Marriage Presents For May Goelet
Following are some of the more important of the wedding gifts given Miss Goelet. Among them are the richest and most wonderful ever sent to an American bride.
The Duchess of Roxburghe will take with her to England some wonderfully exquisite gifts.
It is said that if all were converted into cash the figure will reach into millions.
Not to be outdone by the bride's America friends and relatives, the Dowager Duchess of Roxburghe mother of the Duke, has presented to her daughter - in- law the famous Roxburghe collection of emeralds..
The emeralds are valued at several hundred thousands of dollars. The Roxburghes have had them in their possession for two hundred years.
The most important of the emerald presents is a necklace of big stones. The largest one in the center, the others graduating to a clasp, which is studded with tiny emeralds. This necklace is valued at $25.000.
A beautiful pair of emerald earrings made of pear-shaped stones and three large emerald pins are among the collection. The pins are in the shape of sunbursts and are set in the finest Indian gold.
Each pin has fourteen emeralds and around each stone are very small diamonds used to set off the brilliancy of the green stones. It is probable that May Goelet wore the Roxburghe Emeralds >> at a costume ball.
In keeping with her mother's present one of the Duke's sisters has given the bride a very handsome emerald and diamond ring, which are counted the rarest in England.
- Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, a pearl pendant, It consists of two perfectly matched large pearls, from which four or five pear-shaped pearls hang.
-Mr Robert Goelet, her brother, a tiara of diamonds, which is said to be the handsomest, expensive and beautiful a present as was ever designed in this country. Four diamond experts assisted in collecting the stones for the tiara; it could be this tiara, which is pictured above, from the Boucheron archive.
10 large pear-shaped diamonds, in tiara and collier, a set decorated with similar stones. The set was billed at 300 000 francs (and was delivered in 1904 January from Louis Boucheron, to the Ritz Hotel in Paris)
The collier of diamonds - which could be the following item:
-Mrs Odgen Goelet, a diamond necklace and a diamond and pearl tiara which formed part of the Crown jewels of Louis XVI , two diamond bowknots from the French Crown Jewels.
Also twelve yards of real Irish point lace, which is seventy-five years old. It is made in royal rose design, and Miss Goelet wore it on her wedding dress. This lace, according to one of the bridesmaids, was valued at $1250 a yard.
-Bridegroom a diamond tiara and pendant
-Mrs. R. T. Wilson, an emerald and diamond corsage piece
-Mr. and Mrs. R. T. Wilson, her grandparents, a wonderful string of pearls several yards long
-Mr Cornelius Vanderbilt Jr, a diamond collar
-Mr. Ogden X Mills, one dozen solid gold dinner plates
-Miss Beatrice Mills, a pearl and turquoise pin
-Miss Johnstone ,bridesmaid, a diamond bracelet
-Miss Haven, bridesmaid, a sapphire and diamond ring
-Miss Babcock, bridesmaid, a diamond pin
-Miss Thayer, bridesmaid, a feather fan with coronet and initials in diamonds
-Miss Whittaker, bridesmaid, a Russian enamelled clock
-Miss Theres Iselin bridesmaid, a turquoise and diamond bracelet
-Mr. and Mrs. Clarence Mackay, a massive gold pitcher and tray to match
-Mr. and Mrs. E. Gerry, a large silver tray for the tea table
-Mr. and Mrs. Adrian Iselin, a magnificent silver mirror for the dressing table
The Duke of Roxburghe, the seventeenth peer of the court of St. James, was wedded to Miss May Goelet, daughter of Mrs. Ogden Goelet in November at New York.
The bride is the richest unmarried woman in the United States, and is reputed to be worth $125,000,000 in her own right.
The ceremony was performed by Bishop Doane. The Goelets are in mourning for the late Sir Michael Herbert and the services were simple. St Thomas's Church was beautifully decorated for the occasion, the floral scheme being to make the interior of the edifice as small as possible and to make the church look like an English chapel.
The feature of the decorations was the pulpit, which was a mass of orchids and asparagus plumosa. The reredos were outlined with asparagus and white roses and the altar was dressed in white lilies. On the altar stalls were hung ropes of white roses tied with satin ribbons. In and about the chancel were groups of palms interspersed with Japanese chrysanthemums. The transepts were divided by hedges of palms, shrubs and plants.
From the tops of stone columns were hung baskets of English primroses. The gathering of invited guests was watched by an eager crowd of several hundred curious people, who lined Fifth Avenue near the church.
On the arm of her brother, Robert Goelet, who gave his sister away, was gowned a remarkable Worth creation. It is made of Irish point lace in rose design. The lace was given to Miss Goelet by her mother.
Miss Goelet wore over this a tulle veil caught with a coronet of orange blossoms. The bride wore no jewelry save a pearl necklace.
The bridesmaids wore pink mousseline de sole trimmed with ecru lace and carried muffs and pink roses.
The bridesmaids were Lady Isabel Innes-Ker, sister of the duke; Miss Beatrice Mills, Miss Alice Babcock, Miss Therese Iselin, Miss Marie Haven, Miss Pauline Whittier, Miss Nina Thayer and Miss Martha Johnston.
The wedding service was the Episcopal marriage service, after which the wedding party repaired to the Goelet mansion at 608 Fifth avenue, where two hundred invited guests attended an informal reception. A view of the wedding gifts, which were rich and rare and in great number, was had. The presents are said to aggregate over a million dollars in value.
The feature of the wedding collation was the cutting of an ornamental English wedding cake.
The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe will spend part of their honeymoon at the Goelet house in Newport, Rhode Island, and then later proceed to Floors Castle, the duke's palace, in Scotland.
Sources: The Evening News; Sydney Mail 1903; Pittsburgh Press;Boucheron secret archives,V.Meylan
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