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Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

The Double Swan Brooch

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Kirstin Sinclair/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse

The Queen is a documented animal lover, with her beloved pack of dogs, but her brooch collection really contains relatively few examples of animal brooches. Today’s jewel, the Double Swan Brooch, is one of these rare pieces.

Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

The Queen wore the brooch, which features a pair of swans a-swimming, on the first day of Royal Ascot in June 2014.

Stuart C. Wilson/Getty Images

The brooch features two birds, rendered in diamonds and pearls, swimming on curling diamond waves. This close-up also shows that dark details (sapphires, perhaps, or enamel) have been used for the swans’ eyes, and their beaks are shiny gold. We know that the brooch was made by Collins and Sons, thanks to the announcers at Ascot, but we don’t know any other provenance information about it. As it was part of the large group of new jewels she began wearing after her Diamond Jubilee and the 60th anniversary of her coronation, it’s possible that the brooch may have been a gift to celebrate one of those occasions.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse

For its first outing at Royal Ascot, the Queen wore the brooch with a serene pale gray-blue ensemble.

Royal Family

The following year, in July 2015, she wore the brooch again during her annual Holyrood Week residence in Scotland. The brooch’s details popped against her bright pink jacket as she helped celebrate the centenary of the Scottish Veterans Garden City Association.

John Stillwell – WPA Pool/Getty Images

We’ve only seen the brooch in public a handful of times since the Queen began wearing it. The most recent outing happened at Buckingham Palace, during an audience with the Australian High Commissioner in May 2018. On that occasion, she wore the brooch with a brightly patterned gown, and the piece’s neutral, delicate details almost vanished entirely against the background.

Kirstin Sinclair/Getty Images for Ascot Racecourse

Here’s hoping we see this charming swan brooch again on HM. (It’s actually the second swan brooch in her collection — the other is a tiny single swan set with diamonds.) Maybe one of the royals will select the diamond and pearl swans for a future Swan Upping?

The Diamond Art Deco Clip Brooch

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HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
Lots of the Queen’s brooches have been in her jewelry box for decades, but some pieces are much newer additions to her collection. Today’s brooch, the Diamond Art Deco Clip Brooch, seems to be one of these newer pieces.

HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images
Here’s a closer look at the brooch. The piece is a classic double clip brooch, a style popular in the 1930s and 1940s and often associated with Cartier. The brooch features a pair of diamond dress clips that can be worn separately or attached together to a frame for wear as a brooch. The Queen has several versions of clip brooches in her collection, and you’ll also see them worn by other British royal ladies, including the Countess of Wessex and the Duchess of Gloucester.
Alan Crowhurst/Getty Images
We don’t know how old this particular brooch is. It may be an antique example that has been more recently incorporated into the Queen’s collection, a new piece patterned on a familiar vintage style, or even a jewel that has long been in royal hands but only worn in public recently. Whatever the provenance, we know that the Queen began wearing the brooch around 2015. Above, she wears it at Newbury Racecourse in April of that year.
PAUL FAITH/AFP via Getty Images
In June 2016, the Queen wore the clip brooch as she arrived at Hillsborough Castle in Belfast to begin a two-day tour of Northern Ireland.
Henry Nicholls – WPA Pool/Getty Images
One of the Queen’s most brilliant appearances in the brooch so far came in October 2018, when she wore it for engagements in Bracknell, including a visit to The Lexicon shopping center.
Yui Mok – WPA Pool/Getty Images
We saw the brooch recently in March 2020, during one of the Queen’s last engagments before COVID restrictions sent her into lockdown at Windsor Castle. She wore the brooch on a brightly colored dress for an audience at Buckingham Palace with Professor Mark Compton, Lord Prior of the Order of St John. Professor Compton was at the palace to present HM with the Order’s first-ever Service Medal in gold.

The Crystal Orchid Brooch

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Peter Macdiarmid – WPA Pool/Getty Images
The Queen’s brooch collection is packed with jewels that feature floral designs and motifs. Among that group, today’s brooch, the Crystal Orchid Brooch, manages to stand out thanks to its delicate materials.

Chris Jackson/Getty Images
The unique brooch features a spray of orchids made of Waterford crystal, 66 diamonds, and rose gold. Close views of the brooch, like this one, show the intricacy of the carving of the crystal orchid petals, as well as the diamond accents on each of the four flowers. The brooch was given to the Queen in 2013 by Mappin and Webb as a gift to mark the 60th anniversary of her coronation. The jewel was a collaboration between Mappin and Webb and Waterford.
Toby Melville – WPA Pool/Getty Images
Appropriately, as Waterford Crystal has its roots in Ireland, the Queen debuted the brooch during an important Irish occasion: the first official state visit of the Irish Republic’s head of state to the United Kingdom. She wore the jewel to greet President Higgins during a ceremonial welcome at Windsor Castle in April 2014.
JUSTIN TALLIS/AFP via Getty Images
Later the same day, she switched the brooch from her light blue coat to the paisley-printed dress beneath for events inside the castle. The crystal brooch virtually disappears against the printed garment, demonstrating how vital a bold but plain background is in allowing the brooch’s details to shine.
Lynne Cameron – WPA Pool/Getty Images
On most occasions, she has indeed chosen a vibrantly-colored, solid background for the jewel. In April 2015, she wore the brooch at Sheffield Cathedral for the annual Royal Maundy Service. On that occasion, the brooch stood out nicely against a deep turquoise coat.
Chris Jackson/Getty Images
Here’s one more image from the Royal Maundy appearance that gives you a view of the brooch from the side.
Chris Radburn – WPA Pool/Getty Images
And in February 2016, she wore the brooch for a visit to the Norfolk Hospice at Hillington near King’s Lynn, again with a blue background. The brooch’s most recent appearance came in December 2017, when she wore it with a dark purple dress for a Christmas staff luncheon at the Goring Hotel.