Diamonds are a pearl's best friend

There was no shortage of glitz and glamour at last month's sale of the late Countess of Airlie's jewellery, but an exquisite tiara shone the brightest

- 

TIARAS and other jewels associated with royalty have been in the headlines recently for the wrong reasons, thanks to the cherry-picker break-in at the Louvre in Paris, France.

Strangely, although many stories referenced the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa, no one, so far as I am aware, has mentioned that October 19 was not the first time that the Galerie d’Apollon, which houses many of the surviving French royal jewels, had been raided in almost the same manner. In 1976, three masked burglars climbed scaffolding put up for workers to clean the façade, smashed two windows and a showcase and made off with a bejewelled sword created for the coronation of Charles X in 1825. Two guards were clubbed, but the alarm system caused the robbers to exit otherwise empty handed. I don’t think that the sword was ever recovered, so presumably it was broken down for its stones. More was taken this time, including a tiara belonging to Empress Eugénie and Queen Marie Amélie’s superb sapphire set, but at least no one was hurt.

Another recent tiara tale was better news. Virginia, Countess of Airlie (1933-2024) elegantly followed in the courtly footsteps of her husband's grandmother (and earlier Countess of Airlie) Mabell Ogilvy, a Lady of the Bedchamber to her childhood friend Queen Mary. In performing the same office from 1973 until Elizabeth II's death, the Countess became the first American to hold the post.

The pearl and diamond tiara (