Richard Burton Surprised Wife Elizabeth Taylor with $37K Valentine’s Day Present (Exclusive)

Elizabeth Taylor is remembered by those closest to her as the “queen of love.”

Speaking with PEOPLE, Tim Mendelson, co-trustee of Taylor’s estate and her executive assistant from 1990 until her 2011 death, remembers how the pursuit of love was a guiding light in the late actress’ life.

“Love was her overriding factor for everything,” Mendelson tells PEOPLE. “She was extremely passionate and also very compassionate. She did love love, and I think ultimately the role that she wanted more than anything in the world was to be a wife, which is kind of funny because she was just so huge, and so iconic, and really so queen-like.”

“She had a regal quality to her and an innate kind of glamour, but she really wanted to be with a man. She wanted a man and everything that entailed — the romance, the sex, the gift-giving. She was really the queen of love.”

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Valentine’s Day was a day to indulge in all celebrations of love, though Taylor valued the everyday surprises more than the grand gestures. She also loved when a surprise involved her favorite type of gift, jewelry.

“Jewelry was an appropriate gift for Elizabeth any day of the week, any time of year. Richard Burton preferred not to give her big gifts when she was going to expect it, like Valentine’s Day or her birthday. He loved to do this thing, she talked about how he’d be like, ‘It’s Tuesday. I love you. Surprise!’ ”

Of course, that doesn’t mean Burton cut any corners on the big holidays. In 1969, Burton purchased the La Peregrina Pearl — a nearly 56-carat pearl known to belong to Spanish queens before making its way to the United Kingdom — for $37,000 as a Valentine’s Day gift to Taylor.

Mendelson continues, “The gesture, the authenticity mattered. It’s almost an obligation to do something on a big day as opposed to a grand gesture of unexpected love.”

The love of these precious items ran deep with Taylor.

“I think it was every aspect of it — the sparkle, the symbolism, the craftsmanship, the design, the beauty. She saw herself as this temporary custodian of these pieces,” Mendelson says.

“So many of her pieces had been famous before she received them, and then would go on, and be famous after she was gone. But they had a longer life than mere mortals.”

The exchange of jewelry wasn’t just for romantic partners. “We all knew that Elizabeth loved jewelry more than anything, in terms of gifts. Friends of hers, like Michael Jackson, loved to give her jewelry.”

“And obviously, some of the pieces that Richard, and Mike Todd gave her, and other people too. She had an appreciation for art, but jewelry was her favorite thing. She had the lifestyle, too, to be able to wear those big pieces that most of us wouldn’t have,” Mendelson says.

“She had a massive collection, and you could buy her something that wasn’t jewelry, too. It wasn’t only the very expensive pieces, or expensive things. We’d all make ourselves crazy trying to give her something that she’d really value. But what she valued most was the thought behind it.”

Contrary to what some might think of a woman of her stature, Mendelson points out, “She wasn’t a snob about things.”

“It really was the symbolism behind them. So when somebody would go out, and just pick out something really pretty that had something to do with her, that showed some kind of thought, she really appreciated that.”