In reportage of Christmas lunch at Buckingham Palace and the arrival of Meghan Markle and her fiancé Prince Harry, worldwide news focused on the item of jewellery worn by Princess Michael of Kent. Immediately branded as a ‘racist’ piece of jewellery in so-called ‘blackamoor’ style, many of these reports were also at pains to emphasise Princess Michael’s father’s association with the SS and to portray this fashion statement as a blatant affront to Harry’s choice of bride, a woman of part African-American heritage. Princess Michael hastily apologized for wearing the piece and said she would not wear it again. But this explosion of journalistic outrage obscures a much more interesting story.
Whilst of course we cannot know what motivated Princess Michael to select this particular item from her jewellery collection, and what her views towards Meghan Markle might be, what was obvious to me at first glance was that the Princess was wearing an item of jewellery with deep significance made famous in the last century by one of Venice’s premier jewellers, the Gioielleria Nardi. Though other prominent Venetian jewelers such as Codognato also began creating so-called Moretto jewels in the 1930s, it was the brooches made by Giulio Nardi, grandfather of the current proprietor Alberto Nardi, which became one of the most emblematic souvenirs purchased by the city’s high-end resident and visiting consumers.