Duchess of Windsor's Style Blue Crystal Cross Copy

by Angela Magnotti Andrews

The gossip mills in the US and England began pumping furiously in 1936, when the international press published photos of Mrs. Wallis Simpson aboard the Nahlinwearing a Cartier bracelet with several gem-set Latin crosses. Curiously, these glittering charms bore strong resemblance to two crosses the King wore on a chain around his neck on board the same cruise ship.

Mrs. Simpson and Prince Edward, called David by his family and close friends, met in 1931. Lady Thelma Thurman, then mistress to the Prince, was a frequent guest at Mrs. Simpson's outrageously splendid cocktail parties. Her whim to introduce the Prince to her irreverent and independent friend, 'Wally', led to the scandal that rocked a nation and to what some deem the greatest love story of the 20th century.

Three years and countless Court invitations later, the Prince found himself utterly smitten with the American socialite. They embarked upon an illicit affair in 1934, the milestone events of which were memorialized by the elaborate jewels they had made for one another. Probably the most significant of these historic jewels are the eleven (possibly twelve) gem-set Cartier Latin crosses which have engraved upon them ten years of romance.

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