Poignant Diamonds and Pearls for Duchess Sophie on Armistice Day

The British royal family’s observance of the Remembrance events of this extended weekend continued today as the Duchess of Edinburgh attended an Armistice Day service at the National Memorial Arboretum.

The Duchess traveled to Staffordshire on Monday to take part in the Armistice service at the National Memorial Arboretum, an event that included hymns, readings, and prayers, as well as the laying of wreaths to remember the fallen.

The arboretum, located in the village of Alrewas, is a site of national remembrance in Britain. Opened in 2001, the arboretum includes hundreds of memorials to the men and women who have served their country in the military, civilian organizations, and volunteer forces. At the center of the arboretum is the Armed Forces Memorial, which is dedicated to the memory of the thousands of men and women killed on duty since World War II.

During the dedication of the memorial in 2007, in the presence of the late Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III (then Prince of Wales), noted, “The magnificence of this new memorial will, at long last, provide a fitting recognition for all those killed on duty since the end of the Second World War. It does not differentiate between those killed in the heat of battle or on a training exercise, by terrorist action or on peace-keeping missions.”

The memorial is designed so that, every year on the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, the rays of the sun shine directly on the center of the structure and illuminate bronze wreath in the middle of the memorial. There, on Monday, the Duchess laid a wreath during the Armistice service. She also read an excerpt from Lawrence Binyon’s poem “For the Fallen,” including the final passage, “As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust, Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain, As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness, To the end, to the end, they remain.” You can read the full program from the service on the arboretum’s website.

As we’ve seen throughout the weekend, royal women generally wear subdued jewelry set with diamonds and pearls for the events surrounding Remembrance Sunday and Armistice Day. These “white” jewels are pieces considered suitable for occasions of mourning and commemoration. For Monday’s service, Sophie wore a pair of modern diamond and pearl drop earrings, as well as a necklace with a small cross pendant made of marquis-cut diamonds.

She also wore three paper poppies and a special brooch connected to one of her honorary military appointments: the badge of the Corps of Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, which features a striking horse and lightning design. Sophie became their Colonel-in-Chief in March 2022, stepping into a role that was previously held by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent and, more recently, by Sophie’s late father-in-law, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.