Queen Victoria was known as the “Grandmother of Europe” after her nine children married into various European monarchies, but many royal fans might now know that the Spanish royal family is connected to the legendary English queen. One of Victoria’s granddaughters, Queen Victoria Eugenie—nicknamed Ena—married King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1906. Although she lived an unhappy life with the Spanish king, one of his gifts still lives on through the monarchy’s current queen, Letizia.
Queen Letizia wore two of Queen Ena’s most impressive pieces of jewelry on May 4, wearing a massive diamond necklace and matching earrings to an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of the El Pais newspaper.
The jewels are part of the Joyas de Pasar, a collection of jewelry that Queen Ena earmarked as heirlooms of the crown for future queens to wear, much like Queen Victoria did with her own jewelry.
The pieces in the Joyas de Pasar were gifts from King Alfonso, but their marriage was not a happy one. They survived an assassination attempt during their wedding procession, and the English queen was unpopular with the Spanish public.
King Alfonso carried out numerous affairs and is said to have never forgiven his wife for inflicting their eldest son and heir with hemophilia, which was a known condition traced to Queen Victoria. However unhappy their marriage was, he continued to give his wife more diamonds to add to her necklace each year.
Per Tatler, the piece grew to include approximately 100 diamonds by 1930, and Queen Ena had the long necklace broken up into smaller strands of diamonds—including the version Queen Letizia wears today.
The Spanish queen has worn the necklace and its matching drop earrings for important state occasions as well as her 2024 portrait by Annie Leibovitz, but this is the first time she's worn the set for a slightly more casual event.
For the newspaper reception, Letizia went with a high-low look, pairing her priceless diamonds with an off-the-shoulder black dress by one of her favorite mall brands, Mango. Who says you need to wear designer with diamonds?
