The meaning behind the Queen’s jewels

Value beyond worth

The meaning behind the Queen’s jewels

One of the abiding memories of the Platinum Jubilee weekend was the sight of Her Majesty appearing on the balcony of Buckingham Palace in a colour-blocked green ensemble with matching hat and a black mourning hat pin which was centre stage. It was her way of ensuring that her beloved ‘strength and stay’ Prince Philip was with her on this most auspicious of occasions.

From a treasure trove of 300 pieces of jewellery and 98 brooches, the Queen is well known for choosing an appropriate brooch to reflect the mood of every occasion. For Trooping the Colour she wore the Brigade of Guards brooch she always wears for the ceremony. It positively glittered on her dusky dove-blue Charmelaine wool dress. It had once belonged to the Queen’s grandmother, Queen Mary, and combines the badges of five regiments of Britain and the Commonwealth; Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish and Welsh Guards, who take it in turns to troop their colours for the Queen each year. These symbols are encased in an oval frame with the words ’Quinque Juncta in Uno’ and atop is a crown.

When the Queen made her now famous ‘We will meet again’ speech during the lockdown when she appealed directly to the emotional health of the British public in a most uncharacteristic way, she choose to wear a turquoise and pearl brooch that had also been given to her Grandmother, Queen Mary. This had been presented to Mary of Teck on the day of her wedding to the Duke of York (later George V ) by her in-laws. Did the Queen make this choice to symbolise the qualities of endurance and loyalty, George and Mary having valiantly survived the First World War, or was it that Turquoise is known for its healing properties; good fortune, protection and hope?

Much has been written about the poignant sight of the Queen sitting alone in a pew in the Chapel of St George, Windsor at the Funeral of Prince Philip, her husband of 73 years. On her black dress coat the Queen wore the Richmond brooch which she inherited from her Grandmother, Queen Mary in 1953. Pearls and diamonds set in silver and gold, the brooch was crafted in Bond Street by Hunt & Roskell. It had been a wedding gift to George and Mary when they married in 1893, the couple having lived in White Lodge House in the borough of Richmond.

Later when the Queen attended the thanksgiving service for Prince Philip she not only wore a dark green coat in Edinburgh Green in a tribute to his title, the Duke of Edinburgh, but she wore the Scarab brooch that Philip had given her in 1966. A favourite choice for many important occasions and often for the televising of the Christmas broadcast, the brooch, also known as the Grima Ruby Brooch, was made by EnglishItalian jeweller, Andrew Grima. One of the few modern pieces added to the royal collection, the brooch is crafted from recycled rubies set within a sunburst frame and surrounded by smaller rubies crafted as flower buds.

And back to that scene of the balcony, the Queen wore a bow brooch, one of a set of three created for Queen Victoria by Garrods in the 1850s using diamonds already part of the collection. Thought to be worth £120,000, it was added to the Royal Collection and is passed from monarch to monarch. In her carefully curated balcony statement confined to the heirs to the throne the choice of brooch, as it so often does, provided a graphic and symbolic reference.

Scarab Brooch Trios from a selection at Market Deeping Antiques

Cushion from a selection at Market Deeping Antiques

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