Queen Victoria’s Sapphire Coronet

1840 marked not only the year of Queen Victoria’s marriage to her beloved Prince Albert, or the birth of their first child, but also the year that Victoria truly began to find herself within her role as monarch. With a husband and child, Victoria had officially stepped into Victorian womanhood and soon her jewellery box began matching her new status. A keen artist, designer and engineer, Prince Albert took it upon himself to design several stunning pieces to make his wife stand out. This included a sapphire parure, consisting of a necklace, bracelet, brooch and the iconic sapphire coronet.

Made by Joseph Kitching of the royal jewellers, Kitching and Abud, the design of the coronet is based on the Saxon Rautenkranz (a circlet of rue), which features on Albert’s coat of arms. Measuring 4.5 inches in diameter and less than 4cm in height, the coronet consists of 11 step-cut sapphires in octagonal (cushion) and calf’s head (kite) shapes. Making the sapphires stand out is an array of smaller diamonds – repurposed from older pieces connected to King William IV and Queen Adelaide, – which would have glistened beautifully under the candle light.

What makes Albert’s design particularly impressive is that the band is broken down into hinged segments, which allows the piece to be worn as either a closed coronet, a tiara or a bandeau. Looking at images of the Queen wearing the coronet, it appears that she opted to wear it as a closed circlet. In 1842 Queen Victoria was depicted wearing the sapphire coronet by German artist, Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Quite unusually, Queen Victoria wears the coronet around her braided bun on the back of her head.

Following Prince Albert’s death in 1861, Queen Victoria fell into a deep state of mourning and refrained from wearing colourful jewellery for the rest of her life. However, Victoria continued to wear the sapphire coronet, perhaps due to its connection to Prince Albert. After five years of hiding away from the public eye, on 6^th February 1866, Queen Victoria travelled to London to open parliament for the first time since 1861, marching her return to official duties. Not wanting to stray too far from her regular mourning attire, Victoria wore her ‘ordinary evening dress, only trimmed with miniver & my [mourning] cap with a long flowing tulle veil, a small diamond and sapphire coronet’. The queen was later photographed in an outfit that matches this description, although I can’t find any evidence to confirm whether she was photographed on the same day as she opened parliament. Nonetheless, this photograph was later used by Henry Richard Graves to create his 1874 portrait of the Queen with a book of verse.

 

Following Queen Victoria’s death in January 1901, the sapphire coronet was passed to her son, King Edward VII, and later her grandson, King George V. However, neither of their wives seem to have been fond of the coronet, causing it to go around two decades without being worn. In 1922, the coronet and its matching parure were given to King George V’s only daughter, Princess Mary, as a gift upon her marriage to Henry Lascelles, 6^th Earl of Harewood. Unlike Queens Alexandra and Mary, the princess idolised the necklace coronet and was photographed wearing as a bandeau on several occasions in the 1920s and 1930s. By the 1950’s Mary was wearing the coronet much less frequently, and, in 1953, the coronet and matching necklace were exhibited at the Dorchester Hotel in an exhibition celebrating the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.

Over the next few decades, the coronet and parure continued to be passed down in the Harewood family. In 1977, Mary’s daughter-in-law, Patricia Lascelles, accompanied Queen Elizabeth II on her silver jubilee tour of Yorkshire and wore the coronet to a reception in Leeds. In 1992, Patricia loaned the coronet to daughter-in-law, Andrea Kerrshaw, for her wedding to Mark Lascelles. As far as I can tell, this would be the only time that Andrea would publicly wear the piece. Despite wearing the coronet as both a classic tiara like Princess Mary, and as a coronet on the back of her head just like Queen Victoria, Patricia doesn’t appear to have been overly fond of the coronet due to its delicate size. In 1997 Wartski contacted the Harewoods, requesting to exhibit the historic piece. According to The Royal Watcher, during a telephone call to discuss the loan, Patricia is believed to have suggested that the coronet was too small to be displayed, complaining that it wouldn’t be seen. Nonetheless, the piece was displayed on and off for several years.

It is unclear when, but at some point – most likely after Patricia’s husband, the 7^th Earl Harewood passed away in 2011 – the tiara was sold anonymously. Then, just five years late, the owner decided to sell the piece to foreign buyer. Following disputes over whether the historic piece should leave British soil, the UK Government put a temporary ban on the sale. The funds to purchase the coronet were raised by the Bollinger family, who purchased the coronet as a gift to the nation. Thanks to them, Queen Victoria’s sapphire coronet remains on permanent display inside the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington.

Recently I was fortunate enough to add a replica of Queen Victoria’s sapphire coronet to my royal collection. Made from lab grown sapphires and cubic zirconia, the coronet is a near identical copy of Queen Victoria’s original and can be worn as either a closed circlet, like Victoria did, or as a tiara, like Princess Mary. Having spoken to the creator of this spectacular piece, I am in awe of the amount of time and research that went into making this piece as accurate and possible. The seller of this stunning collectible, SapphireandRoseGold on Etsy, has kindly offered my followers a 10% discount, using the code VICTORIA, to purchase your own copy of Queen Victoria’s iconic coronet!

© Queen.Victoria.Roses 2026

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