Who Was Margaret Greville—the Socialite Who Left Her Jewels to the Royal Family?
Taking a deeper dive into the famed Greville bequest, which left the Windsors with such gems as Princess Eugenie's emerald wedding tiara and the Duchess of Cornwall's favorite diamond necklace.
Given the sheer volume of jewels that Queen Elizabeth has inherited, commissioned, and received as gifts throughout her near century-long life, it would be impossible for even the most zealous of royal observers to know the full scope of what lies in those Windsor vaults. Her majesty certainly has several tried and true favorites: Queen Mary's Girls of Great Britain & Ireland and Vladimir Tiaras, Queen Victoria's Prince Albert Brooch, her Burmese Rubies, her Cullinans. She is also generous when it comes to loaning precious heirlooms to members of her family. The Duchess of Cambridge is partial to the Cambridge Lover's Knot Tiara and Queen Mary's Diamond Bar Choker Bracelet. The Duchess of Cornwall, meanwhile, loves a Boucheron Tiara and a spectacular diamond festoon necklace that both belonged to the Queen Mother, who herself received the pieces—and dozens of others—from one legendary jewelry collector named Margaret Greville.
Born in 1863 to a brewery tycoon and his mistress, Greville began her ascent through the ranks of blue-blooded society when she married Ronald Greville, heir to a baronetcy and member of the Marlborough House set, a 19th-century version of the Turnip Toffs, if you will, that swirled around the court of Albert Edward, then the Prince of Wales (and by 1901, King Edward VII). Though her husband died of pneumonia in 1908 after just 17 years of marriage, Mrs. Greville, who never remarried, continued to cultivate her position as a notable socialite and hostess—and ingratiate herself with the royal family.
She was especially close to Alice Keppel, King Edward VII's favorite mistress, who also happened to be Camilla Parker Bowles's great-grandmother (Greville was the godmother to the Duchess of Cornwall's grandmother Sonia Keppel). She became good friends with Queen Mary and particularly adored Mary's daughter-in-law Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future consort to King George VI and later Queen Mother—when the couple married in 1923, Greville hosted them at Polesden Lacey, her grand country estate in Surrey, for their honeymoon.
Much like Queen Mary, Greville had an impeccable eye and voracious appetite for jewelry. She loved Boucheron and Cartier, and picked up gems from her travels around the world. And while Mary loved buying up Russian imperial jewels, Greville might have preferred the French—she supposedly had in her trove a necklace once owned by Marie Antoinette, and another that belonged to Empress Josephine, Napoleon's first wife. Given that the Grevilles never had children of their own, the entirety of her collection (the real ones only, of course—anything under £100 was given to the maid) was left to Elizabeth, "with my loving thoughts," when Greville died in 1942.
Some 60 bijoux are rumored to have been in the Greville bequest but the entirety of its contents will likely never be known to the public: only a handful of gems in this collection have ever seen the light of day over the past 79 years. Still, a select few have become fabulous mainstays in the House of Windsor jewelry repertoire. The Queen Mother made excellent use of possibly the two most valuable pieces: the Greville Tiara, created by Boucheron in 1921, and the five-strand diamond festoon necklace. (She also had the good sense not to debut them until the end of World War II and its subsequent period of austerity.)
Those showstoppers now adorn the Duchess of Cornwall, who have them on loan from the queen for important occasions. Other known treasures in the box include a pair of diamond ivy clips the Queen Mother gifted to her daughter Elizabeth for her 21st birthday; chandelier earrings the current monarch received as a wedding gift from mom; a diamond and pearl brooch the queen likes for low-key functions; a ruby and diamond floral necklace Kate Middleton borrowed for a state banquet in 2017; and the striking emerald kokoshnik tiara Princess Eugenie wore on her wedding day, marking the gem's first public debut since entering the Windsor coffers.
Below, 17 examples of the royal family in jewels from the famed Greville bequest.
The Queen Mother wore the Greville Tiara—which Boucheron created for Margaret Greville in 1921—in its original form for a little while before having Cartier make it bigger with the addition of diamond clusters on top and a marquise-shaped diamond in the center. In this 1954 portrait, she also wears the Greville Peardrop Earrings, a 1938 Cartier creation featuring 20-carat pear-shaped diamonds—like the tiara, they were one of her go-to jewels.
For the 17th Royal Film Performance in 1963, the Queen Mother once again chose her Greville Tiara and Greville Peardrop Earrings combination.
For an evening at the opera that same year, the Queen Mother paired her Greville Tiara with the Greville Emeralds, a necklace and earrings set whose exact provenance is unknown though rumors have circulated that this was the necklace—which consists of several square-shaped emeralds surrounded by diamond clusters—that supposedly belonged to either Marie Antoinette or Empress Josephine. The earrings, on the other hand, are large pear-shaped cabochon emeralds suspended from diamonds.
