What Ever Happened to the Crown Jewels of the Romanov Family? (2024)
The murder of the Romanov family, the rulers of pre-revolution Russia, is a sordid part of history that leaves a lot of questions unanswered. One of the daughters of Czar Nicholas, Anastasia, was said to have escaped and lived into old age. This claim was all the more complicated by that fact that more than 100 women over the years came forward as the “true” princess- of course none of these people could be verified. The fact some of the family members’ bodies had been hidden and were only recently discoveredhad further added to this mystery.
So what happened to the immense wealth that the royals had accumulated before their executions? All of it, including the palaces, became property of the new Soviet state. But, some of the Romanov family jewels, said to be some of the finest in the world, mysteriously went missing after the revolution and to this day haven’t been found.
The Romanov jewels include elaborate diadems, necklaces, rings, crowns, brooches, medals, scepters, globes, and other items of personal and ceremonial finery. Many of these incredible gems were well-documented in a series of volumes published by the Soviet Union in the 1920s. The gems were later sold at Christie Manson and Woods Auction House (the precursor to Christie’s) in 1927 in a series of 124 lots, the money going back to the Soviet government.
At the time there was hot debate amongst the Soviet leadershipabout whether or not to sell the jewels. The money from their sale, some argued the workers. Still others wanted to keep the Diamond Fund (as it was known since the 18th century) as it was so historically significant.
To this day a large portion of the jewels is held at the museums of the Kremlin. There are suspicions that some of the extended Romanov family who fled the revolution may have smuggled some of the jewels out and there are memos from the early days of the USSR that show how even the revolutionaries themselves were caught trying to ferret away some of the pieces for their own gain.
Some of the pieces were even disassembled and the stones sold off, completely obliterating the history of those jewelry items. The collection was amassed during the reign of the Romanovs, which stretched from 1613 to 1917 and included gems and artifacts obtained by Peter the Great, Catherine the Great, and Nicholas I.
A 1922 catalog of the pieces, Russia’s Treasure of Diamonds and Precious Stones, was made as a 4-part record of the gems then owned by the state, shows the vast collection in great detail. A later 1925 record shows 4 fewer pieces, one of which was found to have been later sold at the 1927 Christie’s auction. So that’s 3 valuable pieces that were lost track of.
That one piece –Empress Alexandra’s nuptial crown studded with more than 1,500 diamonds- that was sold rather (rather than lost) is now in the collection of Hillwood Estate Museum and Gardens in Washington D.C. The nuptial set also included gem-encrusted robe clasps, bracelets, earrings, and other pieces of fine jewelry.
We may never know what happened to the missing pieces of the Romanov crown jewels. To have a few pieces of jewelry go missing in the midst of a world-changing revolution is no surprise. But, it does make you wonder who has them today and how much such a thing would be worth. In 2006 a large diamond bracelet from the original Diamond Fund was sold (again through Christie’s) for 311,200 Swiss francs, so certainly these are items that will only go up in value- both monetary and historical.
The imperial regalia was saved and remains in the Kremlin Armoury to this day, along with other major historic jewels associated with the tsars. And the rest? You guessed it. Cash was king for the communists who wanted nothing to do with these Romanov baubles.
Four pieces were missing in the 1925 catalog. Of them one, a brooch, was sold in 1927. A gold and emerald necklace, a sapphire and diamond bracelet, and a sapphire and diamond tiara are all still missing. Why were photographs of those four pieces included in the 1922 book but not in the 1925 catalog?
Soon after the revolution, the contents of the Romanov palaces were confiscated by the Bolsheviks. Most of the Fabergé eggs, along with masses of Imperial gold, silver, jewels and icons were inventoried, packed in crates and taken to the Kremlin Armoury.
The jewels, or portions thereof, were forever (and somewhat contradictorily) being stolen, sold, smuggled, pawned, publicly displayed, and privately hoarded.
After the execution of Charles I in 1649 many of the Crown Jewels were sold or destroyed. Oliver Cromwell ordered that the orb and sceptres should be broken as they stood for the 'detestable rule of kings'. All the gemstones were removed and sold and the precious metal was used to make coins.
Nicholas II and his immediate family were executed in 1918, but there are still living descendants. The house consisted of boyars in Russia (the highest rank in the Russian nobility at the time) under the reigning Rurik dynasty, which became extinct upon the death of Feodor I in 1598.
There are no immediate family members of the former Russian Royal Family alive today. However, there are still living descendants of the Romanov family. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and husband of Queen Elizabeth II is the grandnephew of Tsarina Alexandra.
Queen Elizabeth II is related to the Romanovs through her paternal side; as mentioned, her grandfather King George V was Czar Nicholas II's cousin. Per The Express, Nicholas II's mother, Marie, was the sister of King Edward VII's wife, Queen Alexandra. And King Edward VII's mother was Queen Victoria.
The eldest died in infancy and the second eldest, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, had one son, Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. His only child is Grand duch*ess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, making her the legal heir to the Russian throne.
The Romanovs were forced to go to Siberia, and there they died. Even had the invitation not been withdrawn, historians agree that it's doubtful the Bolsheviks would ever have allowed Nicholas to leave Russia. It was long assumed that the British government had overruled George V, who was a constitutional monarch.
In 1979, Alexander Avdonin was able to locate and identify one of the Romanov burial sites, though the bodies there were not exhumed until 1991. DNA evidence at the time confirmed that the remains found were those of the tsar and tsarina as well as three of their daughter and four members of their staff.
A Fabergé egg (Russian: яйцо Фаберже, romanized: yaytso Faberzhe) is a jewelled egg created by the jewellery firm House of Fabergé, in Saint Petersburg, Russia. As many as 69 were created, of which 57 survive today.
The exact reason for withdrawing the offer remains unclear, but it is thought that the King feared that Nicholas II's reputation as “Nicholas the Bloody” – due to the killing of peaceful protesters in 1905 – would swing the British public's favour against him.
In conclusion, George V didn't consider the presence of another Imperial Family advisable, especially when so many of his subjects were vehemently against the move. By April 1918, the Bolsheviks had overthrown the Romanovs and the family was imprisoned at Ipatiev House.
Britain regretted the offer almost immediately. The government was nervous having the Romanovs on British shores, while George V's private secretary, Lord Stamfordham, feared an uprising against the monarchy.
Season five of "The Crown" depicts in horrifying detail the deaths of the Russian royal family. The Romanovs were executed in 1918 after Bolshevik revolutionaries toppled the monarchy. Here's what the Netflix show gets right and wrong about the British royal family's involvement.
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