The splendor and sparkle of the diamond is unmatched by that of any other gem in the world. As status symbols or emblems of""endless love, diamonds have been worn, collected, and presented as lavish gifts since the earliest days of antiquity. Today, steady sales--and borrowed baubles on the arms of starlets--indicate that diamonds remain among the most sought-after gemstones. But few, if any, private collections surpass that of Queen Elizabeth II."The Queen's Diamonds" takes readers on a tour of the magnificent royal inheritance of diamonds from Queen Adelaide in the 1830s to the present day. The book features more than seventy awe-inspiring pieces of jewelry from one of the finest collections in the world. With three hundred full-color photographs--many newly commissioned for the book--the dazzling display ranges from the flawless pink diamond presented to Princess Elizabeth, as she was then known, for her wedding in 1947 to nineteenth-century diamond diadems to the Cartier "Halo" tia