Good Girls

Good Girls

"In 1953 the Maharani of Baroda sold Harry Winston a pair of anklets, consisting of cabochon emeralds and rose-cut diamonds. These Winston fashioned into a necklace which the Duke of Windsor bought fot the Duchess.

Unfortunately, in 1957 there was a ball at which the Duchess and the Maharani were both present. Observing the necklace the Maharani remarked rather publicly that the emerlds had looked just as good when she wore them on her feet. The Duchess was livid and returned the neklace. Harry Winston promised not to sell the necklace to anyone who might wear it in the Duchess's presence or know its recent history. So Christina Onassis was turned down when she tried to buy it, and eventually it ended up in Texas."

- Alexis, Baron de Redé

Keeping it Simple

The Maharaja and Maharani of Baroda.

"One unexpected hazard in giving a party concerns the tangled question of etiquette. I had known Sita Devi, Maharani of Baroda for many years and so, naturally, I sent her an invitation to my party. I received a message back to say that the Maharani could not accept this invitation unless she was addressed as 'Her Royal Highness'. I was not convinced that she was a Royal Highness, so I rang the Duke of Windsor, and asked his opinion. 'She is most certainly not a Royal Highness. She is not even entitled to be adressed as Her Highness', was his reply. So I held to my position and the Maharani did not attend the ball..."

-  Alexis, Baron of Redé