A little rain didn’t dampen the excitement over the Princess of Wales’s first public appearance of 2024, as she joined the rest of the royal family in London for the annual Trooping the Colour celebrations.
The celebrations of the monarch’s official birthday went forward despite less than ideal weather in London on Saturday. Several members of the royal family rode in closed carriages during the parade down the Mall as a concession to the rain. Here’s King Charles III and Queen Camilla traveling in the Scottish State Coach to Horse Guards Parade to watch the Irish Guards troop the colour.
The Princess of Wales, with Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis, rode in the Glass Coach for the procession. Here they are arriving at Horse Guards Parade.
The Duchess of Edinburgh, with Lady Louise and the Duke of Kent, braved a more open barouche for the trip down the Mall, as did the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and Sir Timothy Laurence.
Meanwhile, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Princess Royal rode on horseback during the procession.
Pearls and military-related jewelry pieces were, as usual, the order of the day. Queen Camilla wore her go-to earrings, a pair of diamond floral clips with pearl drops, with a favorite pearl and diamond necklace and the Grenadier Guards Badge that belonged to her late mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II.
The gem-set badge was one of the first major pieces of jewelry worn by the late Queen. She received the badge from the regiment after she was named as their honorary colonel shortly before her sixteenth birthday in 1942. She wore the jewel faithfully over the years, especially during the war. Queen Camilla is now the regiment’s colonel, and she also wore the badge for last year’s Trooping the Colour celebrations.
Like the Queen, the Princess of Wales also wore pearls with a military badge for the celebrations this year.
Her earrings are the Cavolfiore Pearl Earrings from Cassandra Goad. Each of the seven pearls in the earring is set with a small diamond in yellow gold. The brand’s website explains that the design was inspired by “the clusters of young flower stalks of the cauliflower (cavolfiore)” in a Sicilian market.
Catherine, then Duchess of Cambridge, wore the earrings for the first time in July 2018 for the christening of her second son, Prince Louis.
She’s worn the earrings for a range of occasions in the years since. Here, she wears them on Remembrance Sunday in November 2018.
She also chose them for an appearance with the late Queen at the Chelsea Flower Show in May 2019.
And in April 2022, she wore them for an Easter Sunday service with other members of the royal family at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.
More recently, we saw her wear the pearl earrings in the Royal Box at Wimbledon for the Ladies’ Final in July 2023.
For Saturday’s appearance at Trooping the Colour, Kate also wore the regimental badge of the Irish Guards pinned to her Jenny Packham dress. She has been the colonel of the regiment since December 2022, taking over the role from her husband, the Prince of Wales. Today, the Irish Guards were the ones who trooped the colour at Horse Guards Parade.
Kate also wore her engagement ring with her wedding and eternity bands in their usual place on her left hand.
The Duchess of Edinburgh wore sunny yellow for the rainy celebrations with a coordinating hat and a pair of golden earrings.
Here’s a better look at the earrings from the procession down the Mall.
These are the same earrings that we saw Sophie wear recently during the 80th anniversary commemorations of D-Day.
Here’s Sophie’s daughter, Lady Louise, looking very lovely in a pair of pearl drop earrings. Her necklace features a colorful turquoise pendant in the shape of a Fabergé Easter egg.
And here’s a glimpse of the jewels worn by the Duchess of Gloucester for this year’s celebrations. Her multi-stranded pearl and emerald necklace (actually a pair of necklaces worn together) is a legacy from her late mother-in-law, Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester.
The necklaces were a wedding gift to Alice from King George V and Queen Mary. It was made using pearls and emeralds taken from a Cartier necklace that belonged to Queen Alexandra.
Rain came bucketing down after the Irish Guards trooped the colour, but the skies cleared just before the fly-past and balcony appearance. All of the senior working members of the royal family (the Prince and Princess of Wales with their children, the Princess Royal and Sir Tim, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh with Lady Louise, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, and the Duke of Kent) joined the King and Queen on the balcony of Buckingham Palace.
I’ll see you all back here on Monday to discuss the jewels worn by the royals on Garter Day!
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