Prince Albert’s Queen Victoria coronet gifted to V&A

London's V&A Museum has acquired a coronet designed by Prince Albert for Queen Victoria.

The incredible piece is inlaid with sapphires and diamonds.

Queen Victoria coronet

Prince Albert gave the coronet to Queen Victoria in 1840

Albert had it made by Joseph Kitching, of royal jeweller Kitching and Abud, in 1840 – the year he and Victoria were married.  

It was inspired by a feature known as the circlet of rue that appears on Prince Albert’s family coat of arms.

Victoria is pictured wearing it in Franz Xaver Winterhalter’s 1842 painting of her.

The piece was gifted to the V&A by jewellery collector William Bollinger, who stepped in to purchase it for the nation in 2016 after it was nearly sold to an overseas buyer.

The piece is set to be the centrepiece of the museum’s jewellery department when it’s unveiled in 2019.

Tristram Hunt, director of the V&A, said: “We are thrilled to have acquired Queen Victoria’s sapphire coronet, so lovingly designed by Prince Albert.

“Representing both the passion of the young royal couple, and a powerful symbol of the widowed queen, it will be of deep fascination to visitors and scholars alike.

“We are extremely grateful to William Bollinger for his incredible generosity. His gift allows us to display a jewel so intimately associated with Victoria and Albert that it will instantly become part of the identity of the Museum itself.”

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