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Telegraph
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Telegraph
‘King of jewellers': Cartier's enduring relationship with the Royal family
On 13 Oct 1940, a month after Germany had begun the Blitz on British cities, Princess Elizabeth made her first public speech. Aged 14, she shared a message of comfort and hope with the children of Britain and the Commonwealth on the BBC's Children's Hour. The radio broadcast was intended as a morale boost to the thousands who had been evacuated away from their families to the countryside and even overseas. 'My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you, as we know from experience what it means to be away from those you love most of all,' she said from the drawing room at Windsor Castle, with 10-year-old Princess Margaret by her side. Shortly after the broadcast, which was deemed a great success by all – including the Princesses' father, King George VI – Alfred Foreman, assistant managing director of Cartier London, sent the King a letter asking if the firm might mark 'the exceedingly happy occasion' by giving Princess Elizabeth a 'little gold and diamond microphone bracelet charm' it had made in the form of a radio mic. This tiny jewel may pale in comparison with the glittering tiaras and historic diamonds that characterise Cartier's enduring relationship with the Royal family, yet it indicates the intimacy that existed between jeweller and client. That relationship threads its way through the forthcoming Cartier exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Cartier's records and the Royal Archives at Windsor reveal how royal patronage enabled the French jeweller to weave itself into the fabric of British society and, perhaps even more importantly, spread its reputation around the world. 'The Royal family acts as a kind of beacon in our history,' says Pierre Rainero, Cartier's director of image, style and heritage. 'We have held a royal warrant since 1904.' Indeed, in May last year King Charles III became the fifth consecutive crowned British monarch to grant Cartier a royal warrant. 'We feel immensely privileged to have been granted one at this early stage of the King's reign,' says Laurent Feniou, managing director of Cartier UK and the warrant's grantee, just as the Cartier brothers were in 1904. Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847, and King Edward VII became a client when he was still Prince of Wales, naming it the 'jeweller of kings and king of jewellers'. In 1902, the year of his coronation, the Maison opened a boutique in London, its first outside the French capital, to meet the orders flooding in from prominent British families for the occasion. Pierre Cartier, the second of the three grandsons of founder Louis-François, established a boutique at 4 New Burlington Street in Mayfair, premises that were shared with the couturier Charles Frederick Worth, making it a one-stop shop for all courtly dress needs. At the coronation that August, Winifred, the statuesque, swan-necked Duchess of Portland who was one of Queen Alexandra's four canopy bearers, wore a brand-new Cartier tiara, complete with the spectacular Portland diamond. Within a decade of Edward VII granting Cartier its first royal warrant, in 1904, the Maison had amassed warrants from seven royal and imperial courts around the world, including Russia, Thailand and Spain. Edward and Alexandra (who granted Cartier her own warrant in 1905) were not only highly visible as the crowned heads of the world's greatest global power, but also extremely stylish. Their elegance and glamour set the standard for what to wear at the dizzying array of lavish balls and events that made up Edwardian court life. In 1904 Queen Alexandra commissioned a collier résille from Cartier, a diaphanous web of diamonds and platinum. This magnificent piece was created in her preferred dog-collar style, which concealed a childhood scar on her neck, and which she made fashionable around the world. The necklace, which originally had a removable fringe of cabochon rubies and emeralds, was later adopted by her daughter-in-law, Queen Mary, who wore it often. As well as jewels, Alexandra possessed a menagerie of carved animals, including, from the Maison, a pair of penguins in agate and diamonds, and a gold-legged flamingo in rose quartz. In 1911 she chose a Cartier carriage clock in labradorite and enamel to give to her son, George V, to mark his ascension to the throne. Inscribed on the back was 'For my darling Georgie on his coronation June 22 1911, from his loving Mother dear. May God lead and protect you'. Art deco, which owes much of its popularity to Cartier's visionary designs, was all the rage by the time the future George VI, then Duke of York, married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, in April 1923. Early on in their marriage, he gave her a set of five Cartier line bracelets, two set with diamonds, one in emerald and diamond, one in sapphire and diamond, and one in ruby and diamond. The young Duchess of York wore them all together on one arm, or as a bandeau worn low on the forehead, using a special mount from Cartier. She later gave the bracelets to her eldest daughter, who wore them throughout her reign in different combinations as bracelets, as does Queen Camilla today. This generational loyalty is testament, says Rainero, to the pieces' sentimental significance as well as to the timelessness of Cartier's designs. 