Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother regularly wore sapphire brooches during the day - and George VI certainly had an eye for the stone, having gifted it to both
his wife and
eldest daughter at various occasions - but she wore the blue gem much less frequently in the evenings. And when it came to earrings, she had her favorites and didn't do much branching out. She did, however, have these earrings, which were rarely worn. They include sapphires surrounded by diamonds with a fringe of diamonds and small sapphires suspended below. Like many pieces in her collection, their history is unknown.
The Duchess of Cambridge
Along with the rest of The Queen Mother's jewels, we can assume these earrings were inherited by The Queen in 2002. The Queen, who has plenty of sapphire options in her own vault, has never worn them publicly.
Though much of The Queen Mother's jewel collection is on loan to The Duchess of Cornwall, these went a different route: The Duchess of Cambridge wore them for the first time to a gala event at the Victoria & Albert Museum in 2015.
Whether based on her personal preference or on a desire to match her heirloom engagement ring, blue seems to be a favorite color for Catherine, and I hope we'll see these earrings often in the future. I also can't help but hope that she too has been loaned a larger portion of The Queen Mother's gems (we've already seen her debut
a diamond bracelet from that stash). There's certainly enough to go around!
Appearances:
27 October 2015:
V&A 100 Women in Hedge Funds Gala
P.S.: The dress? (And last night's?) Stay tuned to the other blog tomorrow.
P.P.S.: You may have noticed that we have a new tab on the blog above, dedicated to The Duchess of Cambridge! This is specifically for the pieces that The Queen has loaned her, and does not include her private collection, which we don't cover here. It is not yet comprehensive, since we haven't covered every piece she's been loaned on this blog (we'll get there...).
