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FIRE IN THE EARTH
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and
old-mine cut diamonds set in silver. Her appearance at the first formal
meeting between herself and the beautiful, chic, and Parisian Empress
Eugenie was a triumph for Victoria, who is said to have "shimmered in
diamonds with her formal court dress, and wore the famous Koh-I-Noor on
her head." Eugenie's fourteen trunks had gone astray on the Channel and
she had nothing to wear but a simple blue silk gown belonging to one of
her maids-of-honor.
During
many of the long years that Victoria was in widowed retirement, the
lovely and willowy Alexandra, who later shared the throne of Edward
VII, wore the royal jewels with distinction. With the discovery of the
greatest diamond mines of all time in South Africa, England
automatically became the diamond center of the world. It was a sort of
unwritten law of the diamond industry that important diamonds found on
the property of De Beers and associated companies were offered to the
British Crown. (This was true particularly in the case of the Cullinan,
it may be recalled.) The great jewel designers of Paris continued to
dictate how these new gems should be set, but several of them now had
branch shops in Bond Street and the women of English society in the
Edwardian era wore upon their persons an array of glittering carats
that broke all previous records for weight and splendor. One of the
first acts of King Edward VII on his ascension to the throne was to
order a complete new parure (matched set)^ of diamonds for the throat,
breast, and wrists of Queen Alexandra. From this period we date the
fashion tradition that Englishwomen by day incline to be tweedy and
dowdy but by night are supreme in chic and, in diamond fashions,
surpass any women in the world.
The period of Queen Mary, wife of George V, was one
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