Don’t Miss a Single Sparkling Moment! Sign up for The Court Jeweller Newsletter

The Court Jeweller

Sparkling Royal Jewels From Around the World

The Braemar Feather Brooch

by // Leave a Comment

If you’ve followed the schedule and engagements of Queen Elizabeth II for a number of years, you’ll know that she’s a royal lady who likes a routine. Like clockwork, her court travels around the kingdom, from Sandringham at Christmas to Windsor at Easter and Balmoral in the late summer. She also likes regularity in her clothing and jewels. Remarkably, the brooch we’re discussing today has been worn at the same event every September for more than a decade!

Braemar Highland Games, 1953

In 2002, the year of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee, the Braemar Royal Highland Society presented Elizabeth with a brooch to commemorate her fifty years on the throne. The Queen has been a reliable presence at the society’s annual Braemar Gathering for her entire reign; above, you can see her attending the Highland Games at Braemar with the Queen Mother and the Duke of Edinburgh in September 1953.

The Queen at the Braemar Highland Games, 2003

The society selected a brooch with connections to one of Scotland’s native birds, the golden eagle. Made in the shape of an eagle’s feather, the Braemar brooch features a number of mixed metals — white and yellow gold, silver, and platinum — in its construction.

The Queen and the Duke of Rothesay at the Braemar Highland Games, 2004

Every year since the society gave the brooch to the Queen, she has worn it at the annual Highland Games. It’s an easy brooch to pick out in photographs, generally worn vertically and gleaming gold against the Queen’s vibrant jackets.

The Queen and the Earl of Strathearn at the Braemar Highland Games, 2005

Depending on which royals are at Balmoral in early September, you’ll occasionally get sightings of various family members enjoying the day with the Queen. You can spot the brooch easily here, worn during one of Prince William’s rare visits to the Games, during his time at university in Scotland.

The Queen and the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay at Braemar, 2006

Besides the brooch’s usual appearance here, this photo also features another Scottish royal staple: the Balmoral tartan. Worn here by Camilla, the tartan was designed by Prince Albert; members of the royal family have to be granted permission by the Queen to wear it! (The only non-royal who can wear the Balmoral tartan? The Queen’s personal bagpiper, of course.)

The Queen at the Braemar Highland Games, 2007

In 2007, the Queen pinned the brooch to a bright green coat, letting the gold, silver, and platinum of the piece gleam vibrantly.

The Queen at the Braemar Highland Games, 2008

The Queen wore the brooch and a blanket in the Balmoral tartan in 2008 — Scotland can be downright chilly in the late summer!

The Queen, the Duke of Rothesay, and the Princess Royal at Braemar, 2009

The Braemar Gathering is one of the most boisterous royal outings on the
calendar. You can regularly see the Queen and members of the royal
family dissolving into fits of laughter and gasping at the feats
performed by the participants. The slate of activities includes highland
dancing, caber tossing, hill races, piping, and sack races.

The Queen at the Braemar Highland Games, 2010

The brooch shone against a neutral background in 2010…

The Duke of Edinburgh and the Queen at Braemar, 2011

… and amid specks of turquoise in 2011.

The Queen and the Duke of Rothesay at Braemar, 2012

The Queen uses the brooch as a sartorial link to Scotland every year, while Philip and Charles often display a more obvious connection to the highlands in their clothing, wearing kilts.

The Queen at Braemar, 2013

Last year, the brooch made an appearance against pale pink tweed. You can see the mixed metals of the brooch more clearly here.

The Queen at Braemar, 2014

With the Scottish independence referendum swiftly approaching, it’s worth wondering whether this weekend’s Braemar Gathering was potentially the last held in a united kingdom. Currently, those supporting independence in Scotland have said that they plan to retain the Queen as head of state, just as she is in Commonwealth realms like Canada and Australia. It will be interesting to see which way the Scots vote, but one thing’s for certain — as long as the Queen attends the Braemar Gathering, I think it’s safe to say that the feather brooch will be attending, too!

Redesign It: Camilla’s Ruby Necklace

by // Leave a Comment

One of the grandest pieces that the Duchess of Cornwall has received since joining the royal family is this enormous ruby and diamond necklace, generally thought to have been a gift from a Saudi royal. The necklace doesn’t belong to Camilla personally; as an official gift, it will eventually go to the Royal Collection, but she has the use of it during her lifetime. But if you had the chance to reimagine this enormous and difficult-to-wear piece, how would you change it?

Saturday Sparkler: The Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara

by // Leave a Comment

This week, lots of news organizations have published stories about the closing of the Diana: A Celebration exhibition, which has appeared in venues all over the world for the past several years. Now that the traveling exhibit is no longer traveling, the objects and items displayed are returning to their rightful owners. That includes two tiaras: the Spencer tiara worn by Diana on her wedding day in 1981, and the tiara that visitors encountered immediately on entering the Diana exhibit: the Spencer Honeysuckle Tiara.

The Honeysuckle is actually the older of the two major Spencer tiaras. It’s been in the family since the nineteenth century. Most seem to think that the first owner of the piece was Charlotte, the wife of John Poyntz Spencer, the 5th earl. If sources that say that Charlotte received it as a wedding gift are correct, that would mean that it has been in the Spencer collection since at least 1858.

The tiara has been remodeled several times over the decades, including shifting of the honeysuckle elements and the meander border that runs along the base of the piece. When Charlotte wore the piece, it was considerably lower, with the honeysuckles placed on the same level as the Greek key design. The original design is clear in John Chancellor’s portrait of Charlotte (pictured above; the original is now in the National Portrait Gallery). Here’s another illustration of an early version of the tiara that also shows the elements on a single level.

The tiara seems to be a bit taller on Cynthia Spencer, the wife of the 7th earl and grandmother of Princess Diana, who wore the Honeysuckle tiara to the coronation of Elizabeth II in 1953. Today, the tiara is considerably larger, with the honeysuckles placed completely atop the meander base. While Diana got lots of use out of the Spencer tiara, she was never actually photographed in her family’s other diadem. There’s a convincing photoshop job online featuring Diana “wearing” the tiara, but it’s a fake.

Now that the exhibit has come to an end, both the Spencer and the Honeysuckle are returning to their owner. If you only read articles like this one from the Telegraph, you might think that William and Harry will be making room in their safes for these sparklers. But the savvy readers of this blog will know that the owner of the Spencer tiaras is, appropriately, Earl Spencer (pictured above at the exhibition). Diana never owned either of them — not this tiara or the one she borrowed for years while she was Princess of Wales — and so her sons couldn’t have inherited them.

William and Harry will surely receive lots of their late mother’s possessions, but neither of the Spencer tiaras will be among them. Instead, the current Countess Spencer is the person much more likely to eventually be seen wearing the family’s diadems. I’d like to see the Honeysuckle in particular worn again; I saw the Diana exhibition a few years ago, and you would not believe how much it sparkles under the light. Maybe at the next coronation we’ll have a repeat of ’53 and see the Honeysuckle on Karen Spencer’s noble head?