Crown jewels include crowns, orbs or small spheres, scepters, important jewelry, art pieces, swords and thrones.

By tradition, they belong to the country as a whole, but more than one ruler used them as personal possessions, which means some pieces disappeared into private hands.  Looters and invading armies also made off with priceless treasures.  Today, publicly held crown jewel collections can often be found in the great museums of the world.

We will continue to update our information.

Africa - Many of the kingdoms of West Africa had amazing royal regalia.  A great deal of it can be seen in museums.

In Nigeria, Yoruban descendants of the divine Oduduwa are permitted to wear "adentas" or tall beaded crowns that include beaded veils for the face and embroidered birds.  Fakes abound.

http://www.dia.org/collections/aonwc/africanart/symbolsofroyalpower.html

Related bios:

• Candace, Queens of Nubia / Meroe / Kush / Ethiopia
• Queen Cleopatra of Egypt
• Queen Dido of Carthage
• Queen Nefertiti of Egypt
• Queen Nzingha of Ndongo and Matamba (Angola)

 

Czech Republic

http://old.hrad.cz/castle/klenoty_uk.html

 

Egypt

http://www.ancientegypt.co.uk/pharaoh/explore/bluec_b1.html

http://www.touregypt.net/featurestories/reg.htm

Related bios:

• Candace, Queens of Nubia / Meroe / Kush / Ethiopia
• Queen Cleopatra of Egypt
• Queen Nefertiti of Egypt

 

Ethiopia - The British Museum didn’t get to be fabulous by borrowing treasures.  Greece wants it’s Elgin Marbles back, and Ethiopia wants the Maqdala Ethiopian Treasures.

http://www.petitiononline.com/afromet1/petition.html - Sign the petition

Related bio:

• Candace, Queens of Nubia / Meroe / Kush / Ethiopia

 

France - The remaining French crown jewels can be found in a small display at the Louvre Museum in Paris .  They are glorious - although Wikipedia says the crowns are now set with glass, but few in number because some vanished during the French Revolution and the rest were sold in the 19th century.

detail of the painting by Jacques-Louis David of Napoleon's sisters at his coronation - related pages: Betsy Bonaparte / Versailles Palace / Napoleon's Tomb

The Hope Diamond, now in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, DC, was cut from the Royal French Blue Diamond.

The story of the Regent Diamond has been very well told in Julie Baumgold's The Diamond.

"The crown is hurting me."  Louis XVI at his coronation    more quotations

Related bio:

• Betsy Bonaparte

 

Germany - Germany wasn't a unified kingdom until the 1800s.  Thus, there are numerous royal families and many jewels still in existence.  We saw an exhibit of the treasures of Dresden (Saxony) on a 2006 trip to Versailles in France.  Photos were not permitted, but the items on display were amazing.  Details to follow. 

 

Hungary - The highly venerated thousand year old Crown of St. Stephen has probably been through more adventures than any other piece of jewelry on the planet.  Seized by the US Army in 1945, it was held in Ft Knox, along with the US Treasury, until 1978.

http://historicaltextarchive.com/hungary/crown.html - Crown

http://historicaltextarchive.com/hungary/hungsce1.gif - Scepter

http://historicaltextarchive.com/hungary/hungorb1.gif - Orb

 

India - The emperors and rajas of India had fabulous jewels.  While many of those incredible stones and objects are now in other hands, there are many gorgeous pieces still under the control of the Indian people. 

I was overwhelmed by an exhibit of privately held Mogul jewels in 2002 in Houston (September 23, 2202 entry).

http://www.kutlehar.com/pages/symbols-of-royalty.html - Kutlehar regalia

http://kutlehar.tripod.com/ - Prince of Kutlehar

Related bio:

• Lakshmi Bhai

 

Iran - Iran’s modern monarchy was short-lived, but the late Shah knew how to pick jewelry.

http://www.geocities.com/Pentagon/Base/1406/jewel/imperialjewels.html

http://www.iranchamber.com/museum/royal_jewels/national_iranian_jewels01.php - lots of links including

http://www.iranchamber.com/museum/royal_jewels/national_iranian_jewels03.php

http://www.destinationiran.com/Treasury_of_National_Jewels.htm

 

