Las Joyas Reales – EP 2 | La Tiara Vladimir

Las Joyas Reales – EP 2- Aunque muchas de las monarquías de Europa y Rusia ya no existen -o existen en una capacidad mucho más ceremonial- sus asombrosas joyas aún permanecen y aún son usadas por las familias reales restantes.

Las Joyas Reales (2013)
Directora: Anna von Lowzow
Protagonistas: David Bateson
Género: Documental
Idioma: Español

Sinopsis:
Esta es la historia de un histórico parure de rubíes que lució la princesa heredera Mary de Dinamarca. Fue confeccionado para la magnífica coronación de Napoleón en 1804, cuando se gasta una cantidad increíble en atuendos ya que todas las miradas se centran en Francia.

Cuando la mayoría de las monarquías sólo utilizan sus símbolos de poder real cuando yacen en estado, también es la historia del signo más visible de la dignidad real, la legitimidad, cuando estas impresionantes gemas se lucen en banquetes y visitas de Estado. Pero pocos saben que algunas de las joyas más fascinantes del mundo suelen estar vinculadas a momentos destacados de la historia real.

La primera prometida de Napoleón, Désirée, hija del comerciante de seda de Marsella, asiste a la coronación luciendo hermosos rubíes y diamantes. Más tarde, cuando se convierte en reina de Suecia, lleva consigo el parure.

La familia real sueca hereda magníficas joyas de la familia francesa. Muchas se quedan en Suecia, pero algunas llegan a Dinamarca en 1869, cuando la bisnieta de Désirée, la princesa Lovisa, se casa con el heredero al trono danés. Más tarde, el Príncipe Heredero Federico hereda los rubíes y su esposa, la Princesa Heredera Mary, luce la histórica parure por primera vez en su boda en 2004.

Miembros de las familias reales danesa y sueca cuentan la fascinante historia de las joyas reales y los destinos humanos que hay detrás de las gemas. La historia de las Joyas Reales, las Casas Reales y la historia del arte de las gemas nunca se ha contado antes.

Un mundo fascinante que pocos conocen, pero del que a muchos les gustaría saber más.
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#realbritánica #documental #familiareal

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The English Queen Elizabeth the 2nd is frequently seen wearing a magnificent tiara that once belonged to the Russian Grand Duchess Vladimir. One of the most unique characters in the Russian Imperial family. The Vladimir Tiara is one of the few pieces of jewelry that survived the Russian Revolution, all thanks to the heroic deeds of one brave man. This is the story of the incredible number of unique jewels once owned by the Imperial House of Russia, whose power and riches have never been equaled. It’s a symbol, and it’s a way to show your power, your strength, your prestige. These impressive jewels, tell the story of a family’s unlimited power and their dramatic fall following the execution of the last Tsar. As they had got rid of the family, there was no point in keeping the jewels, and they needed the money anyway. The story begins with a coronation of Nicholas the 2nd. The last Emperor of Russia is crowned in 1896. For the coronation ceremony Nicholas the 2nd is wearing all the symbols of imperial power, which for generations have represented the unfathomable power and riches of a single family. The Imperial Crown is a masterpiece of contemporary lapidary art. First worn by Catherine the Great in 1762. And now, for one last time by Nicholas the 2nd. Next to Nicholas the 2nd is his wife, Alexandra. Now the new Tsarina. For this special occasion, a new Empress’s crown has been made. Since her mother in law, Danish born Dowager Empress Dagmar, is still the 1st Lady of the Imperial realm. The Empress wore all the large pieces of jewelry and the glitter because it was a status symbol, and the people liked to see the Romanoffs kitted out in all their jewels. All the members of the Russian Imperial family are present at the coronation, and all the grand duchesses are wearing their finest jewelry for the occassion. As a memento, 18 grand Duchesses have all been given a special coronation brooch by the Tsar. Most of these magnificent jewels have disappeared today. But in the Danish royal house, a single coronation brooch inherited from Grand Duchess Anastasia still exists. Next to Anastasia is Nicholas the 2nd’s aunt the Grand Duchess Vladimir. Just one of her tiaras are still in existence today. It is worn by the English Queen Elizabeth. The magnificence of the Imperial court surpasses everything, and the wealth of the Imperial family is enormous. The palaces were absolutely enormous. It’s very hard in this day and age to imagine what they were like. I do know that my father always referred to Buckingham Palace as a cottage compared to the palaces of Russia, particularly the Winter Palace. That was vast, and he used to play games up and down the corridors with the Tsar’s girls. And with his brothers he would have cycle races and roller skating, competitions up and down, because they were so enormous and so wide. It was like going up and down one of our country lanes. Everything at the exalted Russian court is done in French. Remember that all of Europe was impressed by and turned towards Paris. But one of the countries that was the most influenced