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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Archives for 2016

Jewels at the Patron’s Lunch

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Queen Elizabeth II at the Patrons’ Lunch (Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images)

The official celebrations for Queen Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday continued on Sunday with the Patrons’ Lunch, an event coordinated by her eldest grandchild, Peter Phillips.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

The Queen wore one of Queen Victoria’s diamond bow brooches for her appearance at the event.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

For the second day in a row, the Duchess of Cambridge wore her Mappin and Webb Empress pendant necklace, pairing it this time with the set’s coordinating earrings.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

The York princesses attended the event, but again, no major jewelry. (Eugenie has a simple bracelet on her right wrist, it appears.)

The Countess of Wessex wore the same black and white pearl earrings that she wore on her wedding day.

Lady Louise continued her more visible appearances with the family this weekend, taking part in her very first walkabout on the Mall.

Princess Anne dressed casually, wearing simple, classic earrings.

Members of the extended family attended the event as well, although they didn’t do the same kind of walkabouts that the Queen’s children and grandchildren did. I spotted Peter and Autumn Phillips (appropriate as Peter helped organize the event!), the Tindalls, the Chattos, the Gloucesters, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. You can see them all in the family photo taken by the Duke of York at the event!

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

And wonder of wonders — someone snapped a photo in the royal box just at the right moment, so we finally got a look at Lady Sarah Chatto’s jewels this weekend! She wore a five-stranded pearl necklace, the same one she wore during her aunt’s 80th birthday celebrations. (Her mother had a magnificent necklace of a similar design, but that was auctioned off after her death.)

Kate’s Jewelry Box: The Diamond Cluster and Baguette Suite

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Kate wears her diamond cluster and baguette earrings (Photo: Chris Jackson PT/Getty Images)

One of the most versatile sets of gala jewelry in the Duchess of Cambridge’s collection is a suite of diamond jewelry made of clusters and baguettes.

Photos: Stefan Postles/Getty Images, Arthur Edwards – Pool/Getty Images

Here’s a closer look at both of the pieces from the set. The earrings feature two diamond clusters bridged by three horizontal diamond baguettes. The bracelet has a repeating diamond cluster and baguette pattern bordered by two rows of diamonds. The central diamond of each cluster has a distinct yellow hue.

Photo: Ian West/WPA Pool/Getty Images

It’s possible that the set also includes a ring. In October 2013, Kate wore a double diamond cluster ring on her right hand at a gala event; she also wore the bracelet from the cluster and baguette suite.

Photo: David Rose – Pool/Getty Images

The set is often said to have been a wedding gift from Prince Charles, though I’m not sure precisely where those rumors started. To my knowledge, the provenance of the set has never been confirmed. Kate began wearing the earrings shortly after her wedding. She debuted them in Ottawa during the Canadian tour in the summer of 2011, pairing them with the Queen’s diamond maple leaf brooch.

Photo: Mark Large – Pool/Getty Images

Later in the same tour, Kate debuted the matching bracelet. She wore the piece with the Queen’s diamond chandelier earrings during the BAFTA Brits to Watch event in Los Angeles.

Photo: ARTHUR EDWARDS/AFP/Getty Images

Kate has also worn the earrings with other jewels. At the Sun Military Awards in 2011, Kate wore the diamond cluster and baguette earrings with her Mouawad ruby and diamond demi-parure.

Photo: BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images

Kate’s worn the earrings and bracelet from the suite both together and separately many times in the years since her wedding. Above, she wears the earrings (plus her infamous potato chip hat) at the 2011 wedding of Zara Phillips.

Photo: Paul Burns/Clarence House via Getty Images

She wore the earrings and bracelet together in October 2011 at her first solo engagement, a reception for In Kind Direct at Clarence House. Appropriately, if these pieces are indeed gifts from Prince Charles, she was standing in for her father-in-law at the event.

Photo: Arthur Edwards – Pool/Getty Images

Kate has also taken the pieces with her on other royal tours. Above, she wears the earrings and bracelet at Canberra House during the 2014 tour of Australia and New Zealand.

Photo: Chris Jackson – WPA Pool /Getty Images

And she has also chosen pieces from the suite to wear with other pieces of important royal jewelry. She wore the bracelet with the Queen Mother’s sapphire and diamond fringe earrings in 2015…

Photo: ALASTAIR GRANT/AFP/Getty Images

…and the earrings with the Queen’s Nizam of Hyderabad Necklace in 2014. The relative simplicity of the suite’s classic design makes it compatible with a whole range of other jewels, and I imagine we’ll see her wearing both the bracelet and earrings for quite a long time.

Trooping the Colour Jewels 2016

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The Windsors appear on the Buckingham Palace balcony during Trooping the Colour 2016 (Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images)

Time to celebrate the Queen’s very merry unbirthday yet again! This year’s Trooping the Colour is a part of the extended official celebrations of Elizabeth II’s 90th birthday, and the family was gathered in force.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

The Queen wore the same brooch she has worn at Trooping the Colour for decades: the Guards Brooch. Here’s more on the brooch and photos from throughout the years.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

No surprises from Camilla today, either. The Duchess of Cornwall repeated her recent Jewelry Uniform: pearl and diamond earrings, pearl necklace with diamond clasp, and the gray pearl and diamond Prince of Wales feather brooch.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

But we got yet another new piece of jewelry from the Duchess of Cambridge! Kate wore her Mappin and Webb Empress pendant necklace with a new pair of very large pearl-esque earrings. No confirmed ID on these yet!

Photo: Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

No major jewelry yet again from the York sisters, although I spy a bracelet on Beatrice’s wrist.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

But Eugenie did do us a major favor on the balcony: she stood next to Lady Helen Taylor (daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Kent), so we could get a glimpse of Helen’s gorgeous pendant necklace. This piece looks like it could be an heirloom jewel. (P.S.: that’s one of Helen’s deeply unimpressed daughters standing in front of them.)

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

The Countess of Wessex wore her back-to-front pearl earrings by Heavenly Necklaces.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

And Lady Louise repeated the same lovely golden heart necklace from yesterday’s service at St. Paul’s.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

Princess Anne rode in the procession, so her glitter today was of the military variety. Both her daughter, Zara, and her daughter-in-law, Autumn, wore earrings with medium-sized drops. (P.S.: you can see Sarah Chatto’s husband and son obscured in the back here; I haven’t seen any images of Sarah yet. Also, I believe the little boy in front of Autumn is Xan Windsor, Lord Culloden, son of the Earl and Countess of Ulster and grandson of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.)

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

Here’s another look at some of the Gloucesters on the balcony. (Left to right, we’ve got the Duke, the Earl of Ulster, the Countess of Ulster, the Duchess speaking to Lord Culloden, Lady Rose Gilman, and George Gilman.) It’s tough to see, but Birgitte appears to be wearing pearls and diamond clips on her collar.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

We also got to see lots of Kents! (Left to right: Lady Nicholas Windsor, the Duke of Kent, Lord Nicholas Windsor, Princess Alexandra, and two of Alexandra’s granddaughters, Flora Ogilvy and Zenouska Mowatt.) Alexandra’s wearing earrings and a brooch, but again, it’s tough to see details.

Photo: JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP/Getty Images

Even more Kents: Julia Ogilvy (Princess Alexandra’s daughter-in-law), Lord Frederick Windsor, Lady Frederick Windsor, and Prince and Princess Michael of Kent. Looks like pearls were popular with both Julia and Marie-Christine.

Photo: Ben A. Pruchnie/Getty Images

And for our finale, one more Kent: Lady Gabriella Windsor, who wore lovely pearl drop earrings.