But wait, there's more! As was also previously announced, the Fife estate has loaned Queen Victoria's Emerald and Diamond Tiara to the Victoria Revealed exhibit - plus its accompanying parure of a necklace, earrings, and brooch!

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

You can check out our last entry on the tiara here. And this is what the exhibition has to say:

"Comprising a magnificent diamond and emerald diadem, emerald necklace, earrings and brooch, this parure – or matching suite of jewels – showcases both the exquisite workmanship of nineteenth century goldsmiths, and Prince Albert’s own flair for design. Albert was fascinated by jewellery, and personally designed this dazzling headpiece for his wife. Created by the Queen’s Jeweller, Joseph Kitching, the tiara is set with cushion-shaped diamonds and step-cut emeralds, and surmounted by a graduated row of 19 inverted pear-shaped emeralds, the largest of which weighs an astonishing 15 carats. As a testament to Albert’s own creative talents, the pieces he designed for Victoria now constitute the only known examples of a tiara design by a consort for his Queen. Victoria, clearly delighted with the gift, wrote in her journal of her husband’s ‘wonderful taste’, and her delight at wearing this ‘lovely Diadem of diamonds and emeralds designed by my beloved Albert’.

Presented to Victoria in 1845, the tiara provided both the centrepiece and finishing touch to an existing emerald suite. It was created to complement a necklace formed of 9 oval emerald clusters, each set within a border of cushion-shaped diamonds, its accompanying pendant earrings and an impressive 20ct emerald and diamond brooch, all of which were gifts from Albert, and also go on display at Kensington Palace. Victoria would select these gems for Franz Xavier Winterhalter’s intimate 1846 painting of the royal family, for her son Prince Alfred’s christening (when she paired them with the lace from her wedding dress) and again for a striking Winterhalter portrait of 1859, which depicts the pieces in stunning detail."

A little glimpse of this tiara's sparkle, from The Jewellery Editor:

The way the light shines through those emeralds is absolutely magnificent.

And there's still more!

Historic Royal Palaces. Click to enlarge.

You can also see a classic diamond fringe from the Fife family, another piece that belonged to Princess Louise and was a gift from her parents on her marriage. Here's the press release description:

"Another of Louise’s jewels, a remarkable kokoshnik style tiara with graduated pavé-set rays of diamonds in white and yellow gold, takes inspiration from the cockscomb style headdresses of the Romanov court, and reflects the familial web created by Queen Victoria’s descendants throughout Europe; Louise could count the Emperor and Empress of Russia as cousins, while among her aunts were both the Dowager Empress and a Grand Duchess. A gift from her parents the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra), its clever construction means it could be worn as a tiara or converted into a necklace, and it became one of Louise’s favourite pieces of jewellery."

Princess Louise wears the fringe tiara

Both the fringe and the emerald tiara are on long-term loan from the estate of the 3rd Duke of Fife. Victoria Revealed runs at Kensington Palace throughout 2018.

March 30, 2018