by France was Russia. More or less everything in Russia was influenced by Parisian fashion and way of life. They spoke French at the court, table service was done in the French manner. And even the Clothes. People bought their clothing in Paris, and they sent their lingerie to cleaning in Paris. Through the generations, the Russian Imperial House has acquired the largest jewels of the most impeccable quality. The court is like the Arabian Nights, with diamonds the size of walnuts, rubies and emeralds. Red is blood and green like life itself. Sapphires the size of dove eggs and pearls like giant raindrops mounted in perfectly balanced rows of platinum, gold and glittering brilliance. Everything sparkles like the water of a fountain filled with all the colors of the rainbow. The Russians liked to exhibit their jewellery, and to display their fortune and their taste through jewellery. My grandmother always talked about the amazing glitter of the jewels of the women at the ball and the room itself, with its amazing chandeliers and everything and the candles. It was totally unforgettable experience. The court jeweler Fabergé is renowned for making one artiscitc masterpiece after the other for the Russian Imperial Family. Fabergé, who’s the most famous jeweler of the Imperial Russia, practically did not design jewelry. He designed objects…every kind. The Russian had to translate everything into gold and precious stone. So there was Fabergé to translate your writing instruments, your value or whatever, into a precious object. Every year, the Faberge workshop delivers magnificent and unique Easter eggs that the Tsar gives to his nearest and dearest. This egg, with hand-painted pictures of Danish castles, was made from his Danish mother. This imperial eggs by Fabergé all had a surprise or a secret. You would push a little diamond and then something will spring out of the egg. There is also one egg which has the reproduction of the Trans-Siberian train this size in platinum. There is one with the imperial yachts or the reproduction of the Imperial carriage. All that was the charm of it. It was called the surprise that the Emperor would give to his wife or to his mother. In 1903, Nikolas the 2nd and Alexandra arrange a magnificent ball in the Winter Palace, and all the guests are supposed to arrive dressed in suitable costumes from the 17th century. Costume balls in a royal court is a very old tradition. The difference with our costume balls when we go to costume balls, we go, or we we we hire costumes or whatever, and we cover ourselves in fake jewelry. There the jewels were real. And they had the costumes, the brocaded costume inlaid with real precious stone. The hosts have gone to great lengths with their costumes and even order special jewelry at Fabergé. The hat of the Emperor Nicholas the 2nd, which reproduced exactly the hat of a 17th century Tsar, is inlaid with real stone. And the Empress asked Fabergé to make a necklace with the most enormous stones that there was. And there is an emerald, which is exactly this size hanging there on the picture. The Tsar’s aunt, Grand Duchess Vladimir, is wearing a magnificent costume. For this special occasion, she has fastened a chain of large and rare emeralds on her headdress. She was given this unique chain as a wedding present from her father in law, Tsar Alexander the 2nd. My great grandmother, who had a great propensity for jewels. She was a lady who loved pretty things, and they came to her and she had the means to buy them. And she was a terrific spender. And her rooms in Saint Petersburg, apparently in the Government Palace, were full of jewels. She had a cabinet in each corner of her room, according to the color of the jewels. So she had a white cabinet, which was diamonds and and a green one, and a blue and a red one. and her collection was extraordinary. People came to see her. They would be taken down. She had great delight in showing all these jewels off. Grand Duchess Vladimir comes originally from the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in northern Germany. In 1874 she marries the second son of the Russian Tsar, Grand Duke Vladimir. Having first abandoned her German fiancé, Fürst Georg von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Georg Schwarzburg was much older man who came from a rather unexciting German family, and I’m not sure how exciting he himself was. Poor thing! Anyhow, so when the Grand Duke Vladimir came on the scene, she was very taken with him and for a young, ambitious woman, he was clearly a far more interesting proposition as a lifetime partner. And, it was a very successful marriage. For her engagement with the Tsar’s son, Grand Duchess Vladimir is wearing a tiara with a 137 carat sapphire. This magnificent blue gemstone, the size of a pigeon’s egg, is recycled 35 years later by the jeweler Cartier, who makes a new tiara inspired by the Russian kokoshnik style. An extra feature is the fact that the sapphires can be removed from the tiara and used as individual brooches. The kokosnic is an old Russian tradition of a hair, ornament that, women and young ladies wear. It’s a kind of tiara, but in silk or in velvet, the richer you are, the more jewels you add to this pattern. And