Wednesday afternoon brought us another bejeweled surprise from Buckingham Palace: Queen Camilla’s first public appearance in the Williamson Pink Diamond Brooch, one of the late Queen Elizabeth II’s Cartier treasures.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla, with the Duke of Edinburgh and the Duchess of Gloucester, hosted a garden party on Wednesday at Buckingham Palace in London. The party, according to the palace, was a celebration of the Creative Industries of the United Kingdom. The gathering brought together approximately 4,000 representatives across the fields of culture, art, heritage, film, television, radio, and fashion.
Queen Camilla wore pink for the garden party with ivory-toned accessories. The King coordinated with his wife by wearing a pink waistcoat with his morning suit.
Charles wore one of his bejeweled tie pins with his garden party suit and tie as well, but it was difficult to see the details of the piece.
Queen Camilla also added more pink touches to her outfit with her jewelry choices for the day, starting with her antique pink topaz and diamond earrings.
The earrings, which date to the 1830s, were sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 2000, along with a coordinating diamond and pink topaz brooch. Both the earrings and the brooch, which is set as the clasp of a pearl choker necklace, are now in Camilla’s jewelry collection. She’s been wearing the earrings in public since 2006.
But it was Camilla’s brooch that was the show-stopper of the outfit. For the first time in public, she wore the Williamson Pink Diamond Brooch, one of the most important and special brooches from the late Queen’s collection.
The brooch’s central pink diamond was a wedding gift to Elizabeth from a Canadian geologist, John Thoburn Williamson, in 1947. With the guidance of Queen Mary, Elizabeth decided to have the rare pink diamond mounted as the centerpiece of a modern brooch. After cutting, the pink diamond weighed in at 23.6 carats. Frederick A. Mew of Cartier in London designed a jonquil-shaped platinum and diamond brooch to showcase the pink diamond.
Elizabeth wore the brooch regularly throughout her reign, including important outings for both state and family occasions. Above, she wears the Cartier brooch during her last state visit to France in June 2014.
Queen Camilla’s choice of the floral brooch was a lovely nod to both the party’s garden venue and its theme of celebrating creativity. It’s just wonderful to see these grand pieces sparkling again!
Speaking of antique jewels, the Duchess of Gloucester also added some antique jewelry touches to her blue and green ensemble for the garden party.
Birgitte wore diamond and pearl drop earrings, paired with several heirloom all-pearl and pearl-and-emerald necklaces, some of which also have links to Cartier.
The pearl and emerald necklaces were wedding gifts from King George V and Queen Mary to Birgitte’s mother-in-law, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, in 1935. Both necklaces were strung with pearls and emerald beads that Queen Mary took from Queen Alexandra’s Indian Necklace. According to Hans Nadelhoffer, that necklace (which was strung with pearls, rubies, and emeralds) was commissioned from Cartier in 1901 to coordinate with new Indian gowns sent to Alexandra by Mary Curzon, the Indian viceroy’s wife.
And finally, the Duke of Edinburgh also wore a diamond-set tie pin for the garden party. I believe this is the pin featuring the cypher of his grandfather, King George VI.
I’ll be back here with more royal jewels on Friday morning. See you all then!
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.