The Queen’s Sapphire Canadian Brooch

The Queen had to bow out of Monday’s Commonwealth Day service, but the problem is one of mobility rather than general health. She’s continued to be able to take on a slate of duties from her home base at Windsor Castle, including virtual audiences with new ambassadors at Buckingham Palace.

On Tuesday, she received diplomatic credentials from Enkhsukh Battumur, the Ambassador from Mongolia.

She also received the Ambassador from Tajikistan, Rukhshona Emomali.

For the audiences, the Queen wore the Sapphire Jubilee Snowflake Brooch. We actually discussed the jewel this weekend as part of a roundup of royal brooches from Canada. Initially I assumed that she chose it for Tuesday’s audiences just because it’s a brooch from the Commonwealth, following yesterday’s service.

But later in the day, the palace revealed that the Queen had also hosted the Governor-General of Canada, Mary Simon, for tea at Windsor Castle. Simon was joined by her husband, the Canadian journalist Whit Fraser. The brooch wasn’t just a Commonwealth nod; the Queen wore the Canadian brooch in Simon’s honor.

Here’s another view of the Queen wearing the brooch during her meeting with Simon. This was the first meeting between the Queen and Simon, who was appointed last summer. After meetings with both the Queen and the Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall, Simon noted, “It was a great honour to meet with Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II earlier today. Our Queen is such an inspiration in these difficult times, and it was a privilege to share with her the Inuit concept of ajuinnata, which means to never give up, that is guiding my work as governor general. Meeting the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall was a lovely opportunity to get to know them.”