For Ladies’ Day at Royal Ascot, Queen Camilla pulled another heirloom brooch surprise out of the royal vaults: an antique emerald that belonged to the King’s great-grandmother, Queen Mary.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla were in the lead carriage once again at Royal Ascot on Thursday. They were joined by the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire. The Duke is deeply involved in the racing world. He was formerly Queen Elizabeth II’s Royal Representative at Ascot, and he’s also a past chairman of the Jockey Club.
There were lots of royal family members in all of the carriages on Thursday. Following in the second carriage were the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh with the Earl of Snowdon (Princess Margaret’s son) and Princess Zahra, daughter of the Aga Khan, who is also a racing enthusiast. Next came the Princess Royal and Vice-Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence with Daniel and Lady Sarah Chatto (Princess Margaret’s daughter), and in the fourth carriage were Mike and Zara Tindall with the Duke and Duchess of Richmond and Gordon. They’re the owners of the Goodwood estate in Sussex, which includes the Goodwood Racecourse.
The King was dapper as usual as he arrived for the third day of this year’s race meeting. He secured his tie with another antique jeweled tie pin from his collection. This one features a royal cypher in diamonds. We saw him wear this pin, with its stylized letter A, last year at the races as well. I’ve still not been able to figure out exactly whose monogram is represented here.
Queen Camilla was elegant in white for the races, in a dress with pleated details and rickrack trim.
She wore a pair of diamond floral clip earrings for the occasion, which picked up the zig-zag detailing on her dress quite nicely. But it was that large, luminous emerald that was the real star of the show on Thursday.
Thursday was Ladies’ Day, so what better occasion to wear the Ladies of India Brooch? This carved emerald brooch, with its diamond border and accents, is a legacy from King Charles’s great-grandmother, Queen Mary.
The carved emerald brooch was a gift to Queen Mary during the Delhi Durbar in 1911 from a committee of women called the Ladies of India. The large emerald is carved on both sides, with a rose on one side and additional floral designs on the other. The jewel is set in silver and gold, with a diamond border and four additional diamond brilliant accents. In the portrait above, taken during the durbar, Mary wears the brooch situated just above the Delhi Durbar Stomacher. Though it was not made as part of the set, the Ladies of India Brooch is generally classed as part of the larger Delhi Durbar Parure.
Queen Elizabeth II inherited the brooch from her grandmother and wore it on occasion during her lifetime. Above, she sports the brooch in 2011 as she bids farewell to the President of Turkey at Buckingham Palace at the end of his state visit to Britain. If my notes are correct, we got our final glimpse of Elizabeth II wearing the brooch in March 2022, when a hint of the jewel peeked out over the edge of her screen during a virtual meeting with ambassadors.
The brooch gleamed beautifully in the sunshine as Queen Camilla arrived at Ascot wearing the piece on Thursday.
The Princess Royal was elegant in blue florals for her third appearance at this year’s race meeting.
She accessorized with the same gorgeous diamond and pearl button earrings that we saw her sport on Garter Day. She paired them with her beloved gold and diamond equestrian brooch, also worn at the races yesterday, as well as the three-row pearl necklace that many of us believe are the late Queen’s everyday pearls. (The clasp, as we saw at the reception on the eve of the coronation, appears to be a match.)
Princess Anne’s daughter, Zara Tindall, was lovely in cornflower blue at Ascot on Thursday. Here, she poses with her husband, Mike, who wore his stag head tie pin for the occasion.
Zara accessorized with a lovely pair of modern pearl drop earrings. The pendant section of the earrings features a chain-link construction.
Fresh off her silver wedding anniversary celebrations, the Duchess of Edinburgh was elegant in another floral dress. Here, she stands with Lady Sarah Chatto, who wore a gorgeous shade of ultramarine blue.
Sophie accessorized with a pair of crescent-shaped earrings that appear to be set with diamonds and pearls, as well as a necklace with a gemstone pendant.
Lady Sarah dipped into her collection of royal heirloom jewelry for Ladies’ Day. She wore the diamond starburst earrings that belonged to her late mother, Princess Margaret, paired with a diamond and pearl star brooch that also comes from Margaret’s collection. I believe I also spotted a bracelet set with a cabochon sapphire and diamonds on Sarah’s left wrist.
Princess Zahra Aga Khan, daughter of the Aga Khan and his British-born first wife, wore pearls and diamonds for Thursday’s day at the races.
The Duchess of Devonshire wore some intriguing jewelry pieces as well. These look to me like diamond and amethyst cluster earrings, and I think I spot an interesting diamond brooch pinned to her jacket. And I believe that’s the family’s heirloom pearl necklace with its ruby and diamond clasp, a great favorite of the late Debo Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, peeking out from beneath her collar.
Finally, here’s a little glimpse of the beautiful diamond cluster earrings worn by the Duchess of Richmond and Gordon. Janet Richmond has an aristocratic background of her own: she’s a daughter of the late 3rd Viscount Astor and his third wife, the model Bronwen Alun Pugh, who was one of the muses of the couturier Pierre Balmain.
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