Sophie Wessex, our Magpie of the Month, has been a member of the British royal family for fifteen years, and in that time, her jewelry collection has slowly grown. She started off with a few significant, sentimental pieces, including her wedding jewels and the diamond clips we discussed last week, but she has been adding more and more interesting jewels over the years. Today, we’re talking about gems that have become almost signature pieces for her: jewelry with aquamarines and other vivid light blue stones.

In 2004, Sophie began wearing a set of jewelry set with blue stones, possibly aquamarines or blue topazes. The necklace and earrings feature a modern design, with geometric ribbons of diamonds paired with the blue stone drops. Above, she wears the set during the Polish state visit in May 2004.

The same month, Sophie paired the pendant necklace with a borrowed tiara for the the pre-wedding gala for Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark.

Sophie’s also worn the earrings separately, as she did at this event in September 2004…

…and at this gala dinner in 2008.

In 2005 in Monaco, Sophie paired the set with a new piece: a convertible diamond and aquamarine tiara. The modern sparkler was worn for Prince Albert II’s coronation gala. The large central aquamarine is significantly paler and greener than the stones in the necklace and earring set, but the modern design of each piece almost makes them work as a married parure. The tiara has been tentatively attributed to Collins and Sons.

In 2006, Sophie wore the new tiara as a necklace at a charity gala for Childline. Coincidentally, Prince Albert of Monaco was also at this gala. To my knowledge, there’s never been a suggestion that any of Sophie’s jewelry is connected to the Grimaldis, but her aquamarines do pop up at events linked with the Monegasque princely family with strange regularity.

Sophie brought out the necklace version of the jewel at the Queen’s 80th birthday party at the Ritz that December. Here, she paired the piece again with the earrings from the other set. This photo clearly shows the color difference between the stones.

Sophie also has a large aquamarine and diamond ring — I believe this has also been connected to Collins and Sons.

Another event in Monaco, another debut of an aquamarine piece. This Art Deco brooch, with a large central aquamarine, also features diamonds, plus surrounding rings of green and blue stones. Sophie wore it for the first time in public at the July 2011 wedding of Prince Albert and Princess Charlene of Monaco.

She’s worn the brooch a number of times since. Here it is in 2012 at Royal Ascot…

…and again at Ascot in 2013…

…and once more at Ascot in 2014.

Sophie sometimes wears the brooch with a pair of earrings that may also be set with aquamarines.

But Sophie’s most significant piece of aquamarine jewelry is undoubtedly the tiara that she debuted at the wedding of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie of Luxembourg in October 2012. The piece, which features five large aquamarines set in complicated ribbons of diamonds, was worn by the Queen in the 1970s. The provenance of the piece is unclear — it may or may not be part of the aquamarine gifts that HM has received from Brazil — and it’s also not known if Sophie has been given the tiara or if it’s a loan. She has worn the piece with other items of jewelry belonging to the Queen, including the King Faisal necklace (pictured above).

Sophie wore the new aquamarine tiara at the recent state banquet during the Singapore state visit; she also wore it in 2013 at the wedding of Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Christopher O’Neill. The diamond earrings she wore on the day were also loaners from the Queen; the brooch may be set with more light blue stones, possible aquamarines or topazes.

It’s a bit hard to believe when you see her, but this month, the Countess of Wessex is celebrating her fiftieth birthday. I’m hoping that Sophie’s husband helps mark the occasion by making some additions to her jewelry collection; we’re celebrating here at The Court Jeweller by making her our Magpie of the Month! Let’s kick off our series on Sophie’s jewels with a look at one of her most important brooches: her pair of diamond clips.

The brooch was the Queen Mother’s wedding gift to Sophie in 1999, so it’s extremely appropriate that we saw her wear the clips for one of the first times in public at the Queen Mum’s 99th birthday celebrations that August.

Sophie also wore them early on for a sadder event: the Queen Mother’s funeral in March 2002.

You can just see the clips here peeking out from Sophie’s wrap at the 2004 royal wedding in Denmark. In the early years of her marriage, Sophie tended to wear the pair of clips separately. However, like many sets of Art Deco clips, they can also be worn together as a duet to form a single brooch. Most sets like this come with a special frame that allows the pieces to be hooked together; here’s a set of photographs from an auction of another set of diamond clips that shows how the frame works.

For an appearance at Royal Ascot in 2005, it seems that Sophie decided to wear just one of the pair of clips — it’s nestled beside her ID badges.

For the Queen’s 80th birthday dinner, Sophie wore the clips again as a pair, using them to highlight the square neckline of her gown.

And both pieces again appeared at Royal Ascot in 2007. To my knowledge, the exact provenance of the pieces isn’t known. The Art Deco style certainly suggests a 1930s creation date. My guess is Cartier, given the similarities to other clips made by the firm and the fact that they were the house that popularized the style. I don’t think we know whether the Queen Mum acquired these specifically for Sophie or shopped her own jewelry vaults for the present, but we do know that George VI loved buying presents for his wife at Cartier in the ’30s, so it certainly seems plausible to me that these are family pieces of jewelry. (Update: The clips were indeed from the Queen Mum’s collection; here’s an image of Elizabeth wearing them on her hat.)

In recent years, Sophie has worn the clips more often as one brooch, as she did at Royal Ascot in 2010. This angle gives you a good look at the pieces worn together on a single frame.

And here they are once more at Royal Ascot in 2014. The clips are some of my favorite pieces from Sophie’s jewelry box — sparkling, versatile, and with a great Queen Mum association. I think we’ll be seeing her wear these classic pieces over and over again for years to come.