The Gilded Age Returns With Diamonds, Drama, and Decadence

Bertha Russell’s Royal Jewelry Ambitions

Nouveau riche social climber Bertha Russell (played by Carrie Coon) and her railroad tycoon husband, George Russell, represent the new money that has made its name among New York’s elite.

Her character draws heavily upon the life of Alva Vanderbilt, the wealthy socialite and advocate for women’s suffrage. She had three children with her first husband, businessman William Vanderbilt – Consuelo, William Jr., and Harold. Together, the couple built “Petit Chateau” at 660 Fifth Avenue. Like Bertha, Alva was shunned by the established “old money” of New York City until she was accepted after a lavish ball she threw.

Massively wealthy, Mrs. Russell often wears the most opulent, audacious diamonds, reminiscent of those worn by royalty. In season two, Bertha Russell attends a dinner party wearing a swirling diamond tiara and a diamond choker, incredibly similar to Queen Alexandra’s Collier Résille, which Cartier crafted in 1904, according to The Royal Watcher. 

The Fabergé Tiara With a Royal Past

To attend the opening of the controversial Metropolitan Opera House at the close of season 2, Mrs. Russell wore a recreation of a diamond Fabergé Tiara, originally given to Empress Josephine by the Tsar of Russia.

Known as the Empress Josephine Tiara, its briolette-cut (drop-shaped) diamonds were a gift from Emperor Alexander I of Russia to the Empress Josephine following her divorce from Napoleon. The diamonds were passed down to her grandson, Prince Maximilian Joseph. According to Fabergé, a later owner had the stones incorporated into this tiara. The Belgian royal family acquired the jewel, then passed it down to Queen Maria José, the last Queen of Italy. Finally, the tiara was auctioned off in 2007 at Christie’s in London and is now in the McFerrin Collection, displayed at the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Texas. 

Consuelo Vanderbilt’s Gilded Cage

Much like her mother’s links to Alva Vanderbilt, Gladys Russell is heavily based on Consuelo Vanderbilt’s life. The eldest Vanderbilt daughter, Consuelo, married Charles, the ninth Duke of Marlborough, at St. Thomas’s Church on November 6, 1895, when she was just 18 years old. Much like Gladys, she was in love with someone else at the time – Winthrop Rutherford. 

As legend goes, Alva Vanderbilt locked Consuelo in her room until she agreed to walk down the aisle to ensure the bride attended her wedding. The pressure was on, considering the Duke had already agreed to a substantial amount of railroad stock and a healthy annual allowance. 

The story plays out similarly for Gladys Russell in season 3 of The Gilded Age. With her mother’s help, Gladys is betrothed to the Duke of Buckingham against her own wishes. On the show, Gladys locks herself in her room before deciding to succumb to her noble fate and head down the aisle.

Ahead of her nuptials, the Russell family announces Gladys’ engagement and unveils her portrait by John Singer Sargent (Sargent also painted Consuelo). As the crowd steps away and reality hits her, Gladys clutches her multi-strand pearl choker as it breaks and scatters across the floor. The Vanderbilts are known for the family’s pearls, once owned by Catherine the Great and Empress Eugénie. 

As recounted in her autobiography, The Glitter and The Gold: The American Duchess – In Her Own Words, Alva passed down a great many pearl jewels to Consuelo for her wedding. “My mother had given me all the pearls she had received from my father. There were two fine rows which had once belonged to Catherine of Russia and to the Empress Eugénie, and also a sautoir which I could clasp round my waist,” she detailed. “A diamond tiara capped with pear-shaped stones was my father’s gift to me, and from Marlborough came a diamond belt.”

While Gladys wore a diamond floral wreath tiara above her updo on her wedding day, Consuelo wore a diamond Boucheron tiara her father, William Kissam Vanderbilt, had given her. 

Peggy’s Engagement Ring Was Worth the Wait

As Peggy (played by Denée Benton) dances the night away at the Kirkland’s ball in the season’s finale, Dr. William Kirkland (Jordan Donica) shocks the crowd, asking her for a dance and then getting down on one knee. Just when she felt like all was lost, Peggy finally got her happy ending. 

Peggy’s engagement ring featured pearls and diamonds in a floral cluster style, set in yellow gold. Though the jewelry in The Gilded Age is anachronistic, many thought the ring leaned more toward mid-century modern than Victorian. 

The Diamond Stars That Broke Society’s Rules

While hosting the Duke of Buckingham for the first time in season 2, Gladys Russell wore four large diamond-encrusted stars in her hair, undoubtedly influenced by the Empress Elisabeth of Austria’s famed diamond stars, as depicted in her portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. 

Lady Sarah, the Duke’s sister, even used this season to reprimand Gladys for choosing celestial hair ornaments instead of a tiara, which led to the dismissal of Gladys’s lady-maid, Adelheid, who recommended Gladys wear the piece in the first place.