One of my favorite brooches from the collection of our magpie of the month, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, is today’s piece: her diamond and pearl-studded brooch.

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The brooch is delicate and complicated. The lens-shaped jewel has lacy, fan-like end sections. The center of the piece features a larger round diamond set in its center, and round pearls are set at either end. Mathilde has worn the piece both as a brooch and as a hair ornament.

Mathilde first wore the brooch in public for an EU reception on January 20, 2015, which also happened to be her birthday. Because of the timing, I’ve read speculation that the piece might have been a birthday present.

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The brooch was lost a bit in the print of her dress in that initial outing. The same problem happened in November 2016, when she wore the brooch against a silvery printed dress during a visit to Amsterdam.

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On other occasions, she has worn the brooch against bolder colors, as she did during this visit to Paris in October 2016.

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On that particular occasion, her vibrant blue dress served as an excellent background for the details of the brooch.

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Our Magpie of the Month, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, has numerous diamond necklaces at her disposal for gala events. Today, we’re talking about one of my favorites from that collection: her modern diamond fringe necklace.

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The necklace’s setting gives it an unusually jagged, almost unfinished look. More severe, pointed diamonds alternate with fringes composed of multiple smooth, rounded stones, and the tips of each fringe extend irregularly beyond the main line of the necklace, giving the piece a double-fringed effect.

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Mathilde has paired the necklace in the past with her diamond laurel wreath tiara. Above, for the pre-wedding gala in Luxembourg in October 2012, she wears the tiara and the necklace with earrings featuring a diamond bow stud and a pearl drop.

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She has also let the necklace shine at black-tie, non-tiara events, like the pre-wedding dinner held in the United Kingdom in April 2011.

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On that occasion, she paired the necklace with diamond and pearl earrings. These are similar to another pair of diamond earrings she’s worn for more recent occasions, including King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden’s 70th birthday celebrations. (Note: Mathilde also seems to have worn Queen Fabiola’s Fringe Brooch in her hair on this occasion — see the fringes hanging down?)

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The diamond fringe necklace is a royal staple, and this one marries traditional and modern design to produce an updated twist on a classic style.

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In 2018, we’re reviving a popular past feature on the blog: the Magpie of the Month, where we explore the jewelry box of one royal lady each week for an entire month! This January, our Magpie is Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, and we’re starting with something very sparkly: one of her beautiful pairs of diamond fringe earrings.

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These diamond earrings, which feature a five-stranded fringed tassel dangling from a nautilus-style stud, have been staples in Mathilde’s jewelry wardrobe for around five years. The sparkle of the pair makes them a perfect choice for gala functions. Above, she wears them in April 2013 at the pre-inauguration dinner in the Netherlands, pairing them with her laurel wreath tiara and the diamond fringe brooch that belonged to Queen Fabiola.

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Although the earrings pair nicely with tiaras and other gala jewels, Mathilde also sometimes wears them for important daytime events. Here, they pulled double duty during the Dutch inauguration, making a second appearance at the inauguration itself.

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Since then, the earrings have remained a versatile part of Mathilde’s jewelry box. Above, she wears them for the family’s annual Christmas concert at the Royal Palace in 2014…

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…and at a state banquet for the President and First Lady of China at Laeken in March of the same year. On this occasion, she also wore the bandeau base of the Nine Provinces Tiara, a sparkler only worn by Belgian queens.

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In 2016, she wore them for the annual concert held as part of the country’s National Day festivities in July.

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And last year, she wore them to attend the Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition with her eldest child, Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant.

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But Mathilde’s jewelry collection just keeps growing, and this pair isn’t the only pair of diamond fringe earrings in her jewelry box. At the Norwegian birthday celebrations in May, she wore a different pair of diamond fringe earrings. You’ll note that the stud of this pair of earrings includes ribbon-like designs, and the three fringes appear to be longer and feature different cuts of diamonds.