The first garden party of King Charles III’s reign was held at Buckingham Palace this afternoon, and there were some interesting jewelry moments as the royals mingled with members of the public.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla hosted guests in the gardens at Buckingham Palace for the first garden party of the season on Wednesday.
They arrived for the party with the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
The King and the Dukes wore morning dress, while the Queen and the Duchesses opted for elegant daywear and hats.
King Charles, as usual, added a little extra flair to his outfit with small bejeweled touches.
The most interesting of these was his tie pin, which is set with diamonds and a luminous cabochon sapphire.
Queen Camilla wore a favorite blue and white outfit for the party, plus a matching hat.
She wore a favorite four-row pearl necklace with a round diamond clasp, a piece that has been in her collection for years. She also wore the pearl drop earrings she has favored in recent months, which have a sapphire, diamond, and ruby clasp.
A couple of new notes on these earrings. Camilla’s been wearing them regularly since Commonwealth Day, and you can see another close-up that shows the stud a bit better in that article. But this close-up from today’s garden party answers a question I’ve been getting occasionally: whether Camilla has pierced her ears since becoming queen consort. The answer, based on the clip fastener visible in this photograph, is no.
The other note is a bit of provenance information. Camilla recently wore these earrings in a set of new portraits taken by Hugo Bernand ahead of the coronation. In their article on the pictures, British Vogue wrote, “In a symbolic gesture, [Camilla] paired the [Fiona Clare dress] with a pair of earrings belonging to the late Queen, with the colours of the Union Jack represented by white pearls, red rubies and blue sapphires.”
There’s no other clarification, but as the magazine was briefed directly by the palace for the article, we can say with certainty that the earrings do come from the late Queen’s collection. Elizabeth II pierced her ears in 1951, but before that, she did wear clip earrings for several years. Alternatively, of course, these could have originally been intended for pierced ears but altered to be worn with clips. To my knowledge, we’ve not seen images of the late Queen wearing this particular pair.
The King’s brother and sister-in-law, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, were also on hand for the party.
Sophie wore a lovely pink and white coat dress for the party with matching accessories.
The jewels she wore for the occasion appear to be an interesting mix of antique and modern pieces.
Here’s a closer look at the earrings she wore, which have gem-set studs and pearl drops. These look to be either antique (because of the tarnished, aged metal) or made with blackened metal to look older.
She also wore a long silver-toned diamond station necklace, looped around several times, with a newer gold and diamond pendant.
The pendant comes from Collins & Sons. Sophie has also worn earrings with the same double-scroll design motif.
The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester rounded out the royal party at the event.
Birgitte, always the epitome of elegance, wore a gray dress with a favorite teal-colored hat for the occasion, accessorized with floral earrings and a string of pearls.
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