Thank you to all who joined Part I of 'The Cartiers and the British Royal Family'

Well, that was majestic! Thank you to all who joined Part I of 'The Cartiers and the British Royal Family' live session yesterday. It was such fun to explore the stories behind some of the phenomenal jewels in the #RoyalCollection with @caroline.de.g who – as those of you who tuned in will know – is a wealth of knowledge on the subject.

We kicked off the session in the late 19th century when, while struggling to keep his father’s small family firm afloat during the Paris commune, a young #AlfredCartier fled to London with jewels to sell to the royal court…and we journeyed all the way through to 2011 when the #DuchessofCambridge wore the Queen’s #HaloTiara as she walked down the aisle. In between, there were coronations (great for an aspiring jewellery business), presentations at court (also good), Edwardian Christmasses at Sandringham (remembered as 'Dickens in a Cartier setting' by the future #DukeofWindsor), pearl-seeking adventures, Indian celebrations, elegant royal weddings and cataclysmic world-shaking events from war to the #GreatDepression.

Caroline also explained the different types of jewels in the Royal Collection, distinguishing between #Crownjewels (kept in the Tower of London and used for coronations), historic jewels, #heirloom jewels (like the #diamond #diadem in this image, made for the coronation of #GeorgeIV) and the personal jewels of Her Majesty the Queen (incl. the Cartier necklace in this Dorothy Wilding portrait of #QueenElizabethII at the start of her reign).

For me, this was a special webinar: I grew up hearing magical stories about the Cartiers' royal creations from my grandfather so it was wonderful to share the history with so many of you. For those who couldn’t make it (apologies if zoom didn’t let you through, seems I’m not the only one interested in this topic and we hit capacity immediately), the good news is that the recording is now available and will be accessible for the next 2 weeks (via the link in my bio). Would love to know your favorite parts in comments below.

Oh and more good news is that we had just too many stories and jewels to squeeze into one event so watch this space for details of Part II...