Her Majesty wore this for her 90th birthday in Windsor in 2016.
The symbolic 'Girls of Great Britian and Ireland' Tiara is one of my favourite pieces.
THE QUEEN’S
JEWELLERY
Before long, my role as Senior Dresser and Designer for Her Majesty evolved. Owing to the strength of my relationship with The Queen and the mutual respect we shared, in 1998 I was given the additional titles of Personal Advisor and Curator to Her Majesty The Queen. I still continued to design outfits for Her Majesty, and did this mainly in the evenings and at weekends. As Personal Advisor, I am in the privileged position of not only advising The Queen on her outfits and hats, but also looking after Her Majesty’s health and well-being, and communicating with her team of expert professors and doctors.
As Curator, I would be responsible for The Queen’s personal jewellery and certain pieces from the Crown Jewels, as well as The Queen’s Insignia. It is a great honour and privilege to be entrusted with the care of The Queen’s private jewellery and to help select items that are worn on a daily basis.
One of the first things I wanted to do in this new role as Curator was to find a jeweller with whom I could build a relationship, as the previous Crown Jeweller was due to retire. They would oversee one of the rarest collections of gems and historical pieces, some of which have never been seen, and would need to be extremely knowledgeable about the repair and restoration of antique jewellery. And, as is the case with all staff members in the Royal Household, they would need to be very discreet.
Having discussed this idea with Her Majesty, who agreed, I knew exactly where to begin my search; the Royal Palace itself, which often proved to be a fountain of knowledge. Not wanting to rouse anyone’s suspicions, I mentioned to several people that I was looking to commission a jeweller to design something for myself, and time and time again the same name was suggested: Mr Harry Collins from G. Collins & Sons, who was based in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent. Her Majesty often chooses smaller, family-run businesses to work with and was not in the slightest bit bothered by the fact that Mr Collins was based outside of London, so a date was soon set for him to come to Buckingham Palace and bring a selection of his work.
A week later, a very anxious Mr Collins arrived for his appointment, unaware that I had arranged for Her Majesty to join us. Shortly before The Queen’s arrival, I asked him to display his silverware on the table and wait outside the room. Understandably, Harry seemed a little unnerved as he left. Her Majesty joined me to review his work and she was keen to purchase a few salvers and trinkets, so I proceeded to go and bring Mr Collins back into the room. I had to put him under pressure to see how he would cope, especially if I gave him a particular piece of jewellery from The Queen’s collection. I needed to be sure that he would be able to work under stress if necessary.
I always find it fascinating to see how differently people respond on first meeting The Queen. Unsurprisingly, Mr Collins was rather taken aback, and after the formal introductions, he began to discuss his work with Her Majesty, going into detail about his style and techniques. The Queen kept glancing in my direction and I knew from the look on her face that she was happy – this was her seal of approval and a signal to present Mr Collins with a beautiful leather fitted case which contained the Vladimir Tiara.
The Vladimir Tiara is made up of fifteen intertwined diamond-set ovals from which hang pendant pearls. The pearls can be interchanged with emeralds.
I brought the case in and placed it on the table. Then I opened the box and took out the tiara, handing it to Mr Collins and explaining what was needed. Mr Collins delicately took the tiara from me and held it as gently as one would hold a baby. Carefully turning the headpiece to examine its diamonds and pear-shaped, cabochon-cut emeralds, he was clearly transfixed and I noticed that he kept staring at the tiara and Her Majesty in turn. It struck me that he was frozen to the spot – still smiling, but saying no words: it was as though he had stage fright. Luckily, The Queen is very adept in these situations and simply flashed Mr Collins a huge smile which helped snap him out of his trance.
‘Mr Collins,’ Her Majesty said calmly, ‘do you think you would be able to alter the casting on the drops of the emeralds?’ Harry agreed, so I asked how much the re-casting would cost. ‘Not much,’ was his response, so I asked again. Once again, his response was vague and he looked nervously towards Her Majesty, only for her to say, ‘Don’t look at me, Angela does the money’. Putting Mr Collins under pressure, I asked one final time, ‘Please can you give me an estimate, Mr Collins?’ and he finally quoted a price which was agreeable to everyone.
The pearls for the Vladimir Tiara are kept in numbered pouches and it can take nearly an hour to change them.
Mr Collins has been an integral part of our team over the years and in June 2000, The Queen had a special request for him – to design a special piece of jewellery for her mother, Queen Elizabeth, to mark her 100th birthday. Needless to say, he was thrilled to be asked, and when Mr Collins returned a couple of weeks later to discuss some ongoing restoration work, he told Her Majesty that he had, ‘come up with a lovely idea for your mum’s present’, producing a superbly designed brooch. It was a very unusual piece, handmade in 18-carat gold with a cabochon-cut centre of rock crystal and featuring a painstakingly fine hand-painted centenary rose set among 100 diamonds, to give the appearance that it is floating.
The Queen’s special handmade birthday gift for The Queen Mother.
The Queen was delighted. When I escorted Mr Collins out of the Palace that day, I thought it was important to point out that although it wasn’t a major issue, it was more correct to refer to members of the Royal Family by their full title, rather than ‘mum’. Mortified, he asked me to pass on his apologies and even informed me later that the next day he’d purchased a copy of the Debrett’s book on etiquette.
A few weeks later, the day came to present Her Majesty with the brooch, and upon his arrival, it was clear that Mr Collins had been carefully studying how one should supposedly behave around The Queen. He greeted Her Majesty and presented her with the magnificent fitted case in which the brooch sat and, having read somewhere that where possible, one should not turn their back on The Queen, he proceeded to walk away backwards. Unfortunately, Mr Collins failed to notice Linnet, one of Her Majesty’s corgis, lying on the floor behind him. He tripped over Linnet and ended up next to the dog, lying spread-eagled on the carpet. Terrified that he’d hurt one of The Queen’s dogs, Harry frantically rubbed Linnet’s chest, apologising profusely, but Her Majesty reassured Mr Collins and told him not to worry: it was not his