It is not every day that there is the opportunity to get hold of a jewel belonging to royalty. Now, those who have a sufficiently large budget will be able to bid on one of the pieces from Queen Victoria Eugenie's jewelry box. It is a brooch made with two emeralds that, after the death of Alfoso XIII's wife, was inherited by Infanta Beatriz, princess of Civitella-Cesi. After her death in 2002, the piece passed into the hands of her eldest daughter, Alessandra Torlonia y Borbón, mother of Alessandro Lecquio, who has decided to put it up for auction through the renowned Christie's house. The jewelry will be available until next May.
The collaborator's mother wore the brooch at her son's wedding to María Palacios in November 2008, composed of two Colombian emeralds surrounded by cut diamonds. It was in the first quarter of the 20th century when they decided to incorporate a hair clip into the piece, which also had matching earrings. However, it has not been possible to track these pieces. At least in public. The price of the pin alone is estimated at around 200,000 euros.
On more than one occasion, Alessadro Lequio has claimed his relationship with the Borbón family. Not in vain, he occupies number 30 in the line of succession to the Spanish throne. But many were surprised to discover that he is also close to the British royal family, as he himself revealed in September 2022 on the occasion of the death of Elizabeth II. It was precisely Queen Victoria Eugenia de Battenbertg who made possible the link between the Spanish Royal Family and Queen Elizabeth II, since she was Queen Victoria's granddaughter.
On the occasion of their marriage, King Alfonso XIII gave numerous pieces of jewelry to his wife, whom he married for love – something unusual in the royal houses of the time. However, despite that, or perhaps precisely because of it, the marriage ended up separated. But before, the queen endured numerous infidelities from the monarch about which she was always aware. Of course, they say that, for every dalliance she made, the king compensated her with a jewel, turning Queen Victoria Eugenia's jewelery box into one of the most brilliant in Europe.
Precisely from that jeweler comes the Lequio family brooch that Christie's has put up for auction and from it are also many of the pieces that make up the Spanish Royal House, such as the popular diamond chaton necklace with matching earrings or the Flor de Lis tiara of diamonds and platinum that we have seen Queen Letizia wear, known as “passing jewels.”
Victoria Eugenia de Battenbertg died in April 1969 at the age of 81 at her residence in Vielle Fontaine in Lausanne, Switzerland. Six years earlier, she had written her will, which included two codicils, one of them on the distribution of the eight most exclusive and historically relevant jewels. “The jewels that I received as a gift from King Alfonso willpower. A request with which she sought to have the pieces remain in the possession of the head of the Spanish Royal House, despite the fact that they were in exile at the time. Hence, the mother of the current King Emeritus, María de la Mercedes, coined the nickname “jewels of passing” for them, since she knew that, in accordance with the wish of her mother-in-law, they would pass from a queen to the following.
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