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Episode 6: The Cartiers and The British Crown - Part I
About This Talk
In November 1936, the Duke of York walked into Cartier London and bought a diamond scroll tiara. Within months he would be King. The tiara would be worn by four Queens and Princesses — and on Catherine Middleton's wedding morning, seventy-five years later.
Francesca is joined by Caroline de Guiteau, Deputy Surveyor of the Queen’s Works of Art at the Royal Collection Trust, for a deep dive into the relationship between the Cartier brothers and the British Crown — from the first receipt in the 1880s to the boldest commissions of the 1930s. The conversation opens with Caroline explaining the three distinct categories of royal jewels: the Crown Jewels, the heirloom pieces passed down through generations, and the personal collection accumulated by individual monarchs. From there, the story follows Edward VII — an enthusiastic Cartier client as Prince of Wales — who asked the brothers to open a London branch in time for his 1902 Coronation. Louis Cartier’s pioneering use of platinum allowed diamonds to appear to float in air; the commissions that followed made Cartier’s name in England overnight. The webinar covers the Edwardian debutante season (‘Pearls for your debutante daughters’), Queen Alexandra as a leader of fashion rather than a follower, the 1911 Delhi Durbar where maharajas presented rubies as big as pigeon’s eggs, and Jacques Cartier’s work with English craftsmen at 175 New Bond Street. It closes with a tiara made in 1936 — still being worn at royal weddings three generations later.
Key Moments
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