An Irish-American financier worth £450 million has rescued Queen Victoria’s coronet for the nation. In August 2016, we reported that the sapphire and diamond tiara was at risk of being lost to the UK forever after it was sold by a London dealer to an overseas buyer. Continue reading
A sapphire and diamond coronet symbolising one of the UK’s “most famous love stories” is still in danger of departing the country after it was subject to a temporary export bar by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
Considered one of the most important jewels of Queen Victoria’s reign, the coronet was designed by her beloved husband Prince Albert in their wedding year in 1840. Following the Queen’s death in 1901 it passed on to her grandson, the future King George V, who gave it to his daughter Princess Mary in 1922 on the occasion of her marriage to Viscount Lascelles. Continue reading
