The Queen's Diamonds Hardcover – July 15, 2012

Lots of history and beautiful pictures.

This is a beautiful and well researched book! Sister loved it for her birthday. It's full of history and the pictures are vivid and expertly done.

This coffee table sized book is a visual feast with life sized photos of each piece - tiaras, crowns, diadems, bracelets, necklaces, brooches, earrings and rings. Some are also shown through enlarged photos. Presented chronologically according to its original owner, the list begins with Queen Adelaide and continues through to HM Queen Elizabeth. The history of each piece along with photos of the queens who wore it gives a fascinating glimpse of how these priceless pieces have been changed to fit fashion.Though the book is a bit pricey, Amazon's price is considerably cheaper than ordering it from the Royal Collection (I checked.) The quality of the paper, the color printing, and the graphic layout are of the unsurpassed quality one would expect from an official royal release. For anyone interested in history, British royalty, or diamond jewelry, this book is a treasure.

As a jeweler, I have always thought that gems are immortal (they really are) and that they hold memories. Jewelry is one of those things that are durable enough to last through generations and even centuries. this is the ultimate history book. every time YOU go to the jewelry store, you are starting a new history. go back through old photos of your family and look at the jewelry. when those pieces are passed down and subsequent family members wear them, you see the family history. Jewelry is beautiful, wearable, history. this book shows wonderful photos and paintings of some of the best documentation of that history. within the reflections of gems and jewels are the memories of events when each was worn. the history of a family. yours or the Royal Family. seeing this displayed in this wonderful and impressive book is inspirational. I hope, when I am back in a Jewelry shop, will be on the counter to show that each purchase in the beginning of a family history.

Stunning photos of the jewelry. Interesting historical background, from Queen Victoria to present. Photos of the queens wearing various pieces. Also Princess Diana wearing the Lover’s Knot tiara with pearls, the Duchess of Cambridge wearing the Halo tiara at her wedding, but no photo of Princess Diana at her wedding because she wore the Spencer tiara that belonged to her family, not one of Queen Elizabeth’s.

Thank you so much for the prompt and as expected, if not better than expected, delivery of The Queen's Diamonds. I'm a total Anglophile who heads to London later this summer for a 4th time and this book just transports me to a world of Fairytales and Royal Sparkle. Thank you for providing the ability to purchase and enjoy! Highly recommend.

This is the most beautiful book on royal jewels I've ever seen --- and I've seen many and own most of them. Words cannot convey the size of the photographs, the intricate detail of the jewelry described (some shown front and back) and the quality of the paper. The history of each piece is interesting, detailed and well-researched. I just wish there was a companion book by this author on the Queen's colored jewelry collection. This book is pricy, but it's six pounds of utter heart-stopping beauty if you love royalty and jewelry. Save up and buy this book. You'll not regret it.

I bought this book for my wife after I had learned she has had it on her wish list for five years. She absolutely loves the book. As usual, it has to have a protective cover. But since it is rather large, she had to special order the bigger size plastic cover. She treats all of her hardbound books that she treasures.