The Hyderabad necklace is a diamond necklace given to Princess Elizabeth as a wedding gift in 1947 by Asaf Jah VII, the Nizam of Hyderabad, at the time one of the wealthiest rulers in the world. The Nizam offered her the choice of two Cartier jewels as a wedding present; she selected a floral diamond tiara and a diamond necklace from Cartier London's stock.
Design and provenance
The necklace was created by Cartier in 1935, originally sold in 1936, then reacquired by Cartier in 1937 before eventually being selected as the wedding gift. Its platinum setting features a chain of 38 brilliant-cut diamonds, with a detachable double-drop pendant incorporating 13 emerald-cut diamonds and a pear-shaped drop. A feature on the necklace appeared in Harper's Bazaar in 1935, modelled by the Countess of Warwick.
The Nizam's gift also included a diamond tiara designed around three detachable floral brooches. The tiara was dismantled in 1973, and its diamonds were incorporated into the Burmese Ruby Tiara. The three detachable brooches from the original design continued to be worn separately.
Public record
The necklace appears in the first official portraits of Queen Elizabeth II, photographed by Dorothy Wilding shortly after the accession in 1952. Those portraits were used as the basis for the Queen's image on postage stamps and banknotes across the Commonwealth, making it one of the most reproduced Cartier pieces of the twentieth century.
The necklace has been loaned to Catherine, Princess of Wales, who first wore it in 2014 at the National Portrait Gallery and wore it again on subsequent formal occasions.
The 1947 royal wedding generated multiple significant commissions for Cartier London. The Williamson Pink Diamond, given as a wedding gift by Canadian geologist John Williamson, was also mounted by the firm in the same period, producing the jonquil-flower brooch that Queen Elizabeth wore throughout her reign.
Sources
- Francesca Cartier Brickell, The Cartiers (Ballantine Books, 2019), ch. 4 (“Jacques, 1906–1919”) and ch. 10 (“Cousins in Austerity, 1945–1956”)
- Hans Nadelhoffer, Cartier: Jewelers Extraordinary (Thames and Hudson, 1984; revised 2007), pp. 73, 155 et al.