Iraq

http://mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/specex/ur/ur.htm - 1999 exhibit of ancient jewels from the Baghdad and other museums

Related bios:

• Inanna
• Queen Zenobia of Palmyra

 

Ireland - Ireland was a land of many kings before England’s Henry II thought it would make a nice property for Prince John of Robin Hood fame.  While a few pieces of medieval Irish jewelry survive in museums and private collections, the case of the Irish “Crown Jewels” makes an interesting footnote to history.

http://www.brysonburke.com/royals_ireland.html - Irish “Crown Jewels”

     Related bio:

• Deidre

 

Italy - Italy’s long history meant lots of crowns and other fabulous jewels – we saw a heart-stopping Etruscan laurel wreath crown of gold in a special 2004 Vatican exhibit in Shawnee, Oklahoma. (scroll down to the September 5 entry)

     Related bio:

• Empress Galla Placidia
• Livia Augusta

 

Romania

http://www.tkinter.smig.net/QueenMarie/AtTheQueensTable/index.htm - Queen Marie wearing royal jewels (scroll down)

 

Russia - The czars had a fantastic collection of jewels – many of which can be found in Russian museums.

http://www.bestofrussia.ca/regalia.html

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/jewels/history.html

http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/egallery/category.asp?category=BEGEMS+AND+JEWELS

http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/MoreCrowns.html

http://www.alexanderpalace.org/jewels/treasures.html

Related bios:

• Czarina Anna Ivanova
• Czarina Marina
• Grand Duchess Tatiana

 

Scandinavia

http://www.angelfire.com/mi4/polcrt/NorthEuropeCrns.html

Related bio:

• Queen Margaret of Denmark, Sweden and Norway

   Denmark

http://www.texasgypsy.com/Scan/Jewels/

   Norway – The Norwegian crown jewels date from the 1800s.

http://www.nidarosdomen.no/english/psmaler/generellside.asp?thisId=982664690

     Related bios:

• Queen Christina
• Queen Désirée

Spain – With a number of kingdoms and several royal families succeeding one another – not to speak of the wealth of the Aztecs and Incas, one might expect more lavish jewels in Spain.

http://www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/ujg/crown01.jpg - Visigoth crown

http://homepage.mac.com/crowns/e/avreg.html - Queen Isabella’s crown

http://www.el-mundo.es/magazine/2004/231/1077896913.html - Photos and article in Spanish

http://www.etoile.co.uk/Columns/RoyalScribe/050502.html

Thailand - The Siamese royals are close to the mines of Southeast Asia, and their jewels are consequently wonderful.

http://www.geocities.com/threeb.rm/index.html - Regalia

http://www.geocities.com/threeb.rm/index.html - Links to photos from the royal collection

http://www.geocities.com/threeb.rm/index.html - Tonsure ceremony jewels

 

Turkey - The Gold Festival Throne is gold plated and covered with 957 peridots.  It's kept in Topkapi Palace.

 

United Kingdom - The queen’s regalia is kept in the Tower of London.  A tour of the historic Tower is a must-see on any trip to London.  They are breathtaking in number and beauty.  Photos are prohibited, but an article on the Tower is in progress.

When King John, who is better known for being forced to sign the Magna Carta as well as being the bad little brother of Richard the Lionheart, was on the throne, the crown jewels were lost in a swamp known as The Wash.

http://www.toweroflondontour.com/

http://inamidst.com/notes/thewash - Directions to King John’s lost treasure

      Related bios:

• Queen Boudicca of the Iceni
• Queen Berengaria of England
• Queen Guinevere of Britain
• Queen Isolde of Cornwall
• Judith, (Queen) Lady of Wessex

 

Scotland - The Scots got to keep their crown jewels, the Honours of Scotland, when their King James VI became James I of England.

http://www.rampantscotland.com/edinburgh/bledin_crown.htm

More links to the great jewels of the world:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Jewels - Short articles about royal jewelry world wide

http://www.royal-magazin.de/ - Photos and articles in both German and English

http://famousdiamonds.tripod.com/ - Photos