Conclusion on Queen Alexandra and her Jewels..

Greetings,

For the month of May the series of Queen Alexandra continues. Over a century ago, a story dealing with royalty, intrigue, and theft and it all surrounds a state visit to Ireland in July of 1907, by King Edward and Queen Alexandra.

The jewelry that was stolen was the Irish ‘crown jewels’, which was the insignia of the Illustrious Order of St Patrick, instituted in 1783 as the Irish equivalent of the Order of the Garter. They were created to be presented to the National Order of Chivalry of Ireland, the Order of Saint Patrick, for use by the Viceroy or visiting Sovereigns.
In 1830, the Crown Jewellers, Rundell & Bridge, created the regalia from jewels that had belonged to Queen Charlotte, the consort of George III. These diamonds, rubies, and other stones possibly included the rose diamond given to Charlotte by the Sultan of Turkey. The Honours of St. Patrick consisted of two principal pieces–the star and the badge. The eight-pointed star consisted mostly of Brazilian diamonds. In the centre, a shamrock of emeralds shone from the heart of a ruby cross which lay upon a background of blue enamel. Encircling this central motif was the motto of the order, Quis Separabit? (who can separate us?) and the date MDCCLXXIII (1783) all in rose diamonds. The badge was of similar splendour, with its trefoil of emeralds on a ruby cross surrounded by a blue enamel band bearing the motto and date in rose diamonds, which was itself enclosed in an outer circle of large Brazilian diamonds, the whole being surrounded by a harp and loop framed in diamonds. These creations joined some more traditional Irish regalia–two silver maces and the Irish Sword of State–which were carried before the Viceroy on State occasions.

In 1903, the Irish Crown Jewels were moved to Dublin Castle. It is a well known fact that British monarchs did not often visit Ireland. The first monarch to avail herself of the jewels was Victoria, who came with Prince Albert in 1849 and 1861. Nearly 40 years passed before the next royal visit again by Victoria in 1900. In 1903, Edward and Alexandra made a formal visit to Ireland, during which the jewels were used, and they returned again informally in April 1904. On 6 July 1907, the Irish 'crown jewels' were discovered to have been stolen from Dublin Castle along with jewellery owned by Vicars' mother - by persons unknown.


The jewels themselves were estimated to be worth about £40,000 in 1907, but of course their symbolic value was much greater. The King had intended to invest Lord Castletown as a Knight of the Order, but angered by the theft he cancelled the ceremony.

Now the mystery surrounding this whole story is the way it was reported and the Vice-Regal Commission had often suspected it was an inside job. Also, they suspected there was an official cover-up regarding the real culprit and the fate of the jewels. State jewels had been stolen before, only to be recovered, so for some time there was hope, even expectation, that the Irish Crown Jewels would reappear and the thieves be identified. But this never happened, at least not formally. The unsolved mystery coloured the King’s personal attitude to Ireland for the brief remainder of his reign. Finally, he abandoned the investigation, disgusted, it is said, with the inept detective system of Dublin.

Rumours have abounded over the fate of the jewels that they may still be hidden in Ireland, or somewhere in England, or alternatively are in the possession of a wealthy collector. Susan Hood, author of Royal Roots - Republican Inheritance which focuses on the Irish Office of Arms, said the jewels may have been broken up. "At the time with all the publicity they would have been hard to sell intact, but we'll never know for sure," she said.

Athough this article does not particularly address any stolen jewels of Alexandra I thought that it was such an interesting article. I found a link for the Irish National Archives which further discusses this fascinating subject.

http://www.nationalarchives.ie/topics/crown_jewels/

Now this concludes my series on Alexandra. Next month I will do several blogs on Queen Victoria and her jewelry.

Regards,

Chris