Garnet and diamond demi-parure, mid-19th century

Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece (1818-1875)

This garnet and diamond brooch with accompanying pendants belonged to Amalia of Oldenburg (1818-1875), the Queen consort of King Otto of Greece (1815-1867). She gifted these jewels to a relative in 1868.

King Otto and Queen Amalia of Greece

The London Conference of 1832 bestowed Greece independence from Ottoman rule under the protection of the three Great Powers France, Russia and the United Kingdom. The throne of the new state was offered to the 17-year old Bavarian Prince Otto (1815-1867), the second son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The young King initially ruled through a regency council, before ruling as an absolutist monarch. The Revolution of September 1843 forced the King to accept a constitutional monarchy. King Otto moved Greece’s capital to Athens which had shrunk to a town of just 4,000 people by the 1830s. He commissioned planning the modern city around the ruins of the Acropolis. Throughout his reign, Otto had to balance the interests of the three Great Powers supporting Greece.

In 1837, Otto married Amalia of Oldenburg (1818-1875), a daughter of Augustus, Grand Duke of Oldenburg (1783-1853). Queen Amalia was initially very beloved amongst the Greek people for her beauty, lively personality and adoption of Greek national dress. However, the Royal couple’s popularity soon waned. King Otto retained his Catholic faith and the Queen her Protestant religion. However, the Queen’s inclination to meddle in politics and her inability to provide heirs resulted in an attempt on her life in 1861. Eventually these factors lead to Otto being deposed in 1862. The following year, a younger son of the King of Denmark was elected to the Greek throne who ruled as King George I (1845-1813).

King Otto died in exile in Bamberg, Bavaria in 1867 and is last thoughts were for Greece. Queen Amalia outlived her husband by eight years. Hers was one of the most extensive jewellery collections of the mid-19th century. She possessed the pearl and diamond lover’s knot tiara made for her mother-in-law, Queen Therese of Bavaria, now housed at the Munich Residenz; an elaborate diamond parure and an amethyst and diamond demi-parure likewise created for her mother-in-law, last sold in these rooms on 14 May 2013 as lot 563.