in the end, you design tiaras which looked like the kokosnic. The Imperial family had many. Grand Duchess Vladimir, of course, had dozens of kokosnic all inlaid with sapphires, emeralds, rubies, diamonds. pearls, whatever you want. The finest jewelers are found in Paris At Chaumet and Cartier, the members of the Imperial family. All the fashionable sets of jewelry designed to underline the imperial splendor. They would order the jewels at Cartier or Chaumet. Very often the Russian like, Grand Duchess Vladimir would not buy a readymade piece of jewelry. She would bring her own precious stone from the Russian treasure and ask Cartier or Chaumet, “could you mount it?” So he would mount or make a lot of design, or she would come and say, “I would like this kind of design..” it was a unique piece, designed for her. For her silver anniversary in 1899, the Grand Duchess is given a very modern piece of jewelery – the waterfall tiara, made by the jeweler Chaumet in Paris. The court jeweler Bolin runs a large shop covering several storeys in Saint Petersburg, next to the Winter Palace. For more than 100 years, Bolin has supplied the Russian Imperial family with the most magnificent jewels. Among other things, the company has made a tiara with the finest pearls set in diamonds, ordered by Tsar Alexander the 1st. The tiara is part of the Russian Crown Jewels. But the Tsar’s mother, the Dowager Empress Dagmar, is so fond of this particular piece of jewelry, she keeps it at home. The Tsar’s wife, Alexandra, also prefers to wear the Bolin masterpieces. The Last Empress, she was very coquette in a way. she had a great sense of fashion. She dressed beautifully. And also she liked jewelry. And either she designed it. Either she had some design and, instruction, She had twp favorite tiaras. One was enormous in diamonds and pearls with which is photographed. I think this tiara disappeared in the revolution. This particular tiara is also made by Bolin. And another one fabulous with in the middle a pink diamond, which, as you know, is a great rarity. This tiara is not made by Bolin, but is used with a wedding crown created by Bolin. It is a tradition in the Russian Imperial family that all the Grand Duchesses wear this set for their wedding. In 1902 it is time for Grand Duchess Vladimir’s daughter Helena to wear the characteristic bridal set. Bolin has probably also created Grand Duchess Vladimir’s favorite tiara, the circle Tiara, with a large drop pearls. Fearing and an assassination attempt, Nicholas the 2nd and the Tsarina have moved outside of Saint Petersburg. The people are starving, and the gap between the ordinary poor Russians and the overwhelmingly wealthy imperial family is enormous. The big drama is that the Imperial family are totally cut from the Russian reality. They are totally unknown by the people. No one knows them. They are stuck in the palaces. The last emperors, they had the best intentions. They were nice people. They were good people. They were not cruel, but they had no idea of the reality. With the Tsar and Tsarina out of town, Grand Duchess Vladimir is the absolute ruler of society circles, and her magnificent salons are the venue for the cultural and social life of the upper class. This is definitely not to the Tsarina’s liking. Empress Alexandra was jealous of that and so they hated each other deadly. And there were endless intrigues by Grand Duchess Vladimir against the Empress. So that’s went from the beginning wrong. And Grand Duchess Vladimir’s intrigue went a bit far in the sense that it was not only, society gossip or nasty comments. I think at a certain point she wanted to have the Emperor and the Empress removed and her son to become the Emperor. Grand Duchess Vladimir also has her own opinion of how her nephew, Tsar Nicholas the 2nd is supposed to rule the enormous country. I think she frightened everyone. And then she was a terror, and everyone was, terribly frightened by her in the family. She knew what she wanted, and she imposed her will to everyone. My great grandmother was always on the move, and she knew everybody and was very much in touch with everybody. And, she liked to feel, I think she was at the center of all the big decisions that were made in Europe. So she had, in that sense, a grasp of everything that was going on. I’d probably say a lot of it, too. Grand Duchess Vladimir lives in close proximity to the palace. She takes part in all official events, in this case easily recognizable and her dark dress following just behind the Tsar and Tsarina. In Russia the Youssoupov family is by far the richest, surpassing even the Imperial family with their enormous possessions. The Romanoffs were very rich, but my father always told me that the Youssoupov’s were far, far richer in land and money. I believe that Felix Yusupov had 40 estates in Russia to choose from, plus a good few palaces. The Youssoupov’s private collection of jewelry and art is second to none, and there is only one heir. The son, Felix. The Youssoupov families wealth was legendary, and Felix himself was also a bit of a legend in his lifetime, and since Felix went to Oxford in his youth and he was very, very beautiful. But he had, relationships. He was. These days you would call him