We’ve talked already on the blog about several of the Queen’s major ruby jewels, including the Oriental Circlet and Crown Rubies, the Burmese Ruby Tiara, the Grima Ruby Brooch, and the Baring Ruby Necklace. Today, we’re looking at one of her most modern ruby sets: the Qatari Rubies.

The set arrived in the Queen’s jewelry box in the mid 1980s. Leslie Field notes, “As recently as 1985, on a State visit to England, the Amir of Qatar presented the Queen with a diamond swag necklace with a centerpiece of two large rubies.” The Amir of Qatar in question is Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani, who served in that role from 1972 to 1995.

The set also includes a coordinating pair of ruby and diamond earrings. The Queen has worn the set on and off since the ’80s, sometimes pairing it with the Burmese Ruby Tiara or Queen Alexandra’s Kokoshnik.

By the early 1960s, Queen Elizabeth II had already been on the throne for a decade. That’s a decade’s worth of experience in white-tie banquets, state visits, and overseas tours, all of which required the coordination of gowns, order sashes, and jewels. It’s not a coincidence that this is also the point when she began acquiring a few pieces of jewelry of her own, filling in holes in her collection. Today’s jewel, the Baring Ruby Necklace, was one of those additions.

In 1964, the Queen owned at least one ruby necklace — the large, v-shaped diamond and ruby necklace given to her by her parents as a wedding gift — but that piece (pictured above) is fairly difficult to wear. She should have had the majestic crown rubies in her jewelry box, but those stayed with her mother until 2002. An easier-to-wear ruby necklace was apparently on Lillibet’s shopping list, because that year, she purchased the Baring necklace.

The necklace is made of diamonds and flat-cut rubies. It has three distinctive pendant stones, which the Royal Collection states were probably originally made as earrings.

Eventually, after the Burmese Ruby Tiara was made in the 1970s, the piece became a frequent companion of the Baring necklace. The Queen has also worn the Baring necklace with the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara and Queen Mary’s Fringe Tiara.

And, intriguingly, when the Queen finally wore the Oriental Circlet Tiara — the piece that her mother had almost always worn with the crown rubies — she wore it with the Baring necklace.

I have a feeling I’m not in the minority when I say that I hope the recent reappearance of the crown rubies signals a kind of semi-retirement for the Baring necklace. Perhaps the piece could be reconfigured into a pair of earrings and a necklace for one of the other Windsor ladies?

Many of the pieces that the Queen wears on a regular basis have serious heirloom pedigrees, but she also frequently receives new items of jewelry, especially as she reaches major milestones and celebrates big anniversary. Today’s piece, a lovely brooch made of tourmalines, was presented to HM by the Lieutenant-Governor of Saskatchewan.

Made by Rachel Mielke of the Canadian jewelry firm Hillberg and Berk, the brooch is made of white gold set with Madagascar tourmalines, diamonds, and a single freshwater pearl. The piece has a floral design, but the geometric edges of the tourmaline “petals” give the piece a fresh, contemporary feel.

The Queen received the brooch in October 2013 — our friend Patricia Treble of Maclean’s reports that she “actually gasped when she saw the gift” — and has quickly made it a part of her regular brooch rotation. She wore it for the first time in public in Norfolk in February 2014.

And in a move that seems to cement the importance of the brooch, it was also worn at Royal Ascot in 2014. The piece coordinates really well with the Queen’s wardrobe — excellent planning on the part of the jeweler — so I imagine we’ll see this continue to be a regularly-worn piece for years to come.