On Friday morning, the British royal family gathered for a national service of thanksgiving for the Queen’s reign at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, followed by a luncheon at the Guildhall.
Last night, Buckingham Palace announced that “with great reluctance” the Queen had decided not to travel to London on Friday for the service of thanksgiving or the luncheon afterward. Though she “greatly enjoyed” the parade and flypast at Buckingham Palace on Thursday, the palace explained, the Queen “did experience some discomfort” as a result. In her absence, the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall, with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, led the royal party at the service of thanksgiving.
The event was both a moment of gratitude and a fashion parade for the British royal family. The Duchess of Cornwall wore a lovely embroidered outfit by Fiona Clare with a Philip Treacy hat.
Instead of her usual diamond and pearl drop earrings, Camila wore a dazzling pair of gold and diamond earrings for the service.
The earrings feature what looks to be a modern collet-style setting, with additional pavé-set diamonds embedded in the yellow gold. She also wore a chain with the same two small pendants that were peeking out from her pearls yesterday. One is the Kiki McDonough Apollo pendant; the other, a gold disc, appears to be engraved with the initials of her grandchildren.
The Duchess of Cambridge chose a yellow Emilia Wickstead outfit for the service and luncheon, with a coordinating hat by Philip Treacy.
Yesterday, Kate wore a pair of sapphire and diamond earrings that once belonged to Diana, Princess of Wales. Today’s earrings, the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings, are long-term loans to Kate from the Queen.
Here’s a closer view of the classic diamond and pearl drop earrings. The pearls were a wedding gift to the Queen from the Hakim of Bahrain in 1947.
The Princess Royal arrived wearing a silvery teal ensemble with matching accessories.
Her jewels included a pearl choker necklace, her gold and diamond stalactite brooch, and her gold, pearl, and diamond Andrew Grima earrings.
The Countess of Wessex shimmered in a pink Susannah dress and a coordinating Jane Taylor hat.
She accessorized with pavé-set diamond earrings and a gold and diamond pendant necklace from Collins & Sons. She’s recently been seen wearing the diamond earrings that coordinate with the necklace.
The Wessex kids, Lady Louise and Viscount Severn, arrived with their parents. Louise chose a summery white dress for the occasion.
She accessorized with a playful headband, plus gold and pearl earrings (the same ones, I believe, that she recently wore for Easter Sunday) and a pair of delicate necklaces.
The Duchess of Gloucester arrived wearing pearls with diamond floral earrings and a sparkling flower brooch. She and her husband were seated beside the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra for the service. They entered through a separate entrance with a lift; because of that, I haven’t yet seen good quality photographs of Alexandra’s jewelry. Here’s a slightly blurry one from the luncheon.
All of the rest of the Queen’s grandchildren were also in attendance. Here’s Peter Phillips, the eldest of the bunch.
His sister, Zara, attended with her husband, Mike Tindall. She wore a bright pink outfit by Laura Green, paired with purple accessories.
She continued the purple theme through to her earrings, which featured faceted gemstone drops.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex were in attendance as well. Meghan wore Dior for the occasion.
She also accessorized with a familiar pair of diamond earrings: the Snowflake Snowstorm Earrings from Birks.
(Also, apparently I need to clarify that we’re here to talk about the royal jewelry from today’s event only. There are plenty of places online where people can air their feelings about the Sussexes. This isn’t one of them.)
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie were there with their husbands.
Beatrice, rather delightfully, wore a pair of major diamond earrings for the occasion. The earrings, a sort of modern take on a fringe design, are set with both baguette and round stones.
Eugenie, on the other hand, kept her bejeweled accessories very minimal, wearing only rings.
The Queen’s niece, Lady Sarah Chatto, was elegant as always. She wore diamonds and pearls for the service, including earrings that belonged to her late mother, Princess Margaret.
Princess Michael of Kent opted for pearls for the occasion.
Lady Gabriella Kingston wore the same diamond earrings that she wore a few years ago on her wedding day.
And her sister-in-law, Lady Frederick Windsor (better known as the actress Sophie Winkleman) chose pearls for the occasion. (Interestingly, she and Princess Beatrice wore the same dress in two different colors.)
There were a few other ladies from the extended family present at the service as well. (Lady Helen Taylor, Lady Rose Gilman, Julia Ogilvy, to name a few.) So far, I haven’t been able to license any photographs of them. I’ll update the article if that changes.
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