'When a new generation of a royal family wears a piece, it demonstrates the continuity of what that family means to a country,' he says. Henry 'Chips' Channon's garrulous diaries provide a vivid glimpse into London high society during the interwar years. The American-born, London-based diarist and MP embedded himself among 'the grand and the chic of the earth'. He befriended the Bright Young Things, especially Edward, Prince of Wales, and Prince George, Duke of Kent. In April 1923 Channon recorded sending a small Cartier lapis and diamond clock to the Duke and Duchess of York as a wedding present. His entries are also peppered with visits to the firm's New Bond Street boutique, Cartier London's location since 1909, with Jacques, the youngest of the Cartier brothers, at the helm. While there, Channon saw fellow society figures such as Lady Granard, who he described as being so heavily bedecked in diamonds that 'my eyes got bloodshot looking at her jewels', and the Prince of Wales as he shopped for presents for his lovers Freda Dudley Ward and later, Wallis Simpson. In 1934 the Duke of Kent was praised by The Guardian for displaying 'the most modern taste in his choice of both the ring and the setting', with his choice of a Cartier square emerald-cut Kashmir sapphire engagement ring to give the strikingly chic Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. 'His selection will undoubtedly make sapphires the most popular ring for engagements this year,' it continued. Two years later the new King Edward VIII also proposed with a Cartier ring. He presented Wallis Simpson with a 19.77-carat emerald ring on 27 Oct 1936, inscribed with the words 'We are ours now'. He abdicated just two months later, choosing his bride over his kingdom. At their wedding, at the Château de Candé in France the following June, the only rings the couple wore were by Cartier. In pictures captured by Cecil Beaton, and alongside Wallis's engagement ring, the now Duke of Windsor sported a pair of Cartier Trinity rings on his little finger. The Depression in America and political unrest in France didn't affect Cartier London, which reached its highest point both creatively and commercially in the 1930s. In Britain lavish jewels, including tiaras, were still very much in demand during the social season. In 1937 George VI's coronation was proclaimed by Tatler 'the crowning jewel of the most brilliant season that London could remember'. That year Cartier London sold approximately 30 tiaras. The Cartier Indian Tiara, which is now owned by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, was bought by Princess Marie Louise, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, just before the coronation. Made in 1923 for Lady Granard, the tiara originally featured pear-cut aquamarines and sapphires, which were replaced with large diamonds for its new owner. An unusual tiara of rare black Australian opals was commissioned by Mary Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington. Now in a private collection, it was worn as a necklace by the Marchioness (by then the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire) at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. George VI himself bought two tiaras from Cartier for his wife between 1936 and 1938. A diamond one in the 'halo' style has since been worn by three more generations – Princess Margaret, the Princess Royal, and the Princess of Wales, on her wedding day in April 2011. The other was the 1937 Pineflower tiara in diamonds and aquamarines, a gemstone that was particularly fashionable in London during this period. It now belongs to the Princess Royal. Aquamarines are also the centre of a 1935 brooch given by George VI while he was still Duke of York to his wife, which will be exhibited for the first time. The fact that the Royal family return time and again to their Cartier jewels is testament, says Rainero, to the enduring relationship between the houses of Windsor and Cartier. 'A royal warrant today has exactly the same meaning as it had when we first received one,' he says. 