Noble Jewels

Her majesty the Raja Permaisuri of Perak, Tuanku Zara Salim, doesn’t seem to wear a lot of jewellery. Her regular day to day pieces are pretty much understated and practical.

But there is a pearl choker (pictured above) that seems to be a favourite of hers. All three strands of the choker are of the same size, consisting of what I can guess are 7mm-8mm pearl beads. The material of the clasp isn’t known, as I couldn’t find any pictures of it online.

This necklace is a personal piece of hers I think, and not from the Perak Royal Vault. She started wearing this beautiful piece circa 2016.

She has worn this strand a few times especially during education/school level events. Pearls are a practical solution to completing her look without going over the top at these particular functions. It seems that she usually reserves the tiaras and diamonds for official royal functions and events.

She has also worn the same style of pearl earrings with this choker (pictured below). They are these two sided earring styles that is a younger way of wearing the traditional pearl studs. Again, I feel that this is a style that doesn’t scream “queen” but it projects an easy going and approachable image especially to the younger generation.

The Raja Permaisuri of Perak was born in the city of Ipoh, Perak on 22 March 1973, she is the youngest of four children of William Stanley Walker Davidson (Salim Davidson), a prominent lawyer in Perak and Kuala Lumpur, and Sharifah Azaliah Syed Omar Shahabudin.

Tuanku Zara Salim is also the great granddaughter of the 24th Sultan of Kedah, Almarhum Sultan Abdul Hamid Halim Shah, while her grandfather, Tan Sri Syed Omar Syed Abdullah Shahabudin was the former Menteri Besar of Kedah.

So it shouldn’t come as a surprise how Her Majesty caught the eye of the current Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah. I’m sure her noble background played a part, but I personally think it was her education and achievements that made her stand out. 

It is known that the Perak royal family has many high achieving individuals, consisting of lawyers and PhD holders. It’s also interesting to note that Her Majesty’s father and father in-law both studied law (one is a lawyer and the other was a judge). 

At 8 years old, Her Majesty represented the state of Perak in Swimming between 1981-1987. She studied at SMK Convent Ipoh and represented her school in Squash and Tennis from 1988-1990. 

After completing her A-Levels at Prime College in 1992, she left for the United Kingdom to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Nottingham and graduated with first class honours in 1995. She could also speak several foreign languages.

The Sultanah of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah owns this Citrine Brooch. It features an oval shaped citrine, surrounded by what I could only assume to be round cut Yellow, Blue and Pink Sapphires, Tsavorites and Diamonds. Her majesty wore this piece on her turban wrap for the in-store promotion of Malaysian craft at Harrods London, England in 2009.

Her Majesty wearing the Citrine Brooch on her turban pictured below.

The next brooch is the Pearl and Diamond brooch. Her majesty has worn this on several occasions. It must be because pearls and diamonds go with almost anything. She wore this for the launch of a designer handbag brand called, Nazra Exclusive, in 2016.

Her Majesty wearing the brooch pictured below.

The third brooch, is the Suspended bar brooch that Her Majesty wore for Bernard Chandran’s 10th Anniversary Fashion Showcase in 2016.

Her Majesty wearing the Suspended Bar Brooch pictured below.

Lets begin with the Permaisuri of Terengganu, Sultanah Nur Zahirah. Her Majesty was born Rozita binti Adil Bakeri, a commoner, on the 7th of December 1973 in Alor Star, Kedah, Malaysia. Currently 43 years of age, she is the youngest among the queens of Malaysia.

She married Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin of Terengganu on 28 March 1996 at the age of 22 in Kuala Terengganu. She was then known as Cik Puan Sri Rozita Adil Bakeri.

She was accorded the title Permaisuri Nur Zahirah on 19 July 1998, after Tuanku Mizan was proclaimed the Sultan of Terengganu. Later, her title was changed to Sultanah Nur Zahirah on 5 June 2006 in accordance with the Sultan's wishes.

Being the first Queen in Malaysia to don a hijab full time, Her Majesty hardly wears a tiara unless if it’s for official state functions. The last time Her Majesty wore a tiara regularly, was during her tenure as the Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia (2006-2011). Below is the Gendik Permaisuri of Terengganu tiara she wore quite regularly before her tenure as Permaisuri Agong.

To compensate for the lack of tiaras, she usually wears magnificent brooches and long necklaces, mostly made out of pearls and diamonds.

Nowadays, when Her Majesty appears for functions and events outside of her state of Terengganu, she wears a turban wrap instead of the traditional hijab. I guess Her Majesty prefers this look, so she could wear earrings and shorter necklaces.