bisexual. In those days there wasn’t such a thing. he had relationships with both men and women at Oxford, smoked opium and drank a lot. But then I suppose that was rather 21st century. But long before its time. Felix is thoroughly testing the limits of good behavior. He performed secretly as a female singer in a nightclub, and he goes to the opera dressed in his mother’s dresses and jewelry. On one occasion, it almost ends in disaster. Once my grandfather went to the opera with his brother Nicolas and he dressed up as a woman. He put on the jewels of his mother, pearls, earings, and of they went. Edward the 7th was also present that evening, and when he saw this beautiful woman, he wanted to know who she was. Someone told my grandfather and he hurried out of there, imagining he could get in trouble. It is extremely important that the wealthy Felix marries sensibly, and Dagmar’s granddaughter Irina, who is also the niece of Nicholas the 2nd is a suitable match. They wanted him to marry well and produce an heir, and he set his sights on my aunt and he fell completely in love with her. My grandfather Grand Duke Alexander wasn’t overly keen because he’d heard so many rumors about the lifestyle of Felix. Felix did actually tell my aunt, Irina, who was always known as Titi in the family – everything. He didn’t hold anything back and she accepted it. So anyhow, they married, and I believe they were incredibly happy. Felix and Irina marry in 1914. At the wedding, Irina is wearing a very modern tiara, a gift from Felix’s mother. Cartier has made the tiara from pressed Crystal And at the French jeweler Chaumet another exquisite gift awaits the young bride. Felix Yusupov and my aunt Irina, went to Paris for the honeymoon in 1914. And there he presented my aunt as a wedding present a famous tiara called the sunburst tiara. Really really pretty. And it glittered, and it was fantastic. And when he presented it to her, he said that she didn’t need any jewels to make her any more beautiful, which was just as well, because, later on, after the revolution, she didn’t have any jewels because she had to sell them for food. On the occasion of the wedding. French jeweler Chaumet exhibits the jewels the company has made for Irina. Later on, Felix makes a scrapbook of the jewels. There is a family album where you see my grandmothers’s wedding gifts. And my… grandfather coloured them, so you can see whether they are emeralds or sapphires, and he noted the carat or each one, 12 carats, 3 carats or 24 carats. So it’s a very interesting album, where we can see all these beautiful jewels. Felix’s jewel collection is unique, containing, among others, the famous La Pelegrina pearl. With its extremely rare brilliance, it is the most exquisite pearl the world has ever seen. The Pearl has been known since at least 1660, and it has been owned by both the Spanish and the French royal family. In 1826 it was bought by Felix’s grandmother, Tatiana Yusupov, who wore it in her right ear. The art of seeding pearls wasn’t developed until the beginning of the 1900s. This is why pearls before that time were extremely rare and just as valuable as diamonds. I have this little story that I love. My great-grandfather takes "La Peligrina" to Cartier to get an estimation. When monsieur Cartier, who knew the pearl well, saw it, he said: "This is a thief", because he didn’t know my great-grandfather. So fhe calls both the police and my grandfather. The police came, and my grandfather came and saved his father. Felix and Irina travel a lot in Europe, and since they are not part of the inner circle of the Imperial family, they can move freely, In the early days of the revolution. He took a lot of artworks and jewels out of Russia. Before the revolution, he owned, a house in Switzerland with a car. He owned an apartment in Paris. I think he owned one in London, not knowing that there was going to be a revolution. But he needed his lovely things around him. Only a few people know that the heir to the throne, the Tsar son Alexi, is suffering from hemophilia. The mysterious monk Rasputin has moved in with the Imperial family, who hopes he can save the boy. But Rasputin also seems to gain more and more influence over Nicholas the 2nd, and that worries a lot of people, including the usually carefree Felix Youssoupov. Felix and Grand Duke Dimitri decided they would bump off Rasputin, who at the time was the and Tsarina personal guru. The rest of Russia was very dubious about this guy, and Felix I think, didn’t like the power that he thought he had over the court. So he and the Grand Duke decided they would get rid of him, which eventually they did by poisoning and shooting three times. And then they killed him. Nicholas the 2nd is facing serious challenges. Strikes are spreading from the railroads to factories and public institutions. The people are freezing and starving to death. Grand Duchess Vladimir is not impressed with her nephew, Nicholas the 2nd and his abilities to rule the country, and she is extremely concerned for the future of the Imperial family in Russia. The situation in St. Petersburg is tense, and she decides to go to the spa town of Kislovodsk. She felt threatened and she felt unsafe, and she felt vulnerable, so