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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

Archives for February 2019

The Queen’s Sandringham Season Brooch Roundup

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Paul Marriott/Alamy, PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images, Paul Marriott/Alamy

Every year, the Queen resides at the Sandringham estate in Norfolk from the middle of December until the second week of February. Now that she’s officially back in London, here’s a roundup of some of the brooches we saw this Sandringham Season!

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On Christmas Day, HM reached for a classic: her diamond cluster brooch with the vivid pink gemstone center. (More Windsor family Christmas jewels over here!)

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It’s not exactly a brooch worn in Norfolk, but we saw the Queen wear the Grima Ruby Scarab Brooch in her annual broadcast on Christmas Day. (More over here!)

Paul Marriott/Alamy

HM wore one of her wedding gifts, the Golden Trellis Brooch, for church services at St. Mary Magdalene near Sandringham on January 6. (More on the brooch here!)

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The Queen wore one of the most historic brooches in her collection, one of the Kent Amethyst Brooches, for church at St. Mary Magdalene on January 13. (More on the amethysts over here!)

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For Sunday church services at St. Peter’s in Wolfteron on January 20, the Queen didn’t wear a visible brooch. Perhaps she pinned one to the green dress underneath her chic camel-colored coat?

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On January 24, the Queen reached for a brooch she’s had since she was a princess: the Sapphire Chrysanthemum Brooch. She wore the jewel for a Women’s Institute meeting at the West Newton Village Hall. (More on the brooch here!)

Paul Marriott/Alamy

A diamond and turquoise brooch from the collection of her grandmother, Queen Mary, was HM’s choice for Sunday church services at St. Mary Magdalene on January 27. (We previously discussed the brooch here!)

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The Queen reached for one of her favorite brooches, the Pearl Triangle, for a church service at St. Peter and St. Paul in West Newton on February 3. (More on the brooch here!)

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Inclement weather sadly spoiled our brooch-spotting on February 10, when HM wore a raincoat over her outfit as she traveled to and from a church service at St. Mary Magdalene.

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And, as per usual, the Queen didn’t wear a brooch as she traveled by train back to London on Monday. Which brooch would you have paired with this outfit?

Very Royal Jewels for Kate at the BAFTAs

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The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge gussied up on Sunday and headed to the BAFTAs — and Kate brought a couple of very royal pieces of jewelry along with her.

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The Duke of Cambridge has been the President of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts since 2010, and the couple have attended BAFTA events throughout their marriage.

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Kate accessorized her white gown with diamonds and pearls with royal heritage.

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These diamond and pearl statement earrings may look familiar.

Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

The stud portion of the earring is intricate, featuring a horseshoe set with baguette diamonds, with a leafy portion wrapping over and around it. A pearl drop is suspended from the diamond portion.

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The earrings belonged to Kate’s mother-in-law, the late Diana, Princess of Wales. You’ll note, however, that the pearl drop that Diana wore with the earrings is different from the one Kate wore to the BAFTAs. Diana’s pearl is rounder and is set differently.

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images

I think the pearl drop Kate wears may come from another pair of Diana’s earrings: her ruby and diamond earrings, which she wore with a pearl drop and with a ruby and diamond tassel pendant. (Without a good hi-res version of photos where Diana wears the earrings, it’s difficult to say for certain — Kate’s could be another drop altogether.)

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The all-diamond and pearl drop earrings were one of Diana’s favorite pairs of earrings in the 1990s. Above, she wears the earrings for a charity gala at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington in October 1990. (She’s also wearing the diamond and pearl bracelet that is now worn by Kate.)

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One extremely memorable appearance in the earrings came in December 1995, when she accepted the United Cerebral Palsy Humanitarian Award in New York.

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She also famously wore the earrings with a blue one-shoulder gown in Sydney for a fundraising dinner for the Victor Chang Cardiac Research Institute in October 1996. You’ll note that she’s also wearing pieces from her aquamarine collection, including the aquamarine ring now worn by the Duchess of Sussex.

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And here, Diana wears the earrings in June 1997 for an American Red Cross gala at the National Museum of Women in the Arts in Washington in honor of victims of landmines.

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Diana also wore the stud portion of the earrings without the pearl drop. She chose that configuration to see Swan Lake at the Royal Albert Hall in June 1997.

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Along with Diana’s earrings, Kate wore the Diamond Quatrefoil Bracelet on loan to her from the Queen. We first saw Kate wear the bracelet in November 2017.