Sapphires in Sweden

When Queen Silvia of Sweden is in full dress she often
wears a large garniture in sapphires and diamonds.
Again it is one of the Napoleonic parures that made
its way to the Swedish Queen. Now the Leuchtenberg
parure, as it is called, consists of a tiara in a vast
diamond setting, earrings, a magnificient collier,
a brooch and two hairpins. It is so characteristic
of the Napoleon jewellery with its large stones
very elegantly framed with diamonds.

Originally belonging to the Empress Josephine,
her grandmother, Princess Josefina of Leuchtenberg
had the beautiful jewels with her when in 1823
she married the Crown Prince of Sweden, later
King Oscar I. After marrying Napoleon and through
her years as Empress, Josephine had ordered many
parures for the crown and for her private use.
One of the private garnitures was the sapphire parure.

In her will Queen Josefina left the sapphires to
her grandchild, later King Gustav V of Sweden and
his wife, Queen Victoria, born a princess of Baden.
Gustav had the jewellery made part of the Bernadotte
Family Foundation so that the sapphires could be
worn by all Swedish Queens. Victoria, Louise and
Princess Sibylla often wore them, as does Queen Silvia.