she went to the Caucasus. When everything was left, where she had left it because they all thought they were coming back in a few months when this thing blew over. This will, in fact, be the last time the Grand Duchess sees St. Petersburg. She has left all her jewels in a secret safe behind the wall of her boudoir in the Vladimir Palace. In 1917, the imperial regime finally falls. Nicholas the 2nd is forced to abdicate, and soon the Russian Revolution is surging forward, led by Trotsky and Lenin. In August, the Imperial family is exiled to Siberia. The left with an entire train of luggage. And in the luggage there was a mass of jewels. mountains….bon… so they arrive at the 1st stop of their exile, which was Tobolsk, in Siberia. And there it conditions with there were prisoners, but they were quite normal, and they could receive clergy, priests and nuns from the monasteries of the neighborhood. Everybody’s keeping up their courage, believing it is only a matter of time before they are liberated. But Nicholas the 2nd still decides to hide a large part of their jewels. They put it in boxes and they ask, the priest and the nuns to hide them in the monasteries of the neighborhood. 8 months later, the family is sent to Ekaterinburg, where they are incarcerated in the Ipatiev House codenamed the "House of special purposes". When they arrived there, they understood that the conditions were not at all the same. To hide their jewels and gemstones, the women of the family sew them into their corsets. Late one night, the family is woken and taken to the cellar. Here Nicholas the 2nd and his wife and their five children are executed. When Nicholas the 2nd and his family were being murdered in the cellar by firing squad, the bullets ricocheted off the bodies of the girls and the guards couldn’t understand why this was happening, which of course stunned them, but didn’t kill them. So they had to actually stab them with the bayonet to kill them properly. The execution lasts more than 20 minutes. Later on, the jewels sewn into the clothing and hidden in the house are found. Whatever was found in the house Ipatiev and in the pit of the mine was packed and sent to Vladivostok through the Trans-Siberian. But the jewels disappeared. Someone must have stolen. No one knows how. A lot of the jewels buried in Tobolsk, the 1st place the Imperial family stayed, emerge as well. A nun breaks down following lengthy torture and discloses the location of the valuables. 4 containers filled with jewels, are dug up. The jewels were taken, photographed and then disappeared. Stolen. But not all of the imperial family’s jewels are found. The other boxes are still in Tobolsk somewhere in the monasteries around with this of jewels. Twice. We don’t know where. In the Caucasus, Grand Duchess Vladimir realizes she is unable to return to Saint Petersburg, where she hasmoney and jewels locked away in the safe in the Vladimir Palace. She was determined to try and get these jewels out, and she was helped here by her son Boris, and they had this friend called Albert Stopford. Albert Stopford was a remarkable figure because for all his rather dandyish appearance, he must have been quite a strong character and quite a brave man. Albert Stopford is British and with his diplomatic status can move freely in chaotic Russia. He dresses like a workman and sneaks into the Vladimir Palace after dark. So he got in at night and he took with him two big Gladstone bags and, he went to the safe and he took everything out of the safe. And he managed to get these bags with the jewels. One of them apparently had 25 tiaras. So this was delicate cargo, fragile and heavy. And how to pretend that your workmen carrying a bag of old plumber’s tools, when in fact, you’re carrying that kind of cargo. And that was the easy part, because then he had two big problems – jewels and cash. And so the money had to be got to her and the jewels had to be got out of Russia. Stopford runs the risk of being shot, should he be caught with his bags stuffed with jewels. He probably hides them with the director of the Imperial Academy of Arts. The bolcheviks are keeping a close eye on Stopford, so he has problems getting the Grand Duchess’s jewels out of Russia. But finally, a solution presents itself. The British Navy has been on maneuvers in the area and is withdrawing its troops. As luck will have it, one of the Marines is also named Stopford. As a diversion, this marine is sent back to England via Siberia, Japan and America, and the next day Stopford the gentleman picks up the jewels at the Academy of Arts and travels a short distance across Europe to England, where he places the valuables in a safe deposit box in a bank. Several of the members of the Imperial family are in the Crimea under house arrest. Far from the disturbances in the major cities. Most of the grand duchesses – and the wealthy and famous families – had a house in Crimea. It was like a second St. Petersburg gathered down there. Following the murder of Rasputin, Felix Youssoupov and Irina are in the Crimea in their large summer residence, but the couple are not under house arrest like other members of the Imperial family. Because he wasn’t an Imperial prince, and my aunt was considered not