Auctions, infidelities and history: the fascinating back room of the jewels of passing

Nieves Herrero presents her new book, 'The queen's jeweler' (Ediciones B), this Thursday. She started it eight years ago and stopped it when she had the opportunity to write Carmen Franco's biography. Then another came and took it up again when the pandemic began, in full confinement. He assures that he freed her from tensions and sadness by diving into the world of precious stones.

He does not usually wear jewelry, but he does have a favorite which is a necklace of small pearls from her mother. And a golden hand of Fatima that gives you security. He recreates the history of the 'passing jewels' with Queen Victoria Eugenia as the common thread and with Doña Letizia as a character who is interested in those pieces that she has to wear in institutional events. Alessandro Lequio, Victoria Eugenia's favorite great-grandson, is also part of this narrative where curses also exist in the form of an opal ring.

'The queen's jewelry box' is your new book. The story begins with Queen Letizia. For some reason?

Yes, because she is the last one who has received the jewels to pass. Doña Letizia is now the one who has Queen Victoria Eugenia's jewelry box, which is the common thread of this fictionalized story. She left that legacy and in time they will go to Princess Eleanor. Queen Letizia brings out these important jewels when she has to reclaim her own institution.

A way to place Queen Letizia as the protagonist?

Let's say that it is an excuse to tell about the importance of jewels in royal families. Isabel II wore them as an ornament because they gave strength and power. For Victoria Eugenia they were something else, she gave her transcendence and happiness. Her world was falling apart and the only thing that remained were the pieces of her. In some photos of her it is seen that she has all her big jewels on at the same time. The pearls, the chatones, the false Peregrina. Queen Letizia is more austere.

Is Queen Sofía in charge of telling you the story of the so-called 'passing jewels'?

No, Letizia asks her secretary, the Duke of Abrantes, who can tell her the story of the jewels and he tells her that the ones who know it are the Ansorenas. And I return to the moment when the queen's jeweler, Ramiro García Ansorena, appears in Victoria Eugenia's life in 1906. It is important to know who has worn them before because they are impregnated with joy or suffering, according to some experts.

Are there any cursed gems?

There is an opal ring that Alfonso XII gave to María de las Mercedes, who in turn had given it to one of her lovers. And when she found out that she was getting married, she gave it back. Six months later, María de las Mercedes died of tuberculosis. She later gives it to a sister and she also dies of the same thing. And when she arrives at María Cristina, she does not put it on and gives it to the Virgin of Atocha. She said that the curse had to be stopped and that the only place was a holy place.

You maintain in the book that, as she gives away jewels and better ones, the affective and public life of the wife of Alfonso XIII becomes a tragedy.

It was a very unhappy life with dead children, an unfaithful husband, the loneliness of exile. The jewels were her protection. She also bought, and that is why I make the difference between those that she bequeathed to her children and those that were part of the structure of the Royal House.

Accounts in the book the desire of the kings to collect important jewels.

Not only did they give them strength, they distinguished them, but it is also a way of giving continuity. The heirs receive them in life or when the owner dies. For example, Queen Victoria Eugenia's chaton necklace was split. One is owned by Letizia and another smaller one passed to the infante don Jaime. When his wife died, he took it to auction and it was acquired by a jeweler in Madrid who gave it to Doña Sofía.

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Hasn't the Queen Emeritus given Doña Letizia this piece?

No, because it was a personal gift and, therefore, it is not part of the 'jeweller to pass'.

Jewels are so important in royal houses that in extreme cases they serve to sell them and survive.

That's how it is. They serve the queens in exile to claim the role they played and where they come from. A way of maintaining the tradition in the sense that there always has to be a head for a crown, as Queen Victoria Eugenia used to say. And, of course, there is the chrematistic part where the jewels serve to support the family and survive.

Private auctions are the best way to put them on the market, for shame?

Internally it is known. And who buys them, too. I imagine it was not pleasant for the owners to have to sell them. Tita Cervera have several jewels of Queen Victoria Eugenia.

Which are?

One of the pieces is a very important diamond brooch studded with brilliants. It was put up for auction and bought by Baron Thyssen, and Tita has worn it on several occasions. What members of monarchies usually do is recapture them. The floral tiara that Infanta Cristina wore at her wedding and that we have seen on Queen Sofía and Queen Letizia ended up in an antique shop. That piece was bought by Carmen Polo and was the gift of the Franco to the princes Juan Carlos and Sofía when they got married.

Where is the real Pilgrim?

The story is already known. Elisabeth Taylor had it and today a sheikh. It should be clarified that the pearl that is part of the real jeweler is also very important. It is a natural stone in the shape of an avocado and with incalculable value. It is one of the four great pearls of these characteristics in the world. For the Spanish monarchy, the natural pearl was the most precious gem because it did not need treatment.

In the case of Queen Victoria Eugenia, her chatones publicly demonstrated the infidelities of Alfonso XIII. Every adventure was a brilliant one.

They were also her happiness and his strength. When she was already very bad physically, she asked them to place the chaton necklace in her hands to see how she changed with the light. And with the rest of the precious stones she caressed them. It was the one thing that hadn't failed him in her life.

I understand that Alessandro Lequio, who was Victoria Eugenia's favorite great-grandson, has helped you a lot.

I called him because there are things that don't come in the books. He lived with Queen Victoria Eugenia and I was interested in knowing her character traits. Of his fears of insects, of the night, and how she was apparently cold and, on the other hand, in family intimacy it was endearing. I draw a conversation from him with his grandmother. I am very grateful because he provided me with information in a very difficult time for him.