For the State Opening of Parliament in 1983, Queen Elizabeth wore the Greville Ruby and Diamond Floral Bandeau Necklace, which her parents gave her as a wedding gift in 1947. Mrs. Greville bought the piece—marked by a deep V-shape of rubies set within a diamond floral motif and finished off with a pear-shaped diamond pendant—from Boucheron in 1907.
Among the jewels Queen Elizabeth put on for a 1958 reception in the Netherlands—Queen Alexandra's Kokoshnik Tiara, her own Diamond Festoon Necklace, Queen Mary's Lover's Knot Brooch—were the Greville Chandelier Earrings. Like the Ruby Floral Necklace, these were a wedding gift from the Queen Mother. Made by Cartier, the earrings feature diamonds in a variety of cuts, including emerald, pear, square, half moon, trapeze, and baguette.
A closer look at the Greville Chandelier Earrings, as seen on Queen Elizabeth in 1992. Mrs. Greville first purchased a pair of much simpler diamond drop earrings from Cartier in 1918 and over the next 11 years had them altered twice with the addition of 22 diamonds. Also pictured: the Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara and a rare example of the monarch in a choker.
The Queen Mother wore the Greville Emeralds for a Buckingham Palace portrait in 1990.
For her 100th birthday in 2000, the Queen Mother went to the ballet in three jewels from the Greville bequest: the Peardrop Earrings, the 5-row Festoon Necklace (worn here in its 3-row incarnation), and the Scroll Brooch.
Queen Elizabeth gave the Greville Tiara to the Duchess of Cornwall as a long-term loan upon her 2005 marriage to Prince Charles. She did the same with the Diamond Festoon Necklace, which Camilla wore in all its 5-strand glory for a 2007 event in Uganda. Cartier had first designed it as a 2-row necklace in 1929 but Mrs. Greville returned to the maison in 1938 to make it even bigger with an additional three strands, which can be worn on its own or attached to the original for a magnificent diamond display.
More: 19 Photos of Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Sparkling in Diamonds
In the '80s, the Queen Mother attended an event wearing the Greville Peardrop Earrings. Also pictured: Queen Alexandra's Wedding Necklace, seen recently on the Duchess of Cambridge in 2018, and the emerald-cut diamond ring Prince Charles would later refashion for Camilla.
More: The Sentimental Story Behind Camilla's Engagement Ring from Prince Charles
The first of the Greville Ivy Leaf Brooches was made for its namesake by Cartier before 1930, with the second one following in 1937. Five years after inheriting the Greville jewels, the Queen Mother gifted the clips to her daughter for her 21st birthday in 1947.
For a dinner during her 2010 visit to Canada, Queen Elizabeth wore a piece of jewelry from each queen that came before her: Queen Mary's Girls of Great Britain & Ireland Tiara and Chain Link Bracelet, Queen Alexandra's Diamond Collet Necklace, Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee Brooch, and the Queen Mother's Greville Chandelier Earrings.
The Greville Ruby and Diamond Floral Bandeau Necklace hadn't been worn by the queen since the '80s. In 2017, it finally made a reappearance on the Duchess of Cambridge, who borrowed the gem for a Buckingham Palace banquet for the state visit of King Felipe and Queen Letizia of Spain.
In 2018, the Greville Ruby and Diamond Floral Bandeau Necklace made another appearance, this time on the queen for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting at Buckingham Palace.
For her fall 2018 wedding at Windsor Castle, Princess Eugenie dipped into grandma's vaults to borrow the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara, which was made by Boucheron in 1919. It marked the first time the stunning piece, anchored by a 94-carat cabochon emerald centerpiece, was seen in public since Mrs. Greville's death in 1942.
More: Princess Eugenie Borrowed an Emerald Tiara From the Queen for Her Wedding Day
Cartier created the Scroll Brooch for Mrs. Greville in 1929. Featuring three pearls anchoring a simple diamond-flecked scroll design, both the Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth have turned to it for a number of occasions.
For a Buckingham Palace reception for the Diplomatic Corps in 2019, Queen Elizabeth debuted a never-before-seen emerald necklace—along with her beloved Vladimir Tiara and the Greville Emerald Earrings—leading many to speculate that this piece could have also come from the Greville bequest, or that it may have been a redesigned version of the Greville Emerald Necklace, which hadn't been seen since the Queen Mother's death in 2002.
Leena Kim is an editor at Town & Country, where she covers travel, jewelry, education, weddings, and culture.
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