imperial because she married him, Felix was considered by the Bolsjeviks not to be of importance or such importance as the Romanoffs, so he was able to travel around from Moscow to Saint Petersburg to the Crimea without being totally detected. Unlike my great grandmother Maria Dagmar that were under house arrest on their estate. Irina’s grandmother, the Dowager Empress, has left her largest and most magnificent jewels in Saint Petersburg, as she thought her stay in the Crimea would be a short one. She has only brought her everyday jewels to the Crimea. Felix decides to get Dagmar’s jewels out of St. Petersburg – among others her favourite tiara with pearls and diamonds. Felix went to her palace in Saint Petersburg to look for her jewels, and he found they had already been taken her big pieces of jewels. So he was the unfortunate person that had to go back to the Crimea and tell my great grandmother that the jewels had already been found and gone. Dagmar refuses to believe her son is dead. The brutal murder of Nicholas the 2nd and his family seals the final fall of the Russian Empire. The situation is chaotic, and in April 1919, Dagmar’s nephew, the English king, decides to get his aunt and her family out of Russia. King George the 5th sent the battleship Marlborough, which took out Felix and my aunt, the Dowager Empress, my grandmother and all my grandmother’s younger children, along with some other grand dukes and grand duchesses. It was apparently totally crammed to the guilds The Dowager Empress is proving rather troublesome when the captain tries to get her on board. He said, "look – the bolsjeviks are a few miles down the road, and if they find you, they will kill you, and you have no choice. And eventually she agreed that she would go, and she stood… on the stern of this large warship. the HMS Marlborough, and they pulled away. And she never took her eyes off Russia. And they passed another another ship coming in the other direction with White Russians on board, And when they saw who it was, standing in the stern, they broke into the Tzarish National Anthem. and then eventually she came back to London, and she became rather a nuisance. so they were quite happy to pack her off back to Denmark. As Empress of Russia, Dagmar was wearing magnificent jewels. In 1919, She is back in her native country with nothing but her everyday jewels. She does not even have a tiara. My great grandmother, Maria Dagmar, only had her small bits of jewelry which compared to most peoples, were actually quite large because I got to see some of them. It was considered, I mean you know… little trifles that you wear every day. And not only her, but her 2 daughters lived for 50 years of this little box of nothing. Back in the Caucasus, the Grand Duchess Vladimir has heard the terrible news about the execution of the imperial family. And that Empress Dagmar has left. In 1920, when the situation in Russia was very difficult, the Grand Duchess Vladimir was advised to leave Russia. "You cannot stay here" and wicked the way you said you told me to. but she said: "My son is the heir to the throne" "I can’t leave Russia for he will be the next Tsar" In 1920, the Grand Duchess Vladimir has to accept that she has to leave Russia. It is simply too dangerous for her to stay. And she travels the 500 miles to the Black Sea in her own train. She eventually managed to make her way out of Russia through Anapa, and they went actually then to Italy, because the alternative was to go directly to Constantinople, because that was a more direct route. But they were searched for, flees And she felt that was far too ignominious and undignified. so they went instead on an Italien ship, and they werent searched. Her good friend Albert Stopford receives her in Venice. He escorts her to the French spa town Contrexeville, where she has gone to take the waters numerous times. And then when she arrived in Contrexeville with all the pressures, and all the horrors, and all the doubts, and all the pace of change and the destination of her circumstances, she was very weak, and she died in Contrexeville in 1920. The Grand Duchess is buried in the Russian Orthodox Church she herself had built 9 years earlier. Felix and Irina who escaped and left Russia with Dagmar have settled in Paris. Just like the Dowager Empress, they were unable to bring the family’s enormous collection of jewels out of the country. But a pleasant surprise awaits them on arrival in Paris. I’m not sure if it was Cartier or Chaumet, but when my grandparents arrived in Paris, they received a call saying there was a big box full of gems and diamonds. It was sent from heaven, because they had completely forgotten they had these jewels at Chaumet or Cartier, I don’t remember who. They had the means to live well, and when they had no more money, they sold a piece. So all in all they had a comfortable life, with ups and downs, of course. Most of the family jewels are hidden in the Youssoupovs palaces in Russia. Felix had started concealing the family treasures in 1917. Felix had an incredible amount of valuables. Not just the most amazing collection of jewels, but paintings and artworks and China and everything and he decided, being very far thinking that the thing to