The one who gets all the loot - bejeweled portraits of Queen Mary

Portrait by Arthur Trevethin Nowell, 1927.

During her time, Queen Mary - the consort of George V, grandmother of the present queen - oversaw a great wealth of jewelry being added to the already brimming royal coffers of the United Kingdom. Both in the collection of "crown jewels", and those held in private possession of the Windsor ladies. Many pieces were new-made, other were redesigns of earlier pieces. And she also purchased important pieces from those royals who had not fared so well post-WWI, most notably, the surviving members of the Russian Imperial family. (Though the Queen was a notorious magpie and "bargain-hunter" - perhaps the lingering result of a royal but embarrassingly debt-ridden childhood - rumors that appeared a few decades back that, during the Thirties, she bought up her Russian relatives' jewelry for less than market value, appear to have been proven false.)

Detail of above. The Queen is wearing the "Lover's Knot" tiara she had had made by Garrard in 1914, copied from a tiara owned by her
aunt and godmother, Augusta, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The uppermost pearls removed, it was later famously worn by
Diana, Princess of Wales.

During her husband's reign and as a dowager, she was not afraid to display this ever-accumulating bounty on her person and, like her mother-in-law Queen Alexandra before her, she was quite impressive in the sheer quantity of ornamentation she could carry. Indeed, even more so than her petite predecessor, Queen Mary's height and the great expanse of her famously prodigious bosom were able to accommodate a truly mighty jeweled burden. And her husband and the British people took great delight in their queen "all got up like a Christmas tree." This was true even after the Edwardian age that was her heyday had passed, after the fashions changed - and she stayed the same. She was reliably bejeweled and immovable. And has thus remained a royal icon.

Portrait by Richard Jack, 1927. The Queen wears the diamond and pendant pearl tiara that had belonged to the Grand Duchess Vladimir of
Russia. The large brooch centered on the Garter Riband is made up of the third and fourth cuttings from the famous Cullinan diamond;
the present Queen has referred to them as "Granny's Chips".

Portrait by Simon Elwes, 1933-34. Queen Mary wears the Vladimir tiara with the brooch from the Garrard suite of 1863 which was given as a
wedding present to the future Queen Alexandra by her fiancé, then Prince of Wales.

A colored illustration from a contemporary periodical, circa 1902.

Portrait by Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn, 1914. The queen, dressed in Garter robes, wears the "Girls of Great Britain and Ireland" tiara.
The upstanding pearls later removed, it has become iconic as worn by her grand-daughter, especially early in her reign.

Portrait by Arthur Trevethin Nowell, 1935. She again wears the "Lover's Knot" tiara.

Portrait by Simon Elwes, 1938. Dressed for the coronation of her son, George VI, she again wears the Cullinan III and IV brooch.

Portrait by David Jagger, 1930. A bit more understated, this, the queen is only wearing a few rubies and some pearls.

A watercolor sketch done from the group portrait of 1913, by Sir John Lavery, 1914.

Oil sketch of the Queen, by Sir John Lavery, done in preparation for or commemoration of the group portrait seen below, 1913.

"The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace", by Sir John Lavery, 1913.

Portrait by Leonard Campbell Taylor, 1928. The diamond choker was later shortened into a bracelet by her successor, Queen Elizabeth.

Coronation portrait by Sir William Samuel Henry Llewellyn, 1911-12. The State Diadem was actually made for the coronation of George IV -
though, as it happened, it went unused - but since then has only been worn by queens, consort and regnant.

Dressed for the coronation of Edward VII, circa 1902. Miniature based on a photograph by W. & D. Downey.

Portrait by Sir Oswald Birley, 1934. The Queen wears the choker as in the portrait by Taylor, above, as well as the "True Lover's Knot" brooch.

A father, a son, a crown - state portraits of Edward VII and George V by Sir Luke Fildes

King Edward VII, 1902. Queen Alexandra, on seeing the painting, slyly alluded to the King's droopy eyelids which the artist had done little
to disguise, "I like it very much. I think it is very good. I know that expression so well. It is just like him when he begins to feel drowsy."

There were several copies of this portrait made by the artist. (More under his supervision.) The above is in the Royal Collection and there are
noticeable differences between this version and the one which leads off this post. This one is claimed to be the original version... which I find
difficult to believe as it appears of inferior quality, and the portrait doesn't so closely approach the artist's preparatory sketch, seen below.

This is a variant commissioned in 1912 for the subject's widow, the Dowager Queen Alexandra.

Fildes' preparatory sketch of 1901.

Sir Samuel Luke Fildes (3 October 1843, Liverpool – 28 February 1927, Kensington, London), English painter and illustrator. The grandson of political and social activist Mary Fildes, he spent the early part of his career as an illustrator for weekly London newspapers, publications that most often focused on the plight of the poor and other social ills. He gradually branched out into book illustration; before his death, Charles Dickens commissioned Fildes to illustrate his final, unfinished, novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood. By around 1870 he had given up his newspaper work to focus on painting. The majority of his work still reflected contemporary social concerns, but he also produced lighter genre subjects and became successful as a portrait painter. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1879, a Royal Academician in 1887, and was knighted by King Edward VII in 1906. In 1918, he was appointed a Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order by King George V. He died in London at the age of eighty-three.

King George V, 1911-12.

Fildes' preparatory sketch, circa 1911.

Two coronations, two sisters - retouched and un-

The recently widowed Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, dressed for the coronation of her son, Tsar Nicholas II, in 1896.

A rare unretouched photograph of the Dowager Empress at forty-eight.

And then retouched....

Detail of one of the versions of the below painting.

The Coronation of Nicholas II, by Laurits Tuxen, 1898.  The painting captures the moment in the ceremony
when a shaft of light dramatically struck the crown of the Dowager Empress.

Her sister, Queen Alexandra, dressed for the coronation of her husband, Edward VII, and her own, in 1902.

An unretouched photograph of Queen Alexandra at fifty-seven.

And heavily retouched....

The Crowning of Queen Alexandra, by Laurits Tuxen, 1904.

Queen Alexandra in her coronation gown and robes, by Sir Luke Fildes, 1905.  (The artist has added the Garter riband and badge,
which the queen did not wear during the coronation.)