All 9 states in Malaysia with a monarch has a Queen, except for the current Sultan of Kelantan which is also the current Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

The Royal House of Pahang seems to own a wide range of coloured jewellery. From emeralds, rubies, coloured pearls and of course, diamonds. This tiara (an artists impression) features 7 large oval/cushion cut emeralds surrounded by marquise diamonds on a single band of diamonds.

It was worn by Sultanah Kalsom (pictured below), the second consort of the Sultan of Pahang, whose first consort, Tengku Ampuan Afzan, passed away of cancer in 1988.

The Sultanah was seen wearing these magnificent emeralds, during the wedding dinner reception for the Crown Prince of Brunei in 2004. The Sultanah seems to be fond of Emeralds, she has been photographed with various styles of emerald necklaces. from single drop emerald pendants to the choker necklace pictured above.

Congratulations to Sultan Muhammad V on his installation as the 15th Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.

 The Kalung Diraja is also another piece that is worn only by the Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia and doesn’t belong to a specific Royal Family.

The necklace above is an artist’s impression (done by me, based on blurry pictures found on the internet) of the necklace’s first design. This necklace was worn by the first to eighth Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia

The motif on this necklace seems like a wreath/scroll of sorts. Made of white gold and diamonds, this necklace was taken apart in 1989 and reassembled into it’s current design.

Again, I’m assuming they needed a grand design to match the high position of the Permaisuri Agong among the other Queens of Malaysia.

The scroll/flowery motif is still carried across the new design but with large round and pear shaped diamonds added to the mix. This necklace could be dismantled into brooches, earrings and a pendant.

The Gendik Diraja tiara is a rather unique piece of royal jewellery. It does not belong to a specific Malaysian Royal Family. It is the State Tiara for the Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia.

The Permaisuri Agong is the wife of the Yang Di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia. The Yang di-Pertuan Agong is formally elected to a five-year term by and from among the nine rulers of the Malaysian Royal Houses, who form the Council of Rulers.

In other words, this is the most shared tiara in Malaysia, having graced the heads of 14 different queens.

The original form of the tiara featured a shining star in the middle of a top facing crescent moon, with a flower and scroll motif on each side. It was made of white gold and set with white diamonds. It was a comb style tiara and was quite a lovely but regal piece.

But in 1984 it was sent to Garrard in London and was redesigned into it’s present form. My guess is that as beautiful as it was, it lacked the height and authority over the tiaras of the other Royal Houses. I mean, if you’re supposed to be the Queen of Malaysia, the tiara has to reflect that position.

And so the new Gendik Diraja Tiara was created, and if big was what they were looking for, big was what they got. The central design remained, but the scroll motif around it had more detail added and was brought up to the same level as the central design. And the height of the overall tiara was raised, by adding two rows of diamonds and a band of velvet at the base.

The new Gendik Tiara could also be taken apart and be worn as a pendant and brooches.

Little is known about this tiara, the only thing I can be certain of is that it was worn frequently by the Raja Perempuan Muzwin of Perak during her reign as the Queen Consort of Perak (1963-1984). She married the 33rd Sultan of Perak and is also the mother of Raja Zarith Sofia, the current Queen of Johor and the maternal grandmother to the Crown Prince of Johor.

The tiara wasn’t worn by any other Queen Consort before Raja Perempuan Muzwin, so it would be safe to assume the tiara was created during her reign as queen during the 1960′s.

The Tiara pictured above is an artist’s impression of the tiara based on pictures of the Raja Perempuan Muzwin wearing the tiara.

I named this tiara the State Tiara of Perak, mainly because the central design of the tiara bears a close resemblance to the State of Perak Coat of Arms as seen below.

And now let’s shake things up a bit and move on to the Royal House of Perak. 

The Tuanku Bainun Tiara isn’t it’s actual name, but since there isn’t an official name for it, that’s what I’m calling it. And why I chose that name is because it was worn frequently by Tuanku Bainun of Perak during her reign as the consort of the late Sultan of Perak, Sultan Azlan Shah.

The tiara bears a striking resemblance to the Cartier Halo Tiara. The knot motif and the base has a very classic art deco design. This is my favorite tiara so far. I could understand why the Dowager Queen used it often.

The tiara consists of 312 round and pear shaped white diamonds, set in Platinum. It was commissioned in the 1960′s and cost an estimated value of RM80,000 (18,000USD) which would be worth RM655,000 (148,000USD) or maybe more now.