do was to hide them away by building secret rooms. The servants who did it for him were incredibly trustworthy. they hid and most incredible amount over a thousand paintings went into these room, but they did different bits in the palace. The Soviet state has taken over all the Youssoupov houses and buildings and converting them into public offices. In the palace in Moscow, one of the workers makes a major find. In 1925, there was a plumbing problem in the house. And they found all the jewellery and silverware and so on that my grandparents had hide under the staircase, hoping to find it, when they came back from their exile. Amongst the jewels they found was a sunburst tiara that he’d given my aunt, as a wedding present. Chaumet’s Sunburst tiara, the many unique diamond necklaces, the Cartier crystal tiara, as well as numerous jewels of the highest quality are now going to be lost forever. On one of the photos we saw in the newspapers, they had laid out all the jewellery on a table along with the silverware and other things. On the photo you can see how they are taking gems out of the jewellery to keep them, it’s a known fact. In one of the photos, the tiara belonging to Irina is being stripped of emeralds and diamonds. The Bolsheviks didn’t want the little jewels, they only wanted the big stones that were the size of pigeon eggs and cherries. So what they did with the little ones? I do not know. But they prized out all the big stones that went to auction to raise money for them. Following the confiscation, all Felix has left of the jewels that have been brutally destroyed are the memories and the drawings in his scrapbook. That is one of the few things that Yusupov took out of Russia. And 60 years after his wedding, he painted on the drawings the color of the stone because he remembered that this barrier had been emeralds. These had been sapphires who would paint red, blue, white, green, whatever to remind what the stones were. 60 years after his marriage. Felix stubbornly holds on to the world’s most beautiful pearl, La Pelegrina to the bitter end. But in 1953, he is forced to sell that as well. The pearl is not seen again until 1987, when it is sold at Christie’s for $463,800. The buyer is anonymous, and the Pearl’s destiny is unknown. In a very short time, the Soviet government has confiscated jewels, gemstones, gold, silver and art for billions of dollars. The Soviet regime was bankrupt. There was no money. They were invaded by everywhere, by the West Russians, by the British, by the French, I mean they were of on the verge of collapsing. So they needed money. In the 1920s, Immanuel Snowman, who owned Wartski was one of the first to go out there and buy up all my family’s artworks, and particularly the Faberge eggs. Snowman is allowed to buy 12 eggs. Today, the Faberge Easter eggs are considered almost irreplaceable. In 2004, Russian businessman Viktor Vekselberg buys 9 Faberge eggs from an American collector for $90 million. And they are all in a museum in Russia. Now, as a result of this massive generosity, because, he wanted them to come back to their home. The Soviet system is in need of enormous sums of money for propaganda and to support the world revolution. And the imperial jewels bring in a fortune when they are sold at various auction houses all over Europe. It was the best way to get the more attention possible and many buyers. to sell it privately, It would take years, because it was such an amount of jewels that no one would have the money to buy, so it was better to advertise all over the world that the Russian jewels would be sold, and, it would attract attention. And all the buyers of all over the world, which it did. The imperial splendor is sold to the highest bidder. 11 Thousand pounds 500 … 11 Thousand 5 Hundred pounds. Anymore? Empress Dagmar’s Tiara with pearls and diamonds, the one that Felix tried in vain to retrieve at her palace is sold at the Christie’s auction house. And this was bought at the time by Gladys – Duchess of Marlborough. Gladys has come to London from America and has married the 9th Duke of Marlborough. The marriage only lasts a short while, and so does her ownership of Empress Dagmar’s Tiara. and it went from owner to … from owner to owner. And the last owner and the last buyer was Madame Imelda Marcos. And it’s supposedly still in her safe. In 1978, the Philippines first lady had no doubts about the special story of this tiara, and she just had to have it Dagmar’s Was tiara now in the possession of Imelda Marcos was one of the many jewels exhibited before the Great Sale. Only a few of the precious objects from this exhibition are still in existence. The Soviet government sold off, all the jewels that they had and they sold off the crown the last Empress wore her coronation. of course, as they had got rid of the family, there was no point in keeping the jewels, and they needed the money anyway. One of the Empress crowns is sold and hasn’t been seen since. The diamond studded bridal crown, worn by all the grand duchesses on their wedding day can be seen at the Hillwood Museum in Washington, DC. The strange thing is that Trotsky insisted on keeping the most historical piece the reminders of the Empire, that they should have