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Some of the Queen’s brooches are so large that they transition quite naturally from day to evening. Today’s brooch, the Queen Mother’s Ruby Bouquet Brooch, has been worn by the Queen for both daytime engagements and evening galas.

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The brooch features a spray of stylized flowers and scrolls, set with diamonds and rubies, and gathered by a delicate diamond bow. The piece belonged to the Queen Mother, who wore it in her later years with the Crown Rubies. Beyond that, the piece does not appear to have any documented provenance.

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Since inheriting the brooch from her mother in 2002, the Queen has worn it on four occasions, all of which came during high-profile diplomatic moments or on holiday celebrations. She debuted the brooch in March 2008 in Northern Ireland. She wore the brooch at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh for the annual Royal Maundy service.

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In June 2014, the Queen paired the brooch with diamond jewels (including the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara and the Coronation Necklace and Earrings) for a gala dinner during her state visit to France. The rubies in the brooch coordinated quite nicely with the red sash of the Order of the Legion of Honor.

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A year later, during her state visit to Germany in June 2015, the Queen wore the brooch for an event that skirted the edge of day/evening: a garden party reception at the British embassy in Berlin.

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And most recently, the Queen wore the brooch in December 2019 for one of the most photographed moments of the royal year: church service near the Sandringham estate on Christmas Day. The brooch’s diamond details looked beautiful against her bright red coat for the occasion, though the rubies faded just a bit into the similarly-colored background.

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The Queen’s brooch collection includes pieces made from all different sorts of metals and gemstones, but today’s brooch features a unique material: porcelain. Here’s a closer look at the Bronte Porcelain Brooch.

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Thanks to a press release from Buckingham Palace, we know the precise provenance of this modern brooch. It’s a new piece, designed by Bob and Lucy Price and made by Bronte Porcelain. That business, which was located in Malvern, has sadly since closed. But their unusual porcelain and diamond brooch lives on in the Queen’s jewelry box. I’ve seen the flowers in the design described as both lily of the valley and snowdrops. (I tend to think it’s the latter.)

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The Queen debuted the brooch during her visit to Northern Ireland in June 2014. She wore the piece on the third and final day of the trip, which included a visit to the cenotaph in Coleraine, which was part of a launch ceremony for World War One centenary commemorations.

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A year later, in June 2015, the Queen wore the brooch for the final day of her state visit to Germany. The subdued brooch was the perfect choice for a somber occasion: a visit to the memorial at Bergen-Belsen. During her time at the site of the former camp, she visited the grave of Anne Frank, laid a ceremonial wreath at the inscription wall, and spoke with survivors and liberators.

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So far, the Queen has only worn the brooch on three occasions. The most recent was the Festival of Remembrance in November 2016, when she wore the brooch with a single paper poppy.

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There’s a definite thread running through all three of these occasions: somber remembrance. The fact that the brooch is not primarily set with dazzling gems, but instead with white flowers, makes it a very appropriate choice for moments of tribute and memory. I’d wager that we’ll see the brooch continue to be used in this way in the future.

The Queen wears the Flower Basket Brooch (Rebecca Naden – WPA Pool/Getty Images)

If you’re like me — and if you’re here, you probably are! — there are few things you love more than new and exciting provenance information about a piece of royal jewelry. So I’ve got a big treat for you today: a new jewelry mystery, this time about one of the Queen’s most sentimental jewels, the Flower Basket Brooch.

The Flower Basket Brooch (DOMINIC LIPINSKI/AFP/Getty Images)

Much of the provenance information we have had up to now about the Flower Basket Brooch comes from Leslie Field’s The Queen’s Jewels. In her book, Field describes the brooch as “naturalistic” in design, with a “simple garden-basket shape and spray of ruby, diamond and sapphire flowers.”

The Queen wears the Flower Basket Brooch in Prince Charles’s first official photograph, 1948 (Wikimedia Commons)

Field also writes that the Flower Basket Brooch “was given to the Queen in November 1948 by her parents to mark the birth of Prince Charles,” adding that “she wore it a month later for his first official photograph.” That image is the portrait above, with the brooch clearly visible.

King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, Princess Elizabeth, and Princess Margaret arrive at Waterloo Station, May 1939

But I received an email recently from one of our lovely readers, Aquamarine, that casts doubt on that provenance — or at least on the accepted timeline. While watching a new television documentary about the Windsors, she noticed something odd in newsreel footage included in one episode. I tracked down the footage, and she’s right: there’s something unusual here. The film documents the departure of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth on their official tour of Canada on May 6, 1939. It shows the royal couple traveling in a carriage with their daughters, thirteen-year-old Princess Elizabeth and eight-year-old Princess Margaret, from Buckingham Palace to Waterloo Station.

Princess Elizabeth wears the Flower Basket Brooch at Waterloo Station, May 1939

As the King and Queen prepare to board a train that will take them to Portsmouth, the camera shows various members of the royal family saying their farewells. And when the camera rests on Princess Elizabeth, we can see something unexpected pinned to her jacket: the Flower Basket Brooch.

Princess Elizabeth wears the Flower Basket Brooch at Waterloo Station, May 1939

Here’s a still image taken from the footage. The shape of the brooch is distinctive, especially the looping handle at the top of the diamond basket. All of this, then, raises one serious question: if Elizabeth didn’t receive the brooch until November 1948, why was she wearing it in public in May 1939, almost a full decade earlier?

Princess Elizabeth wears the Flower Basket Brooch at Waterloo Station, May 1939

There are, of course, various possibilities. The brooch could have originally belonged to the Queen Mother, who loaned it to her daughter for this 1939 occasion, and then gave it to her outright in 1948. Another possible answer is that Field is simply wrong about the date/celebration, and Elizabeth received the brooch at some point before May 1939. (The intrepid Aquamarine suggested the possibility of a thirteenth-birthday present, in April 1939, in our correspondence.) I’m not yet aware of other photographs of the Queen wearing the brooch between 1939 and 1948 — but, as World War II broke out only a few months after these images were captured, it’s perhaps not surprising that she wouldn’t have had many opportunities to wear it in public anyway during part of that period.

The Queen wears the brooch for her Christmas Message in December 2013 (JOHN STILLWELL/AFP/Getty Images)

One thing is for certain: the brooch remains an important and sentimental piece to the Queen, regardless of its provenance or origin. But it’s fascinating to learn that the previously-established history of the brooch may be at least partly incorrect. I’m so grateful to Aquamarine for sharing her discovery with all of us! Don’t you just love a royal jewel mystery?!?