Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton tie the knot in Montreal on March, 1964.
Since they began their affair on the movie set of “Cleopatra” in January, 1962, Richard Burton delighted in giving bride Elizabeth Taylor extravagant jewels.
The Taylor-Burton Diamond
One of the most famous pieces Burton gave Taylor is the pear-shaped, 69.42 carat Taylor-Burton Diamond. Fifth husband Richard Burton bought the diamond from Cartier in 1969 after a Sotheby’s auction, paying over $1 million for it. Burton agreed to allow the jeweler to display the jewel for a limited period in New York and Chicago, beginning on November 1. Crowds of more than 6,000 a day circled the store’s Fifth Avenue shop in New York to “gawk at a diamond as big as the Ritz.”
Meanwhile, Taylor had Cartier remount the stone as a pendant suspended from a V-shaped necklace of graduated pear-shaped diamonds, mounted in platinum. Elizabeth admitted that even for her the Cartier Diamond – now called the Taylor-Burton Diamond – was too big to wear as a ring.
The Taylor-Burton Diamond hangs from a diamond necklace created by Cartier.
Elizabeth is no stranger to heavy rings. She wears the Krupp Diamond on her left hand almost every day and has worn it in most if not all of her films and TV appearances since she bought it in 1968 for $305,000. The stone weighs 33.19 carats.
The Krupp Diamond, Liz Taylor’s everyday ring
Elizabeth chose to debut the Taylor-Burton Diamond at Princess Grace of Monaco’s fortieth birthday bash at L’Hermitage in Monte Carlo. Princess Grace, formerly known as film star Grace Kelly (1929-1982), who would officially turn 40 on November 12, 1969, wanted to share this special occasion with sixty of her closest friends. Many of them were celebrities she knew from her film days like Rock Hudson, the Taylor-Burtons, and David and Hjordis Niven.
Film star Grace Kelly marries Prince Rainier III of Monaco in Monte Carlo, April 1956 and becomes Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco.
Princess Grace’s invitations were designed like horoscopes and the party was to have a Scorpio theme – as that was Grace’s astrological sign. Grace was a lifelong believer in astrology, and often called a Hollywood astrologer for a personal daily horoscope. (1)
Princess Grace of Monaco (center) is flanked by her 2 sisters on the day of her fortieth birthday party. Monte Carlo, Monaco. November 15, 1969.
Meanwhile, Elizabeth Taylor (b. 1932) planned her big entrance to Princess Grace’s party. Aside from choosing her wardrobe and hairstyle, she and Richard decided that the Taylor-Burton Diamond required more then ordinary security:
First, the diamond was flown from New York to Nice in the company of two security guards, who delivered it to Elizabeth Taylor and her husband aboard their yacht, the Kalizma. The Burtons were then escorted to the party with their security guards, who were armed with machine guns as added protection.” (2)
Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor arrive at Princess Grace’s 40th birthday party, Monaco, November, 1969. Notice that Liz Taylor wears a robe in keeping with the party’s Scorpio theme, the Princess’s astrological sign. On her left hand she wears the Krupp Diamond. The necklace pendant is the Taylor-Burton Diamond. November, 1969 (“Bling-Bling, Bang-Bang: Elizabeth Taylor Attends Princess Grace’s Scorpio Ball,” Lisa’s History Room)
Princess Grace of Monaco with Richard Burton at her 40th birthday party, Monaco, November 1969
Princess Grace of Monaco, 1969
Although it was Grace’s birthday, Elizabeth Taylor clearly upstaged the princess, dazzling all the guests with her new jewel and her beauty. After the ball, Grace wrote friend Judy Balaban Quine that she found it hard to take her eyes off Elizabeth, whom she considered
“unbearably beautiful.”
Turning forty, added Grace, was equally unbearable. (1)
Richard Burton escorts wife Elizabeth Taylor to the April 1970 Academy Awards. Elizabeth wears the Taylor-Burton Diamond necklace and an Edith Head chiffon gown.
After the Taylor-Burton divorce in 1978, Elizabeth sold the diamond for $5 million, pledging to use part of the profit to build a hospital in Botswana (which, my mother tells me, blew away).
(1) Glatt, John. The Royal House of Monaco: Dynasty of Glamour, Tragedy, and Scandal. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1997.
(2) Taylor, Elizabeth. Elizabeth Taylor: My Love Affair with Jewelry. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2002.
Lisa's History Room 
Do you remember the HERE’S LUCY episode where Lucille Ball tries on Liz Taylor’s diamond ring and cannot get it off? I always thought that was a great time between Ms. Taylor and Ms. Ball!
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Darin, I do not know this episode but I want to see it. Thanks!
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The only person who looks unbearably beautiful to me is Grace Kelly herself.
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She was lovely.
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Elizabeth Taylor needed priceless diamonds to grab attention to herself at Grace’s party. Princess Grace’s beauty was second to none.
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Pretty cheeky of Liz to steal Grace’s thunder, wasn’t it?
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Me encantarìa ver varias fotos de Elizabeth Taylor y Grace de Mònaco, en la fiesta de cumpleaños cuarenta de Grace, en noviembre de 1969, ambas estaban bellìsimas, en especial la Taylor con su diamante Burton-Taylor.
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Estoy de acuerdo, Edu.
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I’m a very Huge fan of Princess Grace of Monaco. In Italy she was elected Most beautiful woman of xix° Century. The list enclosed , Sophia Loren(7),Lady D (8) Marilyn (9) B. B (10), Ava Gardner(11), Liz Taylor (12) Lollobrigida (13), J. Kennedy(16), Soraya(17). Out of the list lot of Hollywood Stars like:
lngrid Bergman,Greta Garbo, Marlene Dietrich, Vivien Leigh, Rita Hayworth,Katheryne Hepburn and with great surprise of mine enchanting Audrey Hepburn.
In USA was elected most beautiful american woman of all time, and my vote was for HER. All these woman were beauty in theyr own way. But no comparison with Grace Kelly. She’s classy, elegance, and style of her own. And she is grace feature which missed to all of them. Her very name tells the story of the Most Beautiful Woman of all time. There was nobody else earlier, there will be never another one in the History of this World. Grace Kelly is the living Goddess Bafallen on this earth by chance.
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There is no comparison between Grace Kelly and Elizabeth Taylor. The first one is really the most beautiful and ethereal creature who’s ever walked this earth, the second one is bueautiful too, but too jewels. Grace kelly is a heavenly beauty. She’s matchless
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They are two different types of beauty . Why compare things that are different ? Both were absolutely gorgeous. The regal blonde and Violet eyes
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Elizabeth Taylor was just so beautiful. Grace Kelly was beautiful also. I just think that Liz had a beauty that no other could compare.
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Deborah, both women are just stunning to look at, on film and in photos. My favorite movie with Grace is “Rear Window,” although “To Catch a Thief” is terrific, too. Elizabeth Taylor did not make very many movies I want to watch again and again, but, if I had to choose my favorite one, in which she was just perfect, it would definitely be “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.” She is at her most lovely then. The film is heart-wrenching. It is her best screen performance ever, esp. in view of the fact that her husband Mike Todd had just been killed in a plane crash. A salute to both these eternal beauties.
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