The Medici, or Hanover, Pearls
Queen Elizabeth II wore these pearls (bottom row) only on the most significant occasions and reportedly valued them above the rest of the Crown Jewels. The reason is as much historical as it is material. They are the survivors of a collection nearly 500 years old, given by Pope Clement VII to his niece Catherine de Medici on her 1533 marriage to Henri II of France. Originally the gift comprised six long ropes of pearls, including several large pear-shaped drops.
Many of the pearls passed to Mary, Queen of Scots, on her marriage to Catherine's son, and later became the property of Elizabeth I, who wears them in the iconic Armada Portrait now on display in the Queen's House, Greenwich: a Protestant queen wearing pearls from a Catholic pope. By 1837 the collection had dwindled, and Queen Victoria, who favoured them, declined to return the "Hanover Pearls" to Germany and instead listed them as property of the Royal Treasury. The remaining large Medici drops can still be seen set in rose-diamond caps within the Imperial State Crown. Photos © Chris Jackson/WPA Pool/Getty Images; © The Royal Collection. Source: Rui Galopim de Carvalho.