'It means trust and it means a reward for the quality of our service and the quality of our creations. It is also a stimulus to keep pushing towards the same heights of expectation that such an honour bestows.' Perhaps the most insightful exhibit on show, which reveals much about the trust that can exist between a family jeweller and any of its clients, is a selection of drawings by the long-time Cartier London designer Frederick Mew, which were given to the V&A by his family in 2009. Among them are designs for a 1953 commission Cartier received from the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II for a brooch centring on the exceptional 23.6-carat pink Williamson Diamond, which she had received as a wedding gift in 1947 from John Thoburn Williamson, a staunch Canadian monarchist who had discovered a diamond mine in Tanganyika (Tanzania today) in 1940. Mew's proposals for variations on a flower brooch display not only Cartier's creativity, but also its responsiveness to, and understanding of, the desires of its clients. The late Queen wore what became known as the Williamson Diamond brooch on significant family occasions during her reign, including the weddings of Princes Charles and Edward. Queen Camilla wears it today: a homage to the timeless design, the beauty of the piece, and jewellery's role in representing continuity generation by generation.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
‘King of jewellers': Cartier's enduring relationship with the Royal family
On 13 Oct 1940, a month after Germany had begun the Blitz on British cities, Princess Elizabeth made her first public speech. Aged 14, she shared a message of comfort and hope with the children of Britain and the Commonwealth on the BBC's Children's Hour. The radio broadcast was intended as a morale boost to the thousands who had been evacuated away from their families to the countryside and even overseas. 'My sister Margaret Rose and I feel so much for you, as we know from experience what it means to be away from those you love most of all,' she said from the drawing room at Windsor Castle, with 10-year-old Princess Margaret by her side. Shortly after the broadcast, which was deemed a great success by all – including the Princesses' father, King George VI – Alfred Foreman, assistant managing director of Cartier London, sent the King a letter asking if the firm might mark 'the exceedingly happy occasion' by giving Princess Elizabeth a 'little gold and diamond microphone bracelet charm' it had made in the form of a radio mic. This tiny jewel may pale in comparison with the glittering tiaras and historic diamonds that characterise Cartier's enduring relationship with the Royal family, yet it indicates the intimacy that existed between jeweller and client. That relationship threads its way through the forthcoming Cartier exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). Cartier's records and the Royal Archives at Windsor reveal how royal patronage enabled the French jeweller to weave itself into the fabric of British society and, perhaps even more importantly, spread its reputation around the world. 'The Royal family acts as a kind of beacon in our history,' says Pierre Rainero, Cartier's director of image, style and heritage. 'We have held a royal warrant since 1904.' Indeed, in May last year King Charles III became the fifth consecutive crowned British monarch to grant Cartier a royal warrant. 'We feel immensely privileged to have been granted one at this early stage of the King's reign,' says Laurent Feniou, managing director of Cartier UK and the warrant's grantee, just as the Cartier brothers were in 1904. Cartier was founded in Paris in 1847, and King Edward VII became a client when he was still Prince of Wales, naming it the 'jeweller of kings and king of jewellers'. In 1902, the year of his coronation, the Maison opened a boutique in London, its first outside the French capital, to meet the orders flooding in from prominent British families for the occasion. Pierre Cartier, the second of the three grandsons of founder Louis-François, established a boutique at 4 New Burlington Street in Mayfair, premises that were shared with the couturier Charles Frederick Worth, making it a one-stop shop for all courtly dress needs. At the coronation that August, Winifred, the statuesque, swan-necked Duchess of Portland who was one of Queen Alexandra's four canopy bearers, wore a brand-new Cartier tiara, complete with the spectacular Portland diamond. Within a decade of Edward VII granting Cartier its first royal warrant, in 1904, the Maison had amassed warrants from seven royal and imperial courts around the world, including Russia, Thailand and Spain. Edward and Alexandra (who granted Cartier her own warrant in 1905) were not only highly visible as the crowned heads of the world's greatest global power, but also extremely stylish. Their elegance and glamour set the standard for what to wear at the dizzying array of lavish balls and events that made up Edwardian court life. In 1904 Queen Alexandra commissioned a collier résille from