{"id":191964,"date":"2026-04-10T09:10:37","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:10:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191964\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T09:10:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T09:10:37","slug":"queen-elizabeth-iis-dazzling-rubies-and-diamonds-for-a-danish-state-visit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/191964\/","title":{"rendered":"Queen Elizabeth II\u2019s Dazzling Rubies and Diamonds for a Danish State Visit"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, Queen Elizabeth II added a major new tiara to her collection. As our survey of her fashion and jewelry through the decades continues today, we look at one of her first big appearances in the ruby and diamond tiara, during a state visit to Denmark in 1979.<\/p>\n

\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

In the spring of 1979, Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip traveled to Copenhagen, where they were the guests of their cousin, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, and her husband, Prince Henrik, during a state visit. Elizabeth, Philip, and Margrethe were and are all descendants of two of the more prolific monarchs of the nineteenth century: King Christian IX of Denmark and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Queen Ingrid, whose mother was a British princess and who spent a great deal of time in London with her grandfather, the Duke of Connaught, took part in the visit as well. (She\u2019s pictured at the table above on Philip\u2019s left, wearing her famous ruby parure<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

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\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

The visit took place seven years after Margrethe\u2019s accession to the throne. At the time, Elizabeth and Margrethe were two of the three female monarchs reigning in Europe. (The third, Queen Juliana of the Netherlands, abdicated in favor of her daughter, Beatrix, less than a year later.)<\/p>\n

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\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

Elizabeth sparkled during the visit in a Norman Hartnell evening gown made of silver lam\u00e9 and embellished with beads. Originally made for the French state visit, Elizabeth later also wore it to the state opening of parliament in Canberra in 1974. (It\u2019s also currently on display in the exhibition of the late Queen\u2019s fashion<\/a> at Buckingham Palace!)<\/p>\n

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\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

For this Danish state banquet, Elizabeth wore the insignia of Denmark\u2019s Order of the Elephant with the dress, as well as the Royal Family Orders of King George V and King George VI.<\/p>\n

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\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

She accessorized with ruby and diamond jewels, echoing the national colors of Denmark. Her tiara, the Burmese Ruby<\/a>, was made at her direction by Garrard six years earlier using diamonds from a dismantled Cartier tiara<\/a> and rubies that were a wedding gift from the colonial government of Burma. She also wore the Baring Ruby Necklace<\/a>, which she acquired in the 1960s, her diamond and ruby bracelet composed of oblong plaques, and another of her personal commissions, the Ruby Floret Earrings.<\/p>\n

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\"QueenQueen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of the United Kingdom at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 16, 1979 (PA Images\/Alamy)<\/p>\n

Margrethe, meanwhile, wore a green gown with a dramatic neckline for the banquet, paired with the tiara, necklace, earrings, and\u00a0devant de corsage from the Danish Emerald Parure<\/a>. The suite is part of the crown jewel collection, and its present form dates to 1840.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark host a state banquet in honor of Queen Elizabeth II…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":191965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-191964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=191964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/191964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/191965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=191964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=191964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=191964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}