Nowadays the tiara has been passed on along with the title of Raja Permaisuri Perak to Tuanku Zara Salim, the wife of the 35th Sultan of Perak, Sultan Nazrin Shah.

Next up on the State of Selangor Tiara list, is the Tengku Ampuan Selangor Crown (or Queen Consort of Selangor State Crown) also known as Mahkota Leleng.

This is the oldest tiara for the Royal House of Selangor. This tiara was first worn by the current sultan, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah’s paternal grandmother, Tengku Ampuan Jemaah.

It is made of 22k yellow gold and set with old cut diamonds and rubies. It is a rather unusual colour choice for a tiara, but Yellow, Red and White are the colours of the Selangor Flag, which probably explains the usage of yellow gold, diamonds and rubies.

The crescent moon and star motifs repeated across the tiara, reflects the Coat of Arms of Selangor which represents Islam. I would also like to point out that along with the crescent moon and star motif, the design also incorporates what I can only guess are six petaled flowers with sprays of stars exploding from the three main points of the tiara. perhaps the flowers are a way to make it look more effeminate.

The Tiara was also created to accompany the Sultan of Selangor’s coronation crown. You can see the similarities in design and colour below.

The only other woman to wear the State Crown, is Tengku Ampuan Rahimah, and even then, she only wore it to her husband’s coronation in 1960. I guess she just preferred the Bertatah Berlian Tiara and Jubli Perak Tiara.

Hello all, lets learn more about the Bertatah Berlian Tiara from Selangor.

Now, this stunning piece is made out of graduating diamonds from the base up and ends with large round diamonds at alternating tips, set in yellow gold. The design is similar to Queen Mary of the United Kingdom’s Fringe Tiara. This tiara was commissioned for Tengku Ampuan Rahimah early on in her husband’s reign.

This was the go to tiara for Tengku Ampuan Rahimah before the Jubli Perak Tiara came along. Tengku Ampuan Rahimah wore this tiara during ceremonial occasions such as the Ceremonial Royal Banquet, Royal Investitures, Decorations and Medals Ceremony, and other official royal functions.

Following her death in 1993, the Bertatah Berlian Tiara went back into the vault, and wasn’t worn by the Sultan’s later consort, Tuanku Siti Aishah. 

But happily, it has resurfaced again with the arrival of the new consort of Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin. She has sported the tiara on two occasions, The Royal Title Proclamation Ceremony (8th October 2016) and His Majesty’s Birthday (11th December 2016).

Little is known about the Malaysian Royal Jewels, and I’ve often wondered why. So instead of waiting for someone to do it, I thought “why don’t I do it instead?”.

And to kick things off, Let’s begin with the Jubli Perak Tiara (Silver Jubilee Tiara) from the Royal House of Daeng Chelak, Selangor.

The Jubli Perak Tiara was created for the Silver Jubilee celebrations of the twenty five year reign of Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah, the 8th Sultan of Selangor for his consort, Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in 1986.

The tiara features the Coat of Arms of the State of Selangor in the top centre, placed on an upward facing crescent moon, mirroring the crescent moon on the spear in the Coat of Arms. On each side of this central design, are four additional crescent moons each topped off with a star.

The tiara consists of white diamonds and is most probably set in Platinum. It is a rather high tiara estimated to be around 11cm in height if not more.

As the first Royal Lady to wear this stately piece, Tengku Puan Rahimah wore this tiara to the Opening of the Selangor State Assembly and to the coronation of the Yang Di Pertuan Agong, Sultan Azlan Shah of Perak in 1989.

In 1990, the sultan took a second wife and married Siti Aishah Binti Abdul Rahman who was styled Che Puan Besar of Selangor. She was installed as Tengku Permaisuri of Selangor (known as Tuanku Siti Aishah) in 1998 after the death of Tengku Ampuan Rahimah in 1993.

She has worn the Jubli Perak Tiara for official occasions and for her official portrait as the Tengku Permaisuri of Selangor in 1998.

 Sultan Salahuddin was installed as the 11th Yang Di Pertuan Agong in April 1999 which made Tuanku Siti Aishah the youngest Raja Permaisuri Agong at the age of 28.

In 2001, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, ascended the throne as the 9th Sultan of Selangor. Alas, at that point he was twice divorced and did not have a consort to wear any of the Royal Jewels.

But happily enough, on 31st August 2016, Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah married RTM newsreader Norashikin Abdul Rahman (now, Tengku Permaisuri Norashikin) in a small ceremony at the Royal Mosque of Istana Alam Shah. And the the tiara made a comeback on 27th March 2017  at the Opening of the Selangor State Assembly.