On February 6, Queen Elizabeth commemorated a historic 70 years on the throne with a tea party at Sandringham House, where she wore a blue crepe embroidered dress with a triple-strand pearl necklace and two rosette brooches from the Nizam crown of Hyderbad.
The Nizam crown was a detachable diamond tiara featuring an English rose pattern, which could convert into three brooches. Designed by Cartier, the tiara was a wedding gift for the then Princess Elizabeth from the Indian prince Nizam of Hyderbad, who was the world’s richest prince at that time. He also her a Cartier necklace, which is considered to be one of the most valuable jewellery pieces in the British royal collection.
The Queen wore the tiara in the years following her marriage, but she later opted to break it up. Most of the diamonds were used to create the Burmese Ruby Tiara, but the three rose brooches remain.
