Royals around the world have a special place in their heart for sapphires, the spectacular birthstone of September babies. In Britain, one of the gemstone’s biggest fan is the Princess of Wales, who has several pieces set with sapphires in her collection–and may have even more waiting in the wings!
The first, and most iconic, piece of sapphire jewelry in Princess Catherine’s jewelry box is undoubtedly her sapphire and diamond engagement ring. Prince William presented Kate with the ring during a holiday in Africa in October 2010, and she showed it off to the world for the first time when they announced their royal engagement a month later. The ring, of course, was previously worn by William’s mother, the late Diana, Princess of Wales. He reportedly gave the ring to Kate as a way of keeping his mother present during the couple’s engagement and wedding celebrations.
Kate has worn the ring faithfully for more than a decade. It’s been a constant presence on her ring finger since the engagement announcement, though she does occasionally remove it for active engagements or casual downtime. Lately, we’ve seen her swap it out for another eternity style band.
Catherine loves a matching set of jewelry. She has several suites that include a matching necklace and earrings, sometimes also with a coordinating bracelet or ring. This sapphire and diamond cluster suite is one of those sets, featuring cluster drop earrings and a necklace with a matching double cluster pendant. The lovely blue sapphires in the set are faceted.
Kate has often worn the pieces from this suite together as a matched set, and we’ve often also seen her wear the earrings alone. The design of the set is an excellent complement to her sapphire and diamond engagement ring as well. She debuted the jewels shortly after her royal wedding in 2011.
In recent years, Kate has also begun wearing a pair of diamond and sapphire double cluster earrings that belonged to the late Diana, Princess of Wales. The earrings, which are set with dark cabochon sapphires, accompanied Diana during several highlight moments of her life, including that famous dance with John Travolta at the White House in the 1980s.
The earrings have proved to be a versatile addition to Kate’s jewelry box, and she’s worn them for a range of occasions, from Trooping the Colour and the Commonwealth Day service to state visit ceremonies and foreign trips.
Kate’s jewelry box has also been enriched by royal loans, including this antique pair of sapphire and diamond fringe earrings. The earrings, which have a distinctive Art Deco design, originally belonged to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Kate has been wearing them in public for almost a decade.
Kate has chosen the fringe earrings for a range of occasions, usually more formal or evening events. She paired them, for example, with Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara for a state banquet at Buckingham Palace, and she’s also worn them for her annual Christmas carol concert at Westminster Abbey.
In the last years of her reign, the late Queen Elizabeth II also loaned another pair of sapphire and diamond earrings to Kate. These come from a demi-parure of jewelry given to the Queen by Sheikh Rashid of Dubai in 1979. Kate, then still Duchess of Cambridge, wore them for a special NHS Charities Together event in Edinburgh in 2021.
There are plenty more sapphire pieces waiting in the wings for Kate to try out, too. Among these are the other pieces from the Dubai Sapphire Suite. Above, the late Queen wears the earrings with the necklace and bracelet from the set at the Diplomatic Reception in 2005. (The tiara she paired them with, the Belgian Sapphire Tiara, is currently a favorite of Queen Camilla.)
The late Queen also had another modern suite of sapphire jewels in her collection. This sapphire and diamond set, which includes a pair of trefoil-style earrings and a tassel necklace, may also have been a Middle Eastern gift. The earrings especially seem like they might be Kate’s style.
And then, of course, there are the remaining unseen sapphires from Diana’s collection. The grandest of these pieces is definitely the large sapphire and diamond brooch, set for most of Diana’s lifetime as the clasp of a pearl choker necklace. The brooch was a gift from the Queen Mother to Diana, who liked to wear it with those sapphire cabochon earrings that Kate now wears. It would be wonderful to see the sapphire reappear on Kate, either as part of the necklace or as a separate brooch.
Diana also wore two other choker-style necklaces made of diamonds and sapphires. This one, which may have been part of her Saudi sapphire suite, features small blue beads to complete the necklace.
A second, similar sapphire and diamond choker was worn by Diana as both a headband (in Japan in the 1980s) and as a choker necklace. Both of these appear to be bracelet conversions, and I can imagine Kate wearing both of them in bracelet form.
Speaking of that Saudi suite–Diana received a remarkable demi-parure of modern sapphire and diamond jewels from Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia as a wedding present in 1981. The original set included a necklace, bracelet, watch, earrings, and ring. Diana wore the jewels in various combinations over the years, including pairing some of them with the Spencer Tiara that she borrowed from her father and her brother. The jewels have not resurfaced since her death in 1997.
Another foreign monarch, the Sultan of Oman, gave Diana an even more modern suite of sapphire and diamond jewels during a visit to that nation in 1986. The jewels feature a crescent moon design theme. The set included a necklace, bracelet, and earrings, and it too has remained hidden since Diana’s passing.
Diana’s collection also included various other sapphire pieces. Among the most interesting to me are these paired sapphire and diamond bracelets. The dark cabochon sapphires are set in a checkerboard-style pattern, alternating with the white diamonds. The jewels can be worn separately as two bracelets or can be joined together as a necklace.
But there’s one sapphire jewel (hopefully!) still lurking in the vaults that I’d really like to see Kate try out: the grand sapphire sunray tiara that originally belonged to Queen Mary. We last saw the jewel appear on Princess Margaret, who wore it quite often in her younger years. I think most of us hope that this is one of the jewels that was returned to Buckingham Palace after Margaret’s death. If so, wouldn’t it look wonderful on the present Princess of Wales?
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