Several years ago, I answered a reader question here about the brooches that the Queen wore during the mourning period for Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997. I’m still frequently sent questions about royal mourning jewels—what’s considered appropriate for mourning in the modern world, how the pieces are chosen, etc. As you can imagine, many of those same questions have been asked over the past week. In older days (for example, during the reign of Queen Victoria) there were stricter guidelines available for mourning clothes and jewelry. (Blacks, grays, mauves, lots of jet.) In our time, jewels for mourning are selected on a more personal and individual basis, but there are still some general ideas that seem to be followed.