After a busy morning attending the State Opening of Parliament, King Charles and Queen Camilla set their crown and diadem aside for an evening at the opera. Queen Camilla, though, still managed to bring along an interesting piece of royal jewelry for the performance.
The King and Queen headed to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden for a performance of Carlos Acosta’s Don Quixote by the Royal Ballet. The performance was a special one, celebrating and thanking teachers and front line NHS workers for their important contributions to British society. The tribute was scheduled to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the NHS. Above, the royal couple greets members of the ballet corps.
Charles and Camilla chose not to sit in the royal box, opting to join members of the public seated in one of the balcony sections. Above, they’re flanked by Sir Lloyd Dorfman, Chair of the Royal Opera House Board of Trustees, and Alex Beard, Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House.
For the performance, Queen Camilla wore a lace dress made by one of her favorite designers, Fiona Clare. The color of the dress looked different in lots of the photographs from the evening, thanks to the varied lighting in different parts of the opera house, but royal reporters described it as “purple.”
Queen Camilla accessorized with pink and blue jewelry, plus a poppy brooch. She wore the antique diamond and pink topaz earrings from her personal collection.
The earrings, which were made in the 1830s, were sold in an auction at Sotheby’s in June 2000. They were part of a lot that also included a large pink topaz and diamond brooch. Camilla has since had that brooch set as the clasp of a pearl choker necklace. Camilla wore the earrings in public for the first time in 2006.
The necklace that Camilla wore at the ballet, however, was even more intriguing. The piece featured a pendant with a diamond ribbon, from which two clusters (one set with diamonds and a pink topaz, and the other set with diamonds and a blue sapphire) were suspended. Royal reporter Rebecca English wrote that the necklace “belonged to the late Queen.” I can’t recall ever seeing this one on Queen Elizabeth II—and I think this might be yet another delightful moment when we all have to realize just how massive the late monarch’s jewelry collection really was. We may be seeing new-to-us pieces from her jewelry box for years to come!
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