Queen Elizabeth II’s D-Day Commemoration Brooches

Today and tomorrow, royals will gather in England and France to mark the 80th anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy. Ahead of this week’s commemorations, let’s look back at some of the meaningful brooches that the late Queen Elizabeth II wore for D-Day anniversaries during her reign.

Elizabeth II was an eighteen-year-old princess in June 1944 when Allied troops landed in Normandy on D-Day to begin the liberation of France. For Princess Elizabeth, the operation held a little extra meaning. In 1942, she had been appointed as Colonel of the Grenadier Guards by her father, King George VI. Some of her earliest royal engagements were linked to the regiment. Her first official public engagement, an inspection of the Guards at Windsor Castle, took place on her sixteenth birthday.

The young princess was often pictured wearing a jeweled brooch in the shape of the badge of the Grenadier Guards in early portraits. (One of these is currently on display at Buckingham Palace, part of this year’s summer exhibition at the King’s Gallery.) The young men of her regiment, many of whom landed in France in the weeks after D-Day, were certainly much in her thoughts as the invasion went forward. Ultimately, Elizabeth was inspired to follow in their footsteps. Shortly after her eighteenth birthday, the princess herself volunteered for service. She joined the Auxiliary Territorial Service and trained as a mechanic.

In May 1944, just weeks before Allied troops would land on the beaches of northern France, Elizabeth joined her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, for a visit to meet with service members practicing maneuvers for their role in the landings. For security reasons, the press did not report the exact date or location of the royal visit. The dateline for articles on the royal visit was given only as “SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND, May 19.”

The Ottawa Citizen reported, “The paratroopers leaped from scores of transport planes flying a few hundred feet above the control tower of an RAF station. A few minutes later, the Royal party, standing in the control tower, watched scores of gliders land with unerring precision, the first only a few feet from the tower.” The Queen declared that the display was “wonderful.” In this photograph, Princess Elizabeth hangs back slightly as her mother cheerfully chats to one of the paratroopers gearing up for the invasion. The elder Elizabeth’s jewels include her Diamond Thistle Brooch, which she pinned to her hat for the occasion. Today, the brooch is worn by Queen Camilla.

I’m always particularly moved by Princess Elizabeth’s face in this photograph from the royal visit, taken as she watched a demonstration by the paratroopers rehearsing for the invasion. She couldn’t have known then, of course, how the invasion would ultimately play out, but surely everyone involved was keenly aware of the risks that each young man was preparing to take for King and Country–and the enormity of what was at stake for the future of Europe and the world.

During Elizabeth II’s long reign, she had numerous opportunities to commemorate and honor the valiant service of the men who fought on D-Day. Here, on June 6, 1984, she speaks with veterans at the British War Cemetery in Bayeux. She wore the Duchess of Cambridge’s Pearl Pendant Brooch for that year’s 40th anniversary commemorations. Pearls, especially pear-shaped pearl drops, are often worn for occasions of remembrance and mourning, as they resemble gleaming teardrops.

Here, on June 6, 1994, Elizabeth II is pictured during a memorial ceremony at Omaha Beach marking the 50th anniversary of the Allied invasion. Beside her is Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, another veteran of the war who landed at Normandy on June 11, 1944, with the Irish Guards. For this commemoration ceremony, Elizabeth chose to wear a brooch emphasizing the special relationship between Britain and France. The Coral Rose Brooch, made by Cartier, was given to the Queen in 1990 by the French Order of Liberation.

Queen Elizabeth II also often wore brooches associated with her mother, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, for D-Day anniversary commemorations. The bejeweled gesture was a recognition of the leadership of her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, during the war. On June 6, 2004, Elizabeth II arrived in Normandy for the 60th anniversary commemorations of D-Day wearing the Centenary Rose Brooch. Just four years earlier, she had given the brooch to her mother as a 100th birthday present. Two years after the Queen Mum’s death, Elizabeth wore the brooch in France, keeping the memory of her late parents close during the commemorations.

For her final visit to the beaches of Normandy, Elizabeth II wore another beautiful royal brooch with links to her parents and the Crown. She wore Queen Victoria’s Diamond Fringe Brooch on June 6, 2014, for a 70th anniversary commemoration ceremony at Sword Beach. The brooch, which dates to the 1850s, was designated as an Heirloom of the Crown by Queen Victoria in her will. It later became a particular favorite of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and Elizabeth II allowed her mother to keep the brooch in her collection until her death in 2002.

For Elizabeth II, the brooch would have been a symbol of the British monarchy, and a special, substantial piece worthy of wearing to mark a moment of sacred sacrifice–but even more than that, it was simply also a piece beloved by her late mother, who worked so hard to boost morale and support service members throughout the war and for her long royal life.