Royal summer is officially here! The races at Royal Ascot began on Tuesday, and a large contingent of Windsors, all wearing special jewels, were on hand for the start of the annual meet.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla arrived in the first carriage of this year’s Royal Ascot processions on Tuesday, joined by the Duke and Duchess of Wellington. Three more carriages followed. The second featured the Princess Royal with her son, Peter Phillips, as well as Lady Gabriella Kingston (daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent) and royal racing manager John Warren.
In the third carriage were the Earl and Countess of Halifax with Annabel Eliot and her son, Sir Ben Eliot. (These are members of the Queen’s family: Lady Halifax and Queen Camilla were sisters-in-law when they were married to two of the Parker Bowles brothers, and Annabel and Sir Ben are Camilla’s sister and nephew.) The fourth carriage ferried Sir Johnny Weatherby (formerly Queen Elizabeth II’s representative at Ascot) and Lady Weatherby, with the trainer Ralph Beckett and his wife, Isabelle, to the racecourse.
The King looked elegant as usual in his morning suit as he arrived at the races. Queen Camilla opted for a Fiona Clare ensemble in a vibrant shade of royal blue for the first day of the race meet.
King Charles secured his tie with a jewel from his collection of antique tie pins. This one features the royal cypher of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria (1894-1943). Like Charles, Boris was a member of Prince Albert’s extended family, the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Queen Camilla also wore a jewel linked to the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family for the first day of Royal Ascot. Her diamond and sapphire brooch is the famous jewel given to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert on the night before their royal wedding in 1840.
Prince Albert’s Brooch, as it is usually known, features a large sapphire surrounded by a cluster of twelve round diamonds, all set in gold. The jewel was likely made in the Netherlands.
In a diary entry, Victoria called the brooch “really quite beautiful.” She wore it on her wedding dress the following morning and treasured it throughout her life, earmarking it as an Heirloom of the Crown that would pass from monarch to monarch after her death.
The brooch has been worn by every queen (both consort and regnant) since Victoria’s passing in 1901. Queen Elizabeth II inherited the jewel in 1952, and she wore it faithfully for the next seventy years.
We’ve seen Camilla wear the brooch three times now since Charles’s accession in September 2022. She debuted it during a state visit to Germany in March 2023, and a year later, she wore for a visit to the Isle of Man.
The Ascot outing is Camilla’s third appearance in the brooch. She wore it with a pair of earrings that belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II as well. These feature sapphire, diamond, and ruby clips with pearl drops.
Camilla also wore her usual necklaces and bracelets with her Royal Ascot ensemble on Tuesday.
The Princess Royal stepped out of the carriage wearing jewelry made of gold, diamonds, and pearls on the first day of the Royal Ascot races. Her accessories included the modern Andrew Grima earrings that have been in her jewelry box for more than half a century. The earrings can also be worn with an optional matching pendant section.
There were also several more members of the extended royal family present at Ascot on Tuesday. Here, Zara Tindall and Lady Gabriella Kingston speak with Prince Philippos of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Nina. Philippos is the youngest son of the late King Constantine II and his Danish-born wife, Queen Anne-Marie.
Lady Gabriella wore a pair of modern gold and pearl earrings with her floral dress for the occasion. It was lovely to see her smiling with the rest of the royal family, following the tragic death of her husband, Thomas Kingston, earlier this year.
Zara was elegant in buttercream yellow, and she added a pair of earrings with bright yellow gemstone drops to her ensemble to emphasize the sunny theme.
She also wore gold and diamond bracelets on her right wrist.
Also on hand to watch the races were the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, fresh off her installment as the newest royal lady of the Order of the Garter yesterday at Windsor Castle. She wore elegant pearls and diamonds for the races. Here, she’s chatting with Princess Eugenie, who is wearing her diamond and emerald wedding earrings.
Birgitte also wore the same Victorian enamel, diamond, and pearl pendant that she loaned the previous day to her daughter, Lady Rose, for Garter Day.
We also caught a few glimpses of some royal-adjacent jewelry, too. The Duchess of Wellington is actually royal herself. Born Princess Antonia of Prussia, she’s a great-great-granddaughter of Princess Vicky, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Antonia wore a pair of modern silver hoop earrings for the races.
And here’s Queen Camilla’s daughter, Laura Lopes, who added a lovely pair of classic diamond and pearl earrings to her Ascot ensemble on Tuesday.
I’ll see you back here tomorrow with more Royal Ascot jewels!
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