Queen Camilla’s Elegant Edwardian Royal Jewels

This weekend, Queen Camilla stepped out at Ascot in an Edwardian-era royal brooch—just the latest in a series of jewels she’s worn recently from the decadent period of royal history.

On Saturday, Queen Camilla was on hand for the Betfair Ascot Chase Raceday at the famed racecourse in Berkshire. Wearing a winter-white coat and a favorite fur-trimmed hat, she added jewelry touches that included her favorite diamond and pearl drop earrings, her blue agate Alhambra bracelet from Van Cleef & Arpels, and a special brooch with fascinating links to royal racing history.

The horseshoe-shaped bauble is the Minoru Brooch, which spells out the famous race horse’s name in diamond-set letters, interspersed with rubies and sapphires to represent the colors of the royal family’s racing silks. Minoru belonged to King Edward VII, who reigned in Britain from 1901 to 1910. In 1909, near the end of the King’s life, he was delighted by Minoru’s victory at the Epsom Derby.

The monarch was so delighted by the victory that he commissioned numerous souvenirs, including several gem-set scarf pins. It seems that this brooch, which Queen Camilla has been wearing for several years, was one of those pins.

The reign of King Edward VII is a special historical touchstone for King Charles III and Queen Camilla. Like Charles, Edward was Prince of Wales for more than half a century before his accession, following in the footsteps of an iconic queen regnant. Both Edward and Charles had a passion for the finer things in life, patronizing the arts and setting up their own “rival” courts at Marlborough and Highgrove.

And there’s another important connection, too: the women they loved. King Edward VII was married to Queen Alexandra of Denmark for more than four decades, but he also had significant extramarital friendships and romances. At the end of his life, he was devoted to a woman named Alice Keppel, daughter of a Scottish baronet and wife of a courtier. Alice is the great-grandmother of Queen Camilla.

For many years, Camilla has worn significant pieces of Edwardian jewelry for important occasions. Some of these are her own family heirlooms, including pieces connected to the Keppels, while others come from the royal vaults. All have connections to King Edward VII, Queen Alexandra, and their Marlborough set. Perhaps the most important royal heirloom worn by Camilla from that collection is the diamond kokoshnik tiara commissioned as a gift to celebrate Edward and Alexandra’s silver wedding anniversary in 1888.

Queen Camilla has also worn several other royal pieces linked to the Edwardians in recent years. For the Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey last March, she wore a spectacular diamond and aquamarine brooch that also belonged to Queen Alexandra.

And at Royal Ascot in June, she sported a special diamond and turquoise brooch from Queen Mary’s collection. The jewel was one of Mary’s wedding gifts from her parents-in-law, Edward and Alexandra, in the summer of 1893.

Queen Alexandra, heart-shaped gemstones, and wedding presents all come together in another piece of jewelry: an amethyst, diamond, and pearl sautoir necklace. Alexandra gave the jewel to her granddaughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, as a wedding present in 1923. Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, wore a shortened version of the necklace for the Skyfall premiere in 2012.

While Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla also wore pieces from Queen Alexandra’s Ladies of North Wales Suite. The diamond and emerald brooch, which has matching earrings, features the heraldic symbol of the Prince of Wales: three ostrich feathers gathered by a gold coronet. Today, this set has been passed along to the present Princess of Wales.

Camilla has at least one more jewel featuring the heraldic Prince of Wales’s feathers in its design: a diamond and black pearl brooch. The jewel has been widely reported to have been a present from Charles to Camilla. When she wore the brooch for their civil wedding ceremony in 2005, it was reported that the piece was one of the ones commissioned by King Edward VII when he was Prince of Wales, and that there was a link between the brooch and Alice Keppel.

Three years before their marriage, in March 2002, Charles and Camilla made an important first joint appearance at an event hosted at Buckingham Palace by Queen Elizabeth II. The event was a dinner given in honor of the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich. The couple were photographed arriving together for the gala, and Camilla could be seen wearing an antique necklace and a matching pair of earrings. So far, this is the only time that she’s worn the Edwardian-linked ruby set in public.

The necklace, which can be placed on a tiara frame, was one of the jewels featured in Geoffrey Munn’s landmark Tiaras: A History of Splendour. In that book, which also features a color photograph of the piece, the jewel is described as a “tiara of gold and platinum set with diamonds and synthetic rubies,” which can be removed from its frame and worn as “a flexible necklace.” The book says only that the tiara is part of a “private collection,” though most believe it was acquired by Charles for Camilla.

That’s because, once again, the jewel is linked to King Edward and Mrs. Keppel, with the text adding that the monarch “enjoyed visiting Paris, and the style of the fitted case for this jewel suggests that it was purchased there around the turn of the century.” Camilla is thanked in the acknowledgments of Munn’s book, which was followed by a major exhibition of tiaras curated by Munn at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. Camilla toured the V&A exhibition privately a week before the Rostropovich dinner.

Another of Camilla’s more frequently-worn jewels also likely has a Keppel connection. Her diamond serpent necklace, which comes from Van Cleef & Arpels, has now been confirmed by the palace to have been a legacy from her “adored grandmother.” The grandmother in question is almost certainly Alice Keppel’s daughter, Sonia Keppel Cubitt.

And speaking of spectacular diamond serpents and the Keppels, those visiting London later this year will have a chance to see a fabulous Fabergé objet d’art from her collection in person. The Royal Collection is mounting a new exhibition dedicated to the Edwardians, and one of the items on display is this diamond and enamel cigarette case, which was given to King Edward VII by Alice. The snake is an ouroboros, a symbol of eternal love. You can see it in person at the King’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace starting in April.