Tea at Trianon: A Cullinan Diamond

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Wednesday, May 22, 2024

A Cullinan Diamond

From The Court Jeweller:

But it was Queen Camilla who pulled off the major jewelry moment of the day. With favorite pearls from her jewelry box–her diamond floral and pearl drop earrings and her four-stranded pearl choker with the round diamond clasp–she wore the magnificent Cullinan V Brooch. The intricate platinum brooch is set with several diamonds, the largest of which is the heart-shaped Cullinan V. The 18.8-carat stone was cut from the enormous Cullinan Diamond, which was mined in South Africa in 1905 and given King Edward VII. The rough diamond weighed more than 3000 carats, and when it was cut in Amsterdam, nine major diamonds were produced. Queen Mary was responsible for the elegant setting of the Cullinan V Brooch, which could be worn as a stand-alone brooch, as part of a large stomacher, or as the centerpiece of her honeysuckle tiara. (Read more.)