Some Of The British Royals’ Most Precious Jewels Were Sent To Them In A Mysterious Black Trunk

The full contents of the box are still to this day unknown to the wider public. We only know about a few of the magnificent jewels that were in there.

Or how about the Greville Diamond Peardrop Earrings? These were created just before the advent of World WarTwo by Cartier in 1938. The Queen Mother must have loved them, because she wore them all the time.

And here’s another piece from the black trunk collection that you’ll have definitely seen in recent years if you’re a follower of the royal family: the Greville Emerald Kokoshnik Tiara.

By now you’ll have noticed that all these pieces are named after someone called “Greville.” So just who was this Greville? Well, Greville was the “G” in the letters MHG.

Before Greville had sent her mysterious black trunk of jewels, she’d spent a lifetime trying to claw her way out of obscurity. She had been born out of wedlock, you see.

Despite the scandal of an illegitimate child, it seems that William McEwan genuinely did love Helen Anderson. The pair were married in 1885 and Greville was able to pass herself off as the millionaire’s “step-daughter.”

Being an heiress meant that Greville had many good marriage prospects. In 1891 she wed the Hon. Ronald Henry Fulke Greville, a Conservative Party politician, thus becoming Mrs. Ronnie Greville.

Greville soon befriended a woman called Alice Keppel, who was very well-connected: she was the mistress of none other than the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. Back in those days, “mistress of the King” was a coveted position.

After Edward ascended the throne, Greville got even closer to the monarchy. She could often be found rubbing shoulders with the King, and the newspapers of the day soon took notice.

Around this time Greville began work on a new home called Polesden Lacey. This was going to be a magnificent, beautiful mansion where she and her husband could entertain the richest and most powerful people in the world.

Greville grieved terribly over the loss of her husband, but after that she began befriending other widows. One of these was Queen Alexandra, the wife of her now-late friend, the former monarch.

Greville was now firmly entrenched as one of the royal family’s most intimate companions. In 1913 she decided she would eventually leave Polesden Lacey to Prince Albert, who unbeknown to her — or indeed at that stage, anyone — would later become King George VI.

It’s thought that Greville was the person who got Albert — known as Bertie — and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the future Queen Mother, together. In fact, she might well have downright meddled in their affairs.

All the same, the object of Albert’s affections refused his marriage proposal twice. Perhaps she wasn’t as interested as Bertie would have wanted? So it’s thought that Greville then placed a story in a newspaper claiming that the woman with whom he was besotted was about to marry a Scottish lord.

As she grew older Greville relentlessly collected beautiful jewels and objects. Some of her vast collection went on display at Polesden Lacey in 2022. It included a Fabergé egg, one of the most sought-after collector’s items in the world.

It was a very important part of her life. Ashbourne went on, “Mrs. Greville and her friends bought treasures for each other, including creations by Fabergé, to be displayed and discussed, or even regifted.”

But now we come to the problematic parts of Greville’s character. She was by all accounts friendly with Adolf Hitler and the Nazis during the Third Reich, and by most accounts she apparently shared their antisemitism, as well.

Her association with the Nazis damaged Greville’s reputation considerably, although she remained a close friend of the royal family, and she was even invited to the May 1937 coronation of George.

Greville died of cerebral thrombosis in 1942 at the age of 79. After her death, Elizabeth wrote to her and Greville’s mutual friend Osbert Sitwell, “I shall miss her very much indeed… she was so shrewd, so kind, so amusingly unkind, so sharp, such fun, so naughty.”

Then, the black box of jewels arrived for the royal family. Although naturally the monarch and her relations were by now well used to finery, they still might have been shocked by the contents of the container when it arrived.

It’s thought that one particular piece, now known as the Greville Emerald Necklace, had once adorned the neck of either Empress Josephine or Marie Antoinette; the royal family themselves have never made clear which of the two had once owned the piece..

The late Queen Mother had written to her mother-in-law, Queen Mary, in October 1942 about the jewels she now owned. She seemed excited, writing, ”I must tell you that Mrs. Greville has left me her jewels, tho’ I am keeping that quiet as well for the moment!”

“She left them to me ‘with her loving thoughts’, dear old thing, and I feel very touched,” the Queen Mother wrote. “I don’t suppose I shall see what they consist of for a long time, owing to the slowness of lawyers and death duties, etc.

But Greville leaving the royal family her collection of jewels meant that she didn’t leave Albert the grand house Polesden Lacey in the end. That went to the National Trust instead.

The royal family weren’t the only people to whom Greville left riches. She died with 13 godchildren, including Keppel’s daughter, and she provided for each of them in her will.

A third letter shows Mary speaking about the jewels to her daughter Elizabeth, the future Queen. She wrote “This is just a note about one or two things in case I get ‘done in’ by the Germans!”

The pearls were indeed “suitable” — more than suitable! Many of the Greville pieces that live in the royal collection today are made from pearls. Take, for example, the Greville Scroll Brooch.

And some others are made from the finest diamonds. One of the most impressive pieces from the Greville trunk is a tiara now called the Greville Tiara. The Queen Mother had this one altered in 1953 to add even more diamonds, and it became one of her favorites.

We’ve seen the royals wearing many pieces from the Greville collection, but we surely can’t have seen them all yet. The exact full inventory of the contents of MHG’s black box remains shrouded in mystery.