Cartier, a diaphanous web of diamonds and platinum. This magnificent piece was created in her preferred dog-collar style, which concealed a childhood scar on her neck, and which she made fashionable around the world. The necklace, which originally had a removable fringe of cabochon rubies and emeralds, was later adopted by her daughter-in-law, Queen Mary, who wore it often. As well as jewels, Alexandra possessed a menagerie of carved animals, including, from the Maison, a pair of penguins in agate and diamonds, and a gold-legged flamingo in rose quartz. In 1911 she chose a Cartier carriage clock in labradorite and enamel to give to her son, George V, to mark his ascension to the throne. Inscribed on the back was 'For my darling Georgie on his coronation June 22 1911, from his loving Mother dear. May God lead and protect you'. Art deco, which owes much of its popularity to Cartier's visionary designs, was all the rage by the time the future George VI, then Duke of York, married Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, in April 1923. Early on in their marriage, he gave her a set of five Cartier line bracelets, two set with diamonds, one in emerald and diamond, one in sapphire and diamond, and one in ruby and diamond. The young Duchess of York wore them all together on one arm, or as a bandeau worn low on the forehead, using a special mount from Cartier. She later gave the bracelets to her eldest daughter, who wore them throughout her reign in different combinations as bracelets, as does Queen Camilla today. This generational loyalty is testament, says Rainero, to the pieces' sentimental significance as well as to the timelessness of Cartier's designs. 'When a new generation of a royal family wears a piece, it demonstrates the continuity of what that family means to a country,' he says. Henry 'Chips' Channon's garrulous diaries provide a vivid glimpse into London high society during the interwar years. The American-born, London-based diarist and MP embedded himself among 'the grand and the chic of the earth'. He befriended the Bright Young Things, especially Edward, Prince of Wales, and Prince George, Duke of Kent. In April 1923 Channon recorded sending a small Cartier lapis and diamond clock to the Duke and Duchess of York as a wedding present. His entries are also peppered with visits to the firm's New Bond Street boutique, Cartier London's location since 1909, with Jacques, the youngest of the Cartier brothers, at the helm. While there, Channon saw fellow society figures such as Lady Granard, who he described as being so heavily bedecked in diamonds that 'my eyes got bloodshot looking at her jewels', and the Prince of Wales as he shopped for presents for his lovers Freda Dudley Ward and later, Wallis Simpson. In 1934 the Duke of Kent was praised by The Guardian for displaying 'the most modern taste in his choice of both the ring and the setting', with his choice of a Cartier square emerald-cut Kashmir sapphire engagement ring to give the strikingly chic Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark. 'His selection will undoubtedly make sapphires the most popular ring for engagements this year,' it continued. Two years later the new King Edward VIII also proposed with a Cartier ring. He presented Wallis Simpson with a 19.77-carat emerald ring on 27 Oct 1936, inscribed with the words 'We are ours now'. He abdicated just two months later, choosing his bride over his kingdom. At their wedding, at the Château de Candé in France the following June, the only rings the couple wore were by Cartier. In pictures captured by Cecil Beaton, and alongside Wallis's engagement ring, the now Duke of Windsor sported a pair of Cartier Trinity rings on his little finger. The Depression in America and political unrest in France didn't affect Cartier London, which reached its highest point both creatively and commercially in the 1930s. In Britain lavish jewels, including tiaras, were still very much in demand during the social season. In 1937 George VI's coronation was proclaimed by Tatler 'the crowning jewel of the most brilliant season that London could remember'. That year Cartier London sold approximately 30 tiaras. The Cartier Indian Tiara, which is now owned by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, was bought by Princess Marie Louise, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, just before the coronation. Made in 1923 for Lady Granard, the tiara originally featured pear-cut aquamarines and sapphires, which were replaced with large diamonds for its new owner. An unusual tiara of rare black Australian opals was commissioned by Mary Cavendish, Marchioness of Hartington. Now in a private collection, it was worn as a necklace by the Marchioness (by then the Dowager Duchess of Devonshire) at the 1953 coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. George VI himself bought two tiaras