The V&A's jewellery gallery is reopening

The V&A's very own sparkling cave – the William and Judith Bollinger jewellery gallery – is to welcome Queen Victoria's most precious piece of jewellery on its reopening in April: a sapphire and diamond coronet designed by Prince Albert and made by Joseph Kitching in 1840.

Queen Victoria wears the coronet in royal portrait. Queen Victoria, François Forster (1790-1872), Paris, 1846, after Franz Xaver Winterhalter(1805-73). Engraving on paper

Albert played a key role in arranging Victoria's jewels, and the queen wore the coronet in place of her crown in 1866 when she felt able

to open Parliament for the first time since Albert’s death in 1861. The unveiling of these royal jewels will begin the museum's bicentenary celebrations to honour the two hundredth anniversary of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert's births, the royal couple which the mighty institution is named after.

The William and Judith Bollinger Gallery is one of the most popular at the V&A, tracing the narrative of European and Western jewellery from Ancient history to the present. After a three month long closure, the newly refurbished space will reveal brand new infrastructure, the centre of which will be a specially commissioned cylindrical showcase to house Queen Victoria's coronet. There'll be tech updates, too, including a moving photograph of Beyonce wearing the Glenn Spiro Papillon Ring she donated to the museum, with its wings fluttering in action.

The architects for the refresh are Eva Jiricna and Georgina Papathanasiou (Atelier A&D), who were in charge of designing the gallery on its opening ten years ago.

The space will also now benefit from an outstanding collection of 49 Art Deco vanity cases, a loan and promised gift from Kashmira Bulsara in memory of her brother, Freddie Mercury.