Queen Mary’s Diamond and Emerald Shamrock Brooch

Emeralds and shamrocks will be in the spotlight on Sunday during St. Patrick’s Day celebrations–and we’re getting ready here today at The Court Jeweller with a look at a gorgeous little emerald and diamond shamrock brooch from Queen Mary’s jewelry box.

To tell the story of the shamrock brooch, we need to travel back in time to the earliest stages of Queen Mary’s jewelry collection. When Princess May of Teck, as she was then, married the Duke of York in the summer of 1893, she received a treasure trove of jewelry gifts. Among these were multiple trefoil and shamrock brooches. On the Monday after the royal wedding, the Daily Telegraph described many of the jewels in detail, including “an emerald and diamond trefoil brooch,” the gift presented to the bride by the Royal St. George Yacht Club.

Royal jewelry writers, including Beth at the History of Famous Jewels and Collections, have argued that the yacht club’s trefoil brooch is the one shown in detail above. The jewel features a three-leafed shamrock outlined in diamonds, with a large diamond brilliant set in the center of the jewel. Inside the open leaves are a trio of emeralds on knife-edge settings. Shamrocks and trefoils were popular jewelry motifs in the Victorian era, and of course they have special meaning in Ireland. The Royal St. George Yacht Club was (and still is) located in Dublin.

Mary wore the brooch often in the early years of her marriage. In this portrait, taken while she was Duchess of York, she wears the shamrock brooch pinned at her waist. There’s also another emerald and diamond brooch pinned at her neck in this photograph. That’s likely the emerald and diamond knot brooch given to her by the future Emperor Nicholas II of Russia. The knot brooch is now worn by Queen Camilla.

The emerald shamrock brooch, however, took another path. Queen Mary passed it along to Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, who was married to Mary’s fourth son, Prince George, Duke of Kent. Before his untimely death in a plane crash, George and Marina had three children: Prince Edward, the present Duke of Kent; Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy; and Prince Michael of Kent. All three are pictured with their mother in the photograph above, which was taken at Kensington Palace in December 1957 to mark Alexandra’s upcoming 21st birthday.

Princess Marina wears Queen Mary’s emerald and diamond shamrock brooch on the collar of her coat in the family portrait. Even in black and white, the emeralds manage to stand out against the black velvet fabric of the collar.

From Marina, the brooch was passed down to Prince Michael, her second son. It still belongs to Michael and his wife, Marie-Christine, today. Above, Princess Michael wears the brooch on a mint-green coat at Royal Ascot in the spring of 2011.

Here’s one more view of the brooch from that day at the races. It’s not a large jewel, but it has major sparkle.

In May 2023, the brooch was worn in public for the first time by a fourth generation of the Windsor family. Queen Mary’s great-granddaughter, Lady Gabriella Kingston, wore the brooch for the coronation of Queen Mary’s great-grandson, King Charles III, at Westminster Abbey. Ella pinned the brooch to a bright pink coat for the occasion, providing a gorgeous opportunity for the diamonds and emeralds to pop against the vibrant background.