from Cartier for his wife between 1936 and 1938. A diamond one in the 'halo' style has since been worn by three more generations – Princess Margaret, the Princess Royal, and the Princess of Wales, on her wedding day in April 2011. The other was the 1937 Pineflower tiara in diamonds and aquamarines, a gemstone that was particularly fashionable in London during this period. It now belongs to the Princess Royal. Aquamarines are also the centre of a 1935 brooch given by George VI while he was still Duke of York to his wife, which will be exhibited for the first time. The fact that the Royal family return time and again to their Cartier jewels is testament, says Rainero, to the enduring relationship between the houses of Windsor and Cartier. 'A royal warrant today has exactly the same meaning as it had when we first received one,' he says. 'It means trust and it means a reward for the quality of our service and the quality of our creations. It is also a stimulus to keep pushing towards the same heights of expectation that such an honour bestows.' Perhaps the most insightful exhibit on show, which reveals much about the trust that can exist between a family jeweller and any of its clients, is a selection of drawings by the long-time Cartier London designer Frederick Mew, which were given to the V&A by his family in 2009. Among them are designs for a 1953 commission Cartier received from the newly crowned Queen Elizabeth II for a brooch centring on the exceptional 23.6-carat pink Williamson Diamond, which she had received as a wedding gift in 1947 from John Thoburn Williamson, a staunch Canadian monarchist who had discovered a diamond mine in Tanganyika (Tanzania today) in 1940. Mew's proposals for variations on a flower brooch display not only Cartier's creativity, but also its responsiveness to, and understanding of, the desires of its clients. The late Queen wore what became known as the Williamson Diamond brooch on significant family occasions during her reign, including the weddings of Princes Charles and Edward. Queen Camilla wears it today: a homage to the timeless design, the beauty of the piece, and jewellery's role in representing continuity generation by generation. Rachel Garrahan is a curator of the Cartier exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London from 12 April Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
South China Morning Post
11-04-2025
- Entertainment
- South China Morning Post
In a new Cartier exhibition, London's V&A explores the French maison's jewellery legacy, focusing on the influence of the founder's 3 grandsons, who took the brand global
A dazzling new exhibition of jewels exploring the complex and multifaceted history of Cartier is opening at London's Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A). It's the first show in Britain dedicated to Cartier jewels in almost 30 years and illustrates how the French maison's radical, inspired, decorative and exotic designs influenced the changing tastes of society for more than a century. 'It is such an enormous and well-researched subject that this has to be something that would be seen through the eyes of the V&A,' says the museum's Helen Molesworth, who co-curated the exhibition with Rachel Garrahan. Cartier's London business is a thread running through the exhibition, which highlights the art, design and craftsmanship marking the period when the three brothers – Louis, Pierre and Jacques – managed the business founded in Paris in 1847 by their grandfather, Louis-François Cartier. Bandeau in Tutti Frutti style, English Art Works for Cartier London, 1928, featuring emeralds, rubies, sapphires and diamonds on platinum. Photo: Handout Advertisement Molesworth describes the entrepreneurial brothers as the 'three temples': Louis the creative director; Pierre the businessman with a nose for sales who opened Cartier in New York; and Jacques, the youngest brother, who took over London's New Bond Street boutique. Jacques became a skilful gem-buyer, travelling to the Persian Gulf for natural pearls and to India for carved emeralds, Mughal jades and rare rubies. But he was also quick to learn about tastes and the extensive requirements for jewels in British society during the reigns of Edward VII and his descendants. A room in the exhibition is dedicated to tiaras , proven crowd-pleasers, featuring some commissioned from Cartier around the time of the coronation of George VI in 1937. 'Cartier in London was seriously rivalling Paris and Cartier London made more tiaras that year [27] than in any before or since,' says Molesworth. 'It was the height of London society.' One particularly spectacular treasure on display is the Manchester Tiara, which Molesworth describes as a metaphor for the three brothers. 