hated it. No, they kept. Today, the Tsar’s enormous crown and regalia, all worn by Nicholas the 2nd at his coronation in 1896, as well as the remaining Empress’s crown, can be seen in the Moscow Kremlin The Swedish Foreign Office is tidying up one of their archives and finds two pillowcases marked property of Grand Duchess Vladimir. Inside a more than 100 valuable objects, a substantial number of them made by the finest artisans of Russia. Fabergé and Bolin. These are not jewels, these are men’s things, many of which actually belonged to my great grandfather. These are cigaret cases, cufflinks, sort of things that men would wear. The director of the Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg have been looking after the pillowcases since Stomford smuggled them out of the Vladimir Palace, along with the Grand Duchess’s jewels. Following the Communist takeover, the director hands them over to the neutral Swedish legation in the city, which sends them by courier to be deposited at the archives in Stockholm. And they suddenly rang up Prince Nikolav Romanov. And they said to him, we found all these treasures. After 90 years. His first view was to inquire none too gently, what on earth the Swedes have been doing with them for 90 years. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome here at Sotheby’s at today’s sale of Romanoff heirlooms. I’ve never sold pillowcases before, but here is the 1st one here with a lot of interest. I have to start with 3500 And sold – thank you very much. 500,000. You’re bid at 500,000 in advance at 500,000 last chance selling for 500,000. And it’s sold. Thank you Sir. We decided the best thing to do would be to sell them. And they were sold by Sotheby’s. And it was extraordinary. I went into Sotheby’s and saw them, and they were rather amazing. with one particular, box case about this size with two little portrait miniatures of my grandparents. It was rather extraordinary, a sort of green and white striped box, made by Faberge. For, well actually Vladimir. And it’s very unusual in these days to find anything of that era that’s never been seen before. It’s never happened before. After 90 years. So with promotions, a great deal of interest, extraordinary story. 350. 380, 400. It’s a pity that none of us could afford to keep 480…I’m going to sell it. Hold on. Last chance for 480 Thousand Pounds. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. The sale brought in 7 million pounds. Following the death of Grand Duchess Vladimir in 1920, her 4 children inherits the magnificent jewels that Stopford smuggled out of Russia, risking his life in the process. It is because of him, The English Queen Elizabeth can wear the famous Vladimir tiara today. We welcome Your Royal Highnesses on your first official visit to the United Kingdom. None of the Grand Duchesses imposing jewels are in the possession of her descendants today. The children had to sell them to survive. New owners are found discreetly all over the world in the Cartier customer files. Among these jewels which were sold was the famous emerald necklace of Grand Duchess Vladimir. Part of it was remounted by Cartier for Barbara Hutton. Part of it ended in another setting for Elizabeth Taylor. who wore Grand duchess Vladimir’s emeralds. It is Elizabeth Taylor’s husband, Richard Burton, who buys the rare emeralds and gives them to his wife. The Grand Duchess’s impressive sapphire tiara is sold to King Ferdinand of Romania, who gives it to his wife Marie. In 1931, Marie of Romania gives the sapphire Tiara as a wedding present to her daughter Ileana. Following World War 2, Ileana flees Romania with her family. They settle in America and to raise money for the education of her children, Ileana sells the tiara. The gems have probably been sold separately later on. The tiara has never been seen since. Grand Duchess Vladimir’s daughter Helena, who lives in exile with her husband Prince Nicholas of Greece, sells her mother’s favorite tiara, the Vladimir Tiara To Queen Mary of England for 28,000 pounds. Queen Mary wears her new tiara at the opening of the British Parliament in 1924. This is an amazing tiara which is called in the family the convertible tiara because it has huge circles of diamonds. And inside the circle you can you can put a drop like that. And there were pearls and there were emeralds. So it was called convertible tiara, which you could take all the drops up and put another color in if you felt like that. Queen Mary adds a new variation to the tiara. 100 years earlier, her grandmother had won 40 emeralds at a charity lottery, and Mary’s unmarried brother, Frank, has given all of them to his mistress. Following his death in 1910, Mary has managed to get the Cambridge Emeralds back and they are now mounted in the Vladimir Tiara. Today it is Queen Mary’s granddaughter, Queen Elizabeth the 2nd, who frequently wears the tiara. The Vladimir Tiara is the last of the great treasures, telling the story of the unique jewels. Once found in the realm of the Tsar. Today, most of these imperial masterpieces have either been stolen, destroyed, or of completely disappeared. But no matter where they are today, they bear silent witness to both the magnificence and the fall of the Tsar’s Empire.