Try “pearls”, “Cullinan” or “hallmark”. Press Esc to close.
Jewellery · Watches · Luxury Goods
Royalnis is a magazine for people who love fine things: how they are made, who wore them and what makes them last. Tiaras and tourbillons, couture and coronations, explained with care.
Great names, new chapters
Fresh stories from renowned houses of jewellery and fine craft, retold by our editors in their own words.
Garrard
Garrard made the Lotus Flower Tiara in 1923 for the Queen Mother. It has passed through three generations of royal women, and now a new collection takes up its flower.
Read the story
Asprey
Asprey invited the Brazilian designer Silvia Furmanovich to build a collection around the house’s rare, colourful jadeite. She pairs the stone with carved bamboo, rare woods and Japanese inlay.
Read the story
Purdey
Barn owls, boxing hares and gun cartridges: Purdey’s latest silks turn the house archive into small scenes of country life, printed in Macclesfield and finished by hand.
Read the story
This season
From the wreaths of antiquity to Napoleon’s court and modern royal weddings: where the tiara came from, the styles to know and the rules that still apply.
A moment for your eye
Every question comes from one of our stories. Answer, see why, and follow the link if you want the whole tale. A new set appears each time you visit.
The collection
From the wreaths of antiquity to Napoleon’s court and modern royal weddings: where the tiara came from, the styles to know and the rules that still apply.
Calendars, moon phases, chronographs, tourbillons and repeaters: what each watch complication actually does, and why collectors value them so highly.
Cut, colour, clarity and carat, explained in plain language so that you can read a diamond grading report with confidence and know what each grade really means.
Haute couture is not just a phrase for expensive fashion. It is a protected title in France, with strict rules, specialist workshops and hundreds of hours of handwork.
From sketch and wax model to casting, setting and polish: how a piece of fine jewellery is made, and what the numbers stamped on gold really mean.
Garrard, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Chaumet, Hermès and more: how the oldest luxury houses began, and what their age means for craft, archives and value.
Choose a theme, learn what drives value and buy from people who stand behind their watches: a practical guide to the first steps of a serious collection.
Catalogue, viewing, registration, bidding, payment: a calm walk through the life of a lot at a sale of jewellery, watches or art.
Leonardo drawings, a Vermeer, Rembrandt and Canaletto: what the Royal Collection is, who it belongs to and where you can see it for yourself.
Windsor, Bernadotte, Grimaldi, Orange-Nassau and Glücksburg: where Europe’s royal houses come from, how they got their names and how succession works.
Why pearls became the jewel of queens, how natural and cultured pearls differ, the four main types to know and how to keep a strand beautiful for decades.
What makes a watch a dress watch, how to wear one with a suit or black tie, why white tie traditionally means no watch at all, and which old rules you can relax.
The three great coloured gemstones share a long royal history. What they are made of, where the finest come from, what affects their value and which famous jewels made them stars.
From Queen Victoria’s white satin to Meghan’s Commonwealth veil: five royal and near royal dresses, and the ideas each one gave to brides everywhere.
The tiny stamps on silver and gold record who stood behind a piece, how pure it is, where it was tested and often when. Here is how to read them.
The royal arms and the words “By Appointment to” appear on labels and shop fronts. Here is how warrants are granted, reviewed and lost, and what they tell you.
Coronation mugs, jubilee plates, signed letters: most royal memorabilia is common and charming, a little is genuinely rare. Here is how to tell the difference.
A pink diamond, a blue diamond, two famous watches and a film star’s jewellery: what record sales reveal about rarity, story and provenance.
From £45 in 1958 to about 450.3 million dollars in 2017: what the story of Salvator Mundi teaches about attribution, restoration and value.
Three British tiaras, three journeys through the family: how royal jewels are inherited, lent and worn again, and why some never belonged to the Crown.
Once a working tool for sealing letters, the signet ring is now a quiet emblem of family and identity. How it works, what to engrave and on which finger it goes.
The wristwatch began as a jewel for women, became a tool for soldiers and pilots and survived the quartz revolution to become today’s luxury object.
Found in South Africa in 1905, given to Edward VII in 1907 and cut in Amsterdam in 1908: how the largest gem diamond ever found became part of the Crown Jewels.
Three ways to buy a suit, three very different processes. What bespoke really means, what happens at a fitting and the details that reveal quality.
A mechanical watch needs a full service every few years. Here is what the watchmaker actually does, how a movement works and how to protect it in between.
Materials over logos, fit over fashion, repair over replacement: an essay on understated luxury and the royal habits it quietly borrows.
Every serious object has a story of who owned it and when. Here is how that paper trail is built, read and protected.
Set your limit, read the small print, ask the right questions. A calm checklist for first time and occasional bidders at jewellery, watch and art sales.
Originals and editions, primary and secondary market: a grounded guide to buying your first works, keeping the right papers and living with art.
St Edward’s Crown, the Orb, two sceptres and a medieval spoon: what each piece of the British coronation regalia means and how they were used in 2023.
Garrard made the Lotus Flower Tiara in 1923 for the Queen Mother. It has passed through three generations of royal women, and now a new collection takes up its flower.
Asprey invited the Brazilian designer Silvia Furmanovich to build a collection around the house’s rare, colourful jadeite. She pairs the stone with carved bamboo, rare woods and Japanese inlay.
Barn owls, boxing hares and gun cartridges: Purdey’s latest silks turn the house archive into small scenes of country life, printed in Macclesfield and finished by hand.
Seven centuries in fifteen moments
Interactive
Tap the bookmark on any story to save it. Your vault lives only in this browser: no account, no cookies, nothing sent to us.