'It is the perfect beginning to our story of the three. The tiara was made in 1903 in Paris for an English aristocratic family, to be worn by an American woman [Consuelo, Dowager Duchess of Manchester], who had ordered it,' she says. The tiara signifies the brothers' early aspirations and the global business they nurtured. The Manchester Tiara, created in 1903 by Cartier Paris for the Dowager Duchess of Manchester. Photo: Handout Their roles 'suited their personalities so perfectly and that is the warmth about their story,' says Molesworth. 'There's serendipity [in that] their personalities were so complementary that they could split up their abilities in such a geographic as well as professional manner, and then still have the warmth between them, the heart and the love.' The exhibition begins with the creativity of Cartier and the emergence of the Cartier signature style: art deco is just one strand, for Louis Cartier and his designers were open to a broad range of inspiration, from cultures including those of China, Japan and Islam. A stomacher brooch, worn on a bodice, made by Cartier Paris on special order in 1913, featuring carved crystals and diamonds on platinum. Photo: Handout
Telegraph
01-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
The glittering world of Jacques Cartier's jewellery empire – by his great-granddaughter
'You know from experience that my two brothers mean everything to me. It's together that we dreamed of the greatness of our house, it's together that we developed it and spread its fame to the four corners of the globe.' When my great-grandfather Jacques Cartier read these words from his brother Pierre during the First World War, the family's dream of creating 'the leading jewellery firm in the world' hung in the balance. The emotionally charged letter aimed to prevent Jacques, still recovering from tuberculosis, from returning to the Front by insisting that Cartier's success depended on all three brothers: 'With the deep affection that unites us, combined with our various talents, God willing, our house will be unbeatable'. Hidden for years, this 1915 letter will soon be displayed for the first time at the V&A 's landmark Cartier exhibition, London's first major showcase of the jeweller's work in three decades. I discovered it by chance while searching for a bottle of champagne in my grandfather's cellar on his 90 th birthday. Opening a dusty trunk, I unearthed a century of long-lost family correspondence. Entire forests worth of paper have been written about Cartier – the jewels, the brand, the stars dazzling in their tiaras and tank watches – but the raw ambition, fears and hopes documented in that trunk opened a window into another world. It propelled me to leave my job in the City and embark on a decade-long research journey across the globe to uncover and chronicle the untold family story behind the glamour. Sitting on their bedroom floor above the family's modest jewellery shop as the 19 th century drew to a close, the three young Cartier brothers studied the map of the world laid out between them. Their vision required strategy: divide and conquer. Louis, the creative eldest, marked out territories with a pencil: he would command the Parisian branch their grandfather had founded half a century earlier; Pierre, with his head for business, could look after clients in America; and gentle Jacques, wise beyond his years, would oversee Britain and its colonies, especially the jewel of India. Three brothers, three branches – no more, for like the Rothschilds who partly inspired them, the Cartiers believed family alone shared the same values. What was remarkable, my grandfather later reflected, wasn't that young boys devised such an audacious plan, but that they achieved it. Initially opening in 1902, on the request of a soon-to-be King Edward VII so that coronation guests could buy their tiaras without crossing the Channel, Cartier London grew quickly. In 1909, Jacques opened the doors of a larger showroom at 175 New Bond Street (where it remains today), transforming it into an elegant social hub where duchesses mingled with American heiresses seeking unique treasures to wow friends back home. In 1921, several years before Cartier Paris, the London branch opened an in-house workshop, English Art Works, soon known as the best in the country, with its craftsmen repeatedly winning awards (the top prize at Goldsmiths Hall annual ceremony still bears Jacques Cartier's name). From the corseted Edwardian era through to the mini-skirted 1960s and 70s, Cartier London maintained its distinctive identity. Yet despite its innovative designs and rich heritage, it has long dwelled in the shadow of its Parisian counterpart. It seems only fitting therefore, that this month, the V&A – in the very city where Jacques and his son, Jean-Jacques, elevated jewellery artistry to new heights – will showcase Cartier London's phenomenal creations, from art deco tiaras and royal diamond flowers to ancient Egyptian-inspired brooches, chirpy