How the Medici pearls found themselves around the neck of an English Queen
On 1st September 1533, a fifteen year old Catherine De Medici, left her home in Florence, for France.
Her consolation for leaving her beloved city, was a huge dowry, large enough to buy her a place in the French Royal family.
She carried with her, a fortune in fine jewellery, gifted to her from her Medici Uncle, Pope Clement VII.
These included six ropes of the biggest pearls ever seen, along with twenty five pear shaped pearls.
The value of these pieces alone, were worth a staggering 27,900 gold Ecus….roughly nine million pounds in today’s money.
When Mary Queen of Scots married Catherine’s son Francis, she was gifted some of the pearls by Catherine.
Its believed Mary wore these pearls in her hair, and around her neck, in her wedding portrait.
After Francis died, Mary returned to Scotland taking the valuable pearls with her.
Elizabeth I had a particular fondness for pearls……
To her, they symbolised purity, and she wore them with everything, as a sign of her virginal and pure character.
When the rumours of Mary’s magnificent Medici Pearls reached Elizabeth, she coveted them for herself…..
When Mary was b3headed, Elizabeth ‘acquired’ the pearls.
Its been said, that Elizabeth promised to wear them for the rest of her life, in honour of her beloved Scottish Cousin, Queen Mary.
Elizabeth kept her promise, and wore them till the end.
So, how did the Pearls fare, thereafter….
On Elizabeth’s death, the pearls were handed to Mary’s son James, Elizabeth’s successor.
James would unite the kingdoms of England and Scotland, as James I of England, and James VI of Scotland.
James was married to Anne of Denmark, who had a love of collecting jewels..
Her particular fondness was for…pearls!
When James & Anne’s daughter Elizabeth married and became Queen of Bohemia, they gave her the Pearls as a wedding gift.
Elizabeth was known as The Winter Queen, and managed to take the pearls with her into exile, when her husband was de-throned.
Elizabeth then gave the pearls to her daughter Sophia, when she married The Elector of Hanover.
Through Sophia, they were inherited by her son who in 1714, became King George I of Great Britain ~ after the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne died.
The Medici pearls, were now known as the Hanover Pearls, and were passed down from Queen to Queen, throughout the Georgian age.
On William IV’s death, the pearls went to Queen Victoria.
Victoria divided the pearls among her five daughters, by giving them two pearls each year until they came of age.
The remaining four pearls were placed in the Queens Imperial crown in 1838.
The Imperial Crown was expanded for Victoria’s son Bertie, on his accession to the throne, but the famous Medici Pearls remained set in the Crown.
The Imperial Crown, still set with the fabulous Medici Pearls, can be seen to this day, in their home with the other Crown Jewels, at The Tower of London.
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