The Sutherland Diamonds, comprising diamond necklace with two additional diamond-set sections

The Sutherland Diamond Necklace, composed of twenty large old brilliant-cut diamonds in silver-topped gold collets. Three diamonds are roughly round in outline, six oval, and eleven are cushion-shaped. The two largest diamonds each weigh approximately fifteen carats, and one has a light pink colour.
Together with two extension lengths: the first composed of twenty one diamond-set collets, of which four are in platinum; the second composed of eight diamond collets including central clasp.
With later gold safety chain.

Accepted in lieu of Inheritance Tax by H M Government and allocated to the V&A, 2022

By family tradition, the diamonds were believed to have come from the infamous necklace once offered to Marie Antoinette by her husband Louis XVI of France in 1778. After the Queen had refused it, a confidence trickster calling herself the Comtesse de la Motte befriended a cardinal who had fallen out of favour with the Queen, persuading him that were he to acquire the necklace for Marie Antoinette, he would regain her favour. A complex scam ensued, resulting in de la Motte getting hold of the necklace, through the cardinal, and selling off the diamonds in the London and Paris gem trade. She was caught and tried for fraud, as was the cardinal, and the trial left the French Queen, who had been entirely unaware of the whole scam, highly mistrusted and disliked by the public. ‘The Affair of the Diamond Necklace’ played a great part in the downfall of Marie Antoinette, who was executed by guillotine in 1793.

An alternative account, was that the diamonds were not those from the collier de la reine, but given to Elizabeth (1765-1839), the Countess of Sutherland, by Marie Antoinette from her personal collection. The Countess, a close friend of the French Queen, was married to Earl Gower (later made the 1st Duke of Sutherland in 1833) who was the British Ambassador to France at the time. In his autobiography, ‘Looking Back’, published in 1955, the 5th Duke of Sutherland, George Granville Leveson-Gower, refers to his ancestor’s term as Ambassador in Paris from 1790-1792 and his and his wife’s friendship with Marie Antoinette. ‘I have in my possession a treasured memento of my forbear’s ambassadorship … the magnificent diamond necklace which the French court jeweller, Boehmer, made for Marie Antoinette on the orders of Cardinal de Rohan and Madame de la Motte as part of an intrigue against the Royal Family. How this came into my family I cannot say, but it is possible it came into their possession either during or shortly after the Revolution.’

It is worth noting that in the Testament Inventory of the Countess, who was so close to the French Queen, it is recorded that she bequeathed her son, the second Duke, ‘the diamond necklace Earrings & Clasp left to me by the late Duke’, who died in 1833. Whether this precludes a connection with Marie Antoinette, or simply points to the first theory, that her husband acquired the diamonds on the open market after the dispersal of the collier de la reine, is impossible to say. But even without firm ties to Marie Antoinette, the Sutherland Diamond Necklace is in its own right of enormous importance and pre-eminence for its quality and the role it has played in British life. Worn by successive duchesses, it was the most striking family jewel in the celebrated receptions at Staffordshire House, the grandest town house in London until its sale by the 4th Duke of Sutherland in 1912. The state rooms were larger than those at Buckingham Palace, and when Chopin gave a recital there in 1848 in the presence of Queen Victoria, he noted ‘all those who have visited it judge that the Queen of England has nothing comparable.’ Upon her own arrival, Queen Victoria is said to have remarked, ‘I have come from my House to your Palace.’

The necklace has been prominently worn at multiple coronations, adapted and reworked over time to suit changing fashions. In their first incarnation, they were worn by Harriet (1806-1868), wife of the 2nd Duke, and Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria, to the Queen’s coronation in 1838 as an enormous upright headband of diamonds, recorded in the painting ‘Queen Victoria Receiving the Sacrament at the Coronation, 28 June 1838’ by C.R. Leslie. Millicent (1867-1955), wife of the 3rd Duke, as Canopy Bearer et the Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra in 1902, and shown in the painting ‘The Anointing of Queen Alexandra at the Coronation of King Edward VII’ by L.R. Tuxen, wore the diamonds as a tight choker with a line of diamonds extending down the front, very much in the style of a lavalière of the day. In 1937, Eileen (1891-1943), wife of the 5th Duke, wore them à la mode as a long necklace, or sautoir, this time recorded in video footage, to the Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth.

The Sutherland Diamonds are an extraordinary survival amongst British noble jewels: a magnificent and historic collection of diamonds that might so easily have been broken up were it not for their grandeur, heritage and alleged link with Marie Antoinette.

The Sutherland Diamonds, comprising a necklace of twenty large old brilliant-cut diamonds in silver-topped gold collets with two extension lengths and a pair of earrings, are an extraordinary survival amongst British noble jewels: a magnificent and historic collection of diamonds that has been prominently worn at multiple coronations, adapted and reworked over time to suit changing fashions. They might so easily have been broken up were it not for their grandeur, heritage and alleged link with Marie Antoinette.

Several of the larger gems test as Type IIA – the purest type of diamond – probably originating from the mines of Golconda in India, which produced the finest diamonds of the 17th and 18th centuries. The necklace’s central stone weighs approximately 15 carats.

Worn by successive Duchesses of Sutherland from the early Nineteenth Century onwards, the diamonds were the most striking family jewel in the celebrated receptions at Staffordshire House, the grandest town house in London until its sale by the 4th Duke of Sutherland in 1912. Recorded in paintings and film footage of coronations, they were worn by Harriet (1806-1868), wife of the 2nd Duke, and Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria, to the Queen’s coronation in 1838 as an enormous upright headband of diamonds. Millicent (1867-1955), wife of the 3rd Duke and Canopy Bearer at the Coronation of Edward VII and Alexandra in 1902 wore the diamonds as a tight choker with a line of diamonds extending down the front, very much in the style of a lavalière of the day. In 1937, Eileen (1891-1943), wife of the 5th Duke, wore them à la mode as a long necklace, or sautoir to the Coronation of George VI and Elizabeth.

Tradition links the diamonds to the scandal that contributed to the downfall of Marie Antoinette – the so-called ‘Affair of the Diamond Necklace’. The French queen was implicated in this, one of the grandest jewellery scams in history, and although innocent, her reputation never truly recovered. The connection is unproven, but the size, beauty, and role these diamonds played in royal and aristocratic life in Britain place them among the most remarkable surviving noble jewels.

M.10:1 to 3-2022