The Duchess of Cornwall's impressive collection of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry has grown once again. For the Spanish state visit, she debuted a pair of the maison's Snowflake Earrings, a part of their Snowflake High Jewelry collection inspired by (what else?) flakes of snow.
Van Cleef & Arpels Snowflake Earrings, Large Model
The earrings come in large and small sizes; The Duchess of Cornwall has the large model. These earrings are made of round diamonds in platinum and white gold. They have 190 stones and weigh in at approximately 13.73 carats. Van Cleef & Arpels lists their retail price at $138,000; Luxury Exchange has a pair for sale at $82,645.
The Duchess wears them at the Spanish state banquet, 2017
As with most of Camilla's VC&A items, provenance is unconfirmed but I assume they were acquired by either Camilla herself or by The Prince of Wales. What we do know is that these sparkled like mad in action - which is a wonderful surprise when it comes to The Duchess of Cornwall, whose hair often hides the earrings below. They're a great fit for her.
Snowflake Earrings and Pendant with Snowflake Chain
Snowflake Pendant, Large model
In 2018, The Duchess debuted a matching necklace. It is the Pendant with Snowflake chain; this also comes in large and small models, and Camilla has the large model. Made with 85 round diamonds totaling approximately 6.05 carats, and platinum, the necklace retails for $71,000.
At a reception for British Oscar winners, The Duchess of Cornwall debuted a striking necklace and earring set in Van Cleef & Arpels' Alhambra motif. A staple of the famed Parisian jewelers since 1968, the clover-esque motif has been interpreted in many different designs and materials. The pieces worn by The Duchess use vibrant green malachite to fill in the quatrefoil shapes, which are framed with gold and connected by gold chains.
The Duchess' necklace has multiple strands and could be one of the longer models, wrapped around more than once. When the malachite version of the design was reintroduced in 2013, necklaces from both the Vintage Alhambra collections (which uses motifs of the same size) and the Magic Alhambra collections (using varying sizes) were released. Camilla's version is from the Magic Alhambra collection, with motifs of multiple sizes.
A long Magic Alhambra necklace (left), and a double strand Vintage Alhambra Necklace (right)
The Duchess has either a long necklace wrapped around twice, or a double strand necklace, which looks more likely. The retail version of the long Vintage Alhambra necklace, as an example, includes 20 motifs and is listed for $17,600 currently; 10 motif versions are also available.
Camilla's malachite earrings are also from the Magic Alhambra collection, featuring three motifs each. The earrings are listed for $9,350 currently. She also owns this earring design in the diamond and white gold version, which we first saw in 2012. I've always loved those earrings for being among the few long enough to be seen from underneath her hair, and the malachite is such a fun addition to her collection. With its bright color and plentiful striations, this is a stone with a lot of personality.
Appearances:
24 May 2016: Visit to Northern Ireland
4 May 2016: Reception for British Academy Award Winners
The Magic Alhambra collection itself dates from 2006; these earrings have been seen on The Duchess since 2012, and they join many other modern pieces from Van Cleef & Arpels in her collection. They're one of the longer pairs of earrings she wears (which is great, in her case, because they are long enough to actually be seen under her signature hairstyle), and have been worn to several evening events. Appearances:
21 April 2018: The Queen's Birthday Party
10 November 2016: Visit to Bahrain
28 May 2016: Wedding of Lady Charlotte Wellesley and Alejandro Santo Domingo
13 October 2015: Presentation of the Man Booker Prize
Photos: Van Cleef & Arpels / WPA Pool via Getty Images
The Duchess of Cornwall's Cosmos Clip Brooches (Examples)
The Van Cleef & Arpels Cosmos collection is built around one of the famed jeweler’s classic designs, a combination of a four leaf clover and a flower that dates back to the 1950s. These four petal flowers are handmade in a variety of jewelry types and in different sizes and materials. The Duchess of Cornwall has two of the Cosmos clip brooches in her collection.
Both of her clips are the same design, with heart-shaped petals, a stem paved in round diamonds, and the largest round diamond sitting in the center of the petals, but one is set in yellow gold and one is set in white gold. The Cosmos clips come in three sizes (small, medium, large) and I believe Camilla’s clips are the large size, which would have 101 diamonds apiece. The clips shown as examples here are from the range that is currently for sale, and they can also be used as pendants on a chain, but The Duchess uses hers solely as brooches.
These have been a part of her personal collection (presumably) since at least 2005, when they appeared at Ascot. She usually wears them together on one shoulder, occasionally splitting them up on her lapels or wearing just one at a time.
Top: Medium earclips, yellow gold setting. Bottom: Large earclips, white gold setting, approx. 6.8 carats total.
At a 2005 garden party (shown above), she also wore matching Cosmos earrings. Like the brooches, the earrings are available in a variety of materials and three different sizes; I believe she wore either the medium or large size, and again the diamond version.
The earrings are scarcely seen (in fact, I’m not sure they’ve been spotted in her ears since that 2005 outing), but I think she may have worn one of them as a brooch when attending the 2011 wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge (above). For that appearance, the lower brooch was smaller and without a stem, perhaps a smaller size brooch or maybe an earring repurposed. Most of the time, though, she wears the matched brooch set, and they make regular appearances.