gem bird clips, rare handmade watches, and never-before-seen original designs. Jacques embraced his adopted country, settling in Dorking with his beloved wife Nelly and their children, and soon becoming friends with many of his clients: from the arty set like Isadora Duncan and Vita Sackville West, to visiting Maharajas, European diplomats and even the British Prime minister HH Asquith. It was Asquith's wife Margot, Countess of Oxford, who, after years of friendship, captured Jacques's essence so astutely in his obituary: 'Jewellers are not always great artists, but this was not the case with M Jacques Cartier. He was rarer than a great artist, or designer in precious stones: he was a wonderful friend. Completely unself-seeking, courteous to strangers, gay, kind and the best of ambassadors between the France which he loved and the England which he admired.' At work, Jacques believed in prioritising the training of young local talent rather than employing Parisian craftsmen, even though it cost him money and time. During the 1930s, when high unemployment led to a public outcry against foreign firms taking local jobs, the jewel-loving Queen Mary helped highlight Cartier London's British workforce in a publicity-generating visit that ended up being 'a great success' for the firm (needless to say, the earrings she liked were sold to her at a very attractive royal rate). Future royals, including Princess Margaret, continued this tradition. 'We never made much on the royal sales, if anything', my grandfather explained. But the 'influencer' effect was worth it. A spectacular 1938 diamond rose brooch that Princess Margaret Rose wore at her sister's coronation features in the exhibition. If the British royals impressed with their jewellery, the maharajas took luxury to another level. Jacques's first trip to India in 1911 was almost comically disastrous: he attempted – and failed dismally – to teach himself the language on the three-week boat journey, was given a stubborn donkey instead of the expected luxury car, had to chase a valuable borrowed pearl across the country, and brought entirely inappropriate inventory: delicate feminine pieces when the Indian princes wanted jewels for themselves, not their wives. The silver lining was that he established connections with many Indian princes whose commissions would help keep the firm afloat when the triple blow of the Russian Revolution, the First World War and the Great Depression decimated the spending power of jewellery buyers in Europe and America. Trace a precious stone's journey through history, and you map the world's ever-changing centres of power. Of all the thousands of jewels Jacques brought into existence, his pride and joy was a necklace for his dear friend Ranji, the Maharaja of Nawanagar. The three-year creation process reflected both men's gem-connoisseurship and patience in tracking down some of the rarest diamonds in existence. 'Had not our world witnessed an unprecedented succession of world-shaking events,' Jacques reflected, 'such gems could not have been bought at any price; at no other period in history could such a necklace have come into existence.' While this masterpiece has vanished – though it made a fictional appearance as the target of a heist in Ocean's Eight, oddly credited to Jeanne Toussaint – visitors can marvel at the Maharaja of Patiala's enormous necklace, originally containing nearly 3000 diamonds, many now replaced with replicas after it surfaced in a London antiques shop missing its main stones. Jacques's Indian expeditions of the 1920s and 30s became legendary affairs, his entourage – Nelly, her lady's maid, the doctor and chauffeur – sweeping across the subcontinent from Surrey in the family Rolls-Royce. One Nepalese royal wedding required dismantling the car to carry it piece by piece over the Himalayas, before meticulously reassembling it on the other side to make a majestic arrival at the palace – only for the King to purchase absolutely nothing. Even more than a salesman though, Jacques was an artist, and his journeys profoundly shaped Cartier's aesthetic: the panthers he and Nelly marvelled at in the wild became iconic big cat jewels, temple sketches in his travel diaries transformed into art deco brooches and the vibrant palette birthed an entirely new jewellery style. 'Out there one does not see as in the English light,' Jacques explained to clients shivering through British winters. 