Queen Elizabeth II’s Last Royal Maundy Brooch

Later today, the annual Royal Maundy service will be held at Worcester Cathedral. Before we discuss the jewels from today’s service, let’s take a look back at a special brooch worn by Queen Elizabeth II when she distributed Maundy Money for the final time in person.

On April 18, 2019, Queen Elizabeth II marked Maundy Thursday by attending the annual Royal Maundy Service at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. The service, held on the Thursday before Easter, is a part of Holy Week. It commemorates Christ’s Last Supper, and it takes its name, “Maundy,” from the commandment, or mandatum, delivered by Jesus at that meal: “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

For centuries, the service included a ceremony known as the pedilavium, during which church officials, and even sometimes the monarch, washed the feet of the poor. The service also included traditional gifts of alms to those in need. Over time, the service has evolved, and no monarch has taken part in the pedilavium since the days of the Stuarts. Little remaining traces can still be seen, though, in the little nosegays of flowers presented to the royals in attendance. In medieval times, these were provided to offer a little sweet-smelling relief for any unpleasant smells that might have been encountered.

But the distribution of alms still exists today, though in a different form. The monarch still hands out “Maundy money,” symbolic alms in the form of small coins offered to a selected group of elderly men and women. The coins are minted specially for the occasion and handed out in small white and red purses. During the distribution, several anthems are sung by the choir, including Handel’s coronation anthem, “Zadok the Priest.”

There’s also a special role for one member of the clergy on Maundy Thursday. The Lord High Almoner, usually an Anglican bishop, accompanies the monarch during the service. Since 2013, the role has been held by the Bishop of Worcester, who is pictured alongside the late Queen and Princess Eugenie in the photograph above from the 2019 service.

For the 2019 Royal Maundy service, the Queen wore a bright yellow coat over a dress featuring a vivid floral print of blues, greens, and purples. The feather embellishments on her hat picked up the dress’s colors, as did the spring flowers in her nosegay bouquet.

The Queen chose some of the staple jewelry pieces from her collection to wear for the service. Her three-stranded pearl necklace is the one that she commissioned herself in 1953, not long after her accession to the throne. The graduated necklace was made using pearls from the family collection. Her classic pearl and diamond button earrings were inherited from her grandmother, Queen Mary.

The brooch that the late Queen chose for the Royal Maundy Service in 2019 was a particularly special one from her collection. The platinum brooch, set with white and yellow diamonds, is designed to resemble a sprig of golden wattle gathered with a spray of Australian tea tree blossoms. It was given to the Queen in Canberra in February 1954, during her coronation tour of the Commonwealth, by Prime Minister Robert Menzies on behalf of the Australian government and people.

The special coronation gift, which is generally known as the Australian Wattle Brooch, was a treasured part of the Queen’s collection for the seven decades that followed. She, of course, wore it often for events related to Australia. But its beautiful spring-like floral design also made it perfect for occasions when the weather started to warm and flowers began to bloom–like a Royal Maundy Service held in England in April.

The golden yellow diamonds set in the brooch coordinated beautifully with the vibrant yellow coat chosen by the Queen for the service. No one could have known then that it would be her last appearance at a Royal Maundy Service during her long reign, but the sunny outing is a lovely final parting moment for a tradition that Elizabeth treasured for more than half a century.

Later today, Queen Camilla will travel to Worcester Cathedral to distribute this year’s Maundy Money on behalf of King Charles III, who cannot attend because of his ongoing treatment for cancer. Stop back later on, because I’ll be covering the jewels she wears for the service here later today. See you all then!