Princess Alice of Athlone | Lady May Abel Smith | Jewels

Princess Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline, Countess of Athlone. She was Queen Victoria's last surviving grandchild and the longest living British princess of royal blood. Princess Alice was born to the Duke and Duchess of Albany on February 25, 1883, at Windsor Castle. Her father was Queen Victoria's and Prince Albert's youngest son. On March 26, 1883, she was christened in the private chapel of Windsor Castle and given the name Alice after her late paternal aunt. Princess Alice was a carrier of the haemophilia gene, which originated with Queen Victoria. The gene was passed down to Princess Alice from her father, who died of the disease when she was a year old. Princess Alice of Albany married Prince Alexander of Teck, the brother of Princess Mary, Princess of Wales, on February 10, 1904, at St. George's Chapel in Windsor. They had three children, Princess May of Teck, later Lady May Cambridge, Prince Rupert of Teck, later Viscount Tremerton, died in a car accident on August 24, 1907, Prince Maurice Francis George of Teck, died at the age of five months, following the royal family's surrender of German titles in 1917. Her husband was granted the earldom of Athelone. Following the Earl's retirement from military service following World War I, the couple's London residence was the Grace and Favour apartments in Clock House at Kensington Palace, which had previously belonged to Alice's mother. In 1923, they also acquired a country house, Brantridge Park in West Sussex. This tiara, made up of a plethora of diamond wheat ears that can be worn in a variety of versatile multiple settings, was most likely a wedding gift to Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, King George III's youngest daughter-in-law, in 1818. In 1857, her daughter, Princess Mary Adelaide, was photographed wearing a wreath of silver wheat ears. In an 1882 portrait by Hermann Schmiedchen, Princess Mary Adelaide, later Duchess of Teck, was depicted in the diamond ears of wheat tiara, with her circles necklace and sapphirste. Following the death of the Duchess of Teck in 1897, her younger son, Prince Alexander of Teck, inherited the diamond ears of wheat tiara and the Teck Sapphire Stomacher. She appeared to be wearing this magnificent tiara as her favourite, if not her sole significant tiara, to state functions. The tiara's maker and order are unknown, but it is made of at least seven yellow diamonds, the majority of which hang from the top of the tiara in bezel settings. The remaining diamonds on the tiara are set in a palmette or palm frond design, with a row of bezel-set diamonds at the top and bottom of the tiara. Alice and her tiara attended four different coronations, Edward VII, George V, George VI, and Elizabeth II, and witnessed the reigns of six distinct monarchs, Victoria, Edward VII, George V, Edward VIII, George VI, and Elizabeth II. In 1966, she penned her autobiography, For My Grandchildren, and 52 days later, in 1981, she died away peacefully in her sleep. The tiara was given to Lady May, Alice's daughter, after she passed away, however Lady May decided to sell it at auction through Christie's in December 1984. It was purchased by an unidentified buyer for $33,696. Her Serene Highness Princess May Helen Emma of Teck was born at Claremont House in Surrey, England, not far from Esher. Her parents were Princess Alice of Albany, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and Prince Alexander of Teck, a great-grandson of King George III. She was given the names May, Helen, and Emma in honour of her maternal grandmother Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany, her maternal great-aunt Queen Emma of the Netherlands, and her paternal aunt Princess Mary of Teck, who was married to King George V. Her family gave up their German titles during the First World War as a result of anti-German sentiment. Following her father's adoption of the surname, Cambridge and receipt of the Eldom of Athlone, Princess May of Teck adopted the name Lady May Cambridge. On October 24, 1931, Lady May wed Sir Henry Abel Smith at Balcombe, Sussex, not far from the Athlone home at Brantridge Park. Princess Ingrid of Sweden, one of the bridesmaids, introduced her brother Prince Gustav Adolf to Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, who would later become his wife. Elizabeth II was only five years old when she was a bridesmaid. When Lady May Abel Smith attended the coronation in 1937, she was shown donning the diamond fringe tiara that her mother-in-law, Mrs. Frances Abel Smith, had given her as a wedding present. There is no information on whether Frances Abel Smith's family owned the diamond tiara with graduated spikes. A choker with a huge cabochon gem in the center, likely an emerald, and a row of little diamonds lining its perimeter. It was probably given to her as an emerald and diamond pendant as a wedding gift by her aunt Princess Louise of Argyll, a descendant of Queen Victoria. Princess Alice owned a diamond spray brooch, diamond tassel earrings, and diamond pendants, which she wore in her later years as depicted in the photograph. In the 1920s, Princess Alice posed for a number of photos wearing her pearl and diamond corsage brooch. In 1940, she also wore it to the Earl of Athlone's inaugural speech as the Governor-General of Canada. Princess Alice wore the brooch far into old age, most notably during the wedding of Princess Anne, her goddaughter, in 1973. The pearl and diamond corsage brooch belonged to Princess Alice's only child, Lady May Abel Smith, and was passed down to her after her passing. Lady May Abel Smith wore the heirloom just once, but it appears that it avoided the fate of some of Princess Alice's other jewels, which were sold at auction, and is likely still in the possession of Princess Alice's grandchildren.