Can you identify the jewels worn here by the Queen Mother at the Royal Festival Hall in October 1960?
Royal Christmas Jewels 2014
Today, we’re postponing our usual weekly jewel roundup to look at the jewels worn by the Windsors at Sandringham this Christmas. Stay tuned next Friday for a super-sized edition of This Week in Royal Jewels!
Christmas morning means a special treat for British royal watchers, as the royal family attends morning services at King’s Lynn near the Sandringham Estate. HM wore a vibrant pink coat and hat to church, along with her usual daytime pearls. On her coat she pinned the Tudor Rose Brooch, a piece she’s been wearing with some regularity since 2012. Some think it might have been a Diamond Jubilee gift.
The Duchess of Cornwall, who is reportedly suffering from back problems, stayed back at the estate this year, so the second-ranking lady on the day was the Duchess of Cambridge. She chose a pair of earrings we’ve seen before: Catherine Zoraida’s Double Leaf Earrings, which retail for £140.
Unfortunately, the other images available of the royals either show them not wearing much jewelry, like Princess Eugenie above…
… or don’t give us a particularly close view, as with this image of Princess Anne. (Is that a brooch under that handbag strap? Hard to say.)
Autumn Phillips looks to have selected small gold earrings to accompany her Christmas outfit.
Princess Beatrice, however, appears to have gone jewel-free — not surprising, as she doesn’t usually pile on the jewels.
Unfortunately, that’s pretty much all that’s available for me to post here in terms of views of the royals. Others did attend — that’s Sophie Wessex you can see peeking over Peter Phillips’s shoulder. (Sophie went light on the jewelry, wearing small stud earrings. More, as usual, at Anna’s blog!) But we did get a look at another piece of royal jewelry on Christmas:
The Queen wore pearls for her annual Christmas message — one of her two-stranded pearl necklaces, pearl earrings, and the Duchess of Cambridge’s Pendant Brooch, a piece that originally belonged to Queen Mary’s grandmother. The brooch had symbolic ties to the message this year, which discussed the centenary of the beginning of World War I. You can see photographs of King George V and Queen Mary (who were on the throne in 1914) in the background, plus one of the tins from Princess Mary’s 1914 Christmas gift to soldiers.
Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas, readers! I hope all of you are having a joyous holiday season this year. Today, I’m taking some time to enjoy the day with my family — although I did manage to sneak in a guest post over at my friend Deanna Raybourn’s blog. If you’ve not read her books, I’d highly recommend treating yourself to one as a Christmas present! May I suggest Silent in the Grave as a starter?
I’ll be back here tomorrow with a post on the jewels worn by the royals this Christmas. In the meantime, here are some links for you to enjoy…
- Rewind to our post from last Christmas Eve about the brooches that the Queen has worn for her annual Christmas message. And (unfortunately) you don’t have to wait to get a look at this year’s brooch, as NBC News briefly leaked the speech early.
- See all 23 of our Holiday Wishlist posts at this handy link — plenty of glitter to brighten up even the Charlie Browniest Christmas!
- If you missed yesterday’s post, pop in to consider which jewels you’d like to see Santa bring your favorite royal ladies this Christmas.
- Happy birthday to our Magpie of the Month, Princess Alexandra! Read about her wedding tiara, her convertible tiara, her diamond choker, and her emeralds.
- It’s also the birthday of the late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester; here’s our post on her birthday jewels from last Christmas.
Thanks a million to all of you for reading this year — knowing that you’ve been enjoying each post makes all of my days, holiday or not, so much brighter. I can’t wait to share even more bejeweled surprises with you in the year to come!