The coronation of King Edward VII took place on 9 August 1902 at Westminster Abbey, delayed from the originally planned date of 26 June by an operation the King required in the weeks beforehand. The ceremony marked the formal transition from the Victorian era and was the first British coronation of the twentieth century, drawing the European aristocracy and royal houses to London for an occasion that required jewels on a scale rarely seen in a single gathering.
Cartier's position at this moment was the result of years of work by Louis Cartier and his father Alfred Cartier. The garland style of jewellery the firm had developed, working in platinum to create light, delicate settings for diamonds, was exactly what the Edwardian court required. Tiaras, necklaces, brooches, and parures in the new style were in demand from aristocratic clients preparing for the ceremony, and Cartier supplied a number of significant pieces for the occasion.
The phrase most closely associated with this period is the one attributed to Edward VII himself: "the jeweller of kings, the king of jewellers." Whether spoken on a specific occasion or accumulated through the firm's own reputation over time, it captured something real about the relationship Cartier had built with European royalty in the years surrounding the coronation. Queen Alexandra became one of Cartier's most significant clients, and the royal warrant that followed formalised a connection that had been building since the firm's move to 13 rue de la Paix in Paris.
The coronation coincided with the establishment of Cartier London at 4 New Burlington Street in 1902, timed in part to serve the English clientele who required pieces for the ceremony and the social season surrounding it. The timing was not accidental. Louis Cartier and his brothers understood that proximity to the royal court and the aristocracy who gathered around it was central to the firm's position, and the London branch placed Cartier directly in that world.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 2 and ch. 3
- Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary (Thames and Hudson, 1984; revised 2007), pp. 51, 55 et al.
- Wikipedia: Coronation of Edward VII