'One is only conscious that here is a blaze of red, and there of green or yellow… one vivid impression of undreamed gorgeousness and wealth.' Eager to recreate this warmth and energy, he incorporated carved rubies, emeralds, and sapphires purchased from Delhi gem markets into magnificently colourful 'tutti frutti' jewels. For those without the million-pound budget these rare treasures command today, the exhibition features perhaps Cartier London's finest example, and one of my favourites, a 1928 bandeau ingeniously convertible into two bracelets, appropriately purchased by the future Vicereine of India, Lady Mountbatten. Throughout Cartier London's evolution, from the mind-blowing commissions of the interwar years through the hardships of post-war austerity and the rebellious swinging Sixties, the family motto – 'never copy, only create' – remained sacrosanct. Designers, following the disciplined approach of 'Silhouette, Mass, Detail,' emphasised clean lines and symmetry with 'an absence of twiddly bits'. Craftsmen spent years perfecting techniques to minimise visible mounts: 'We weren't in the business of selling metal,' my grandfather explained, showing me the skill involved in making the gems appear as if they were holding together by magic. Heavily involved in the creative process, the visionary Jean-Jacques, like his father, was a much-loved and admired boss. Visitors to the museum will be able to see the result of his perfectionism in jewels including Queen Elizabeth II's 1950s pink Williamson diamond flower brooch, accompanied by designer Frederick Mew's original sketches for the first time; and Jean-Jacques's favourite: a breathtaking gem-encrusted stag's head in full relief that he designed for his sister-in-law, Princess Rethy of Belgium. Jean-Jacques also left his mark on the world of timepieces. Against a backdrop of anti-establishment fervour, youth-focused fashion, psychedelic music and irreverent pop art, he revolutionised watch design by adding his own twist to classic forms. The exhibition features several rare examples made by Cartier's Wright and Davies workshop, including a never-before-exhibited rotated variation of the London Oval once owned by Cartier salesman (later head of production) Paul Vanson, and the infamous Crash, inspired not by an accident as legend suggests, but by Jean-Jacques 'pinching the ends and putting a kink in the middle' of the popular oval shape. The first Crash took months to perfect as the unusual shape distorted time-telling, requiring head designer Emmerson to repeatedly repaint the dial by hand. Initially considered too avant-garde (actor Stewart Granger returned his), the Dali-esque design recently popularised by rappers like Kanye and Tyler the Creator, now commands astronomical prices: from £300 in the 1960s to $1.65 million at a recent LA auction. Behind these creations were real people with colourful stories. There was the shocking 'Mayfair playboy' heist, where four polished public school boys lured a salesman to the Hyde Park Hotel on the pretence of needing an engagement ring only to violently truncheon him almost to death and flee to Oxford, where they were soon arrested at the Randolph Hotel. There was the ordinary day that ended with Elizabeth Taylor hovering in the workshop while her famous 69-carat diamond ring, a recent gift from Burton, was resized; the craftsmen, trying hard to respectfully avert their eyes from the Hollywood goddess standing over them, recalled how 'she would not let it out of her sight, as if she didn't trust us!' Then there was the everyday reality of female employees washing their hair in sieve-fitted work sinks to retrieve gold dust and setters being given two days off work to calm their minds, and hands, before setting incredibly fragile Mughal emeralds. Through it all, there was the feeling, repeated by so many I interviewed, that Cartier London felt 'like family,' as generations worked side by side through life's highs and lows. This rich heritage is now being celebrated. The V&A exhibition isn't dedicated to Cartier London but curators Rachel Garrahan and Helen Molesworth do give the British branch deserved recognition. Among the treasures on display, one piece holds particular significance for me: an amethyst brooch symbolising the extraordinary love story between my great-grandparents. When Jacques sought Nelly Harjes's hand, her banker father refused, dismissing him as beneath their station. Standing his ground and insisting his love was genuine, Jacques was challenged to prove it by making no contact with Nelly for an entire year. Precisely 365 days later, he returned, his devotion unwavering, promising never to touch a cent of her fortune – a vow he kept throughout their lives. Theirs was a real love story, the stuff of movies, cut too short when Jacques died aged 57, during the Second World War. But their bond lives on through the brooch that Jacques designed for his soulmate: her birthstone, an amethyst, surrounded by four diamonds, representing their two sons and two daughters, each framed by Jacques's birthstone, sapphire. The whole family in a jewel. My grandfather remembered it as his mother's most cherished possession – a testament not only to Cartier London's inimitable design philosophy and extraordinary craftsmanship but also to their enduring love.
