From Her Majesty's Jewel Vault: May 2018

30 May 2018

Audience at Buckingham Palace

The Queen received and held an audience with the Hon. George Brandis on his appointment as High Commissioner for the Commonwealth of Australia.

Everybody's favorite audience game, Identify Those Photographs, pays off handsomely today: Her Maj has added a previously unseen photo of Harry and Meghan to her table. The brooch identification game also pays off today, with a rare sighting of the Double Swan Brooch! Debuted in 2014, this is only its third appearance.

Double Swan Brooch

Engagement and Wedding Rings

27 May 2018

Church at Balmoral and Visit to Kensington Palace

The Queen, accompanied by The Earl of Wessex and Lady Louise, attended church at Crathie Kirk while staying on the Balmoral Estate.

The Queen is joined in Balmoral by Prince Edward and Lady Louise https://t.co/57DoEPCoTx pic.twitter.com/geo4UTpgi5
— Zesty Celebrity News (@zesty_celebrity) May 27, 2018

The Queen appears to be having a bit of a rest in Scotland before the busy June royal calendar kicks in. This is one of two recent sightings with difficult brooches to identify. Click here for more pics at the Scottish Sun.

Unidentified Brooch (Update: Looks like the Triple Diamond Bar Brooch.)

Engagement and Wedding Rings

May 24: The Queen visited Kensington Palace.

She also popped by Kensington Palace last week, in another tough to ID brooch. Click here for a pic at the Sun.

22 May 2018

Queen Mary's Diamond Bandeau Tiara

Royal Collection Trust

Queen Mary's Diamond Bandeau Tiara was commissioned by Queen Mary in 1932 and was designed to feature the detachable brooch at its center, an 1893 wedding present to Mary from the County of Lincoln. The tiara was bequeathed to The Queen in 1953. It had to wait until 2018 for its next appearance, when The Queen loaned it to Meghan Markle for her wedding to Prince Harry.

Read about the tiara's full story here, at Order of Splendor.

Appearances:
19 May 2018: The Wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex

21 May 2018

Chelsea Flower Show

The Queen and other Members of The Royal Family visited the Chelsea Flower Show.

After 5 straight years of wearing the Chelsea Iris Brooch, her Diamond Jubilee gift from the Royal Horticultural Society, Her Maj breaks rank to finish off a very pink outfit with a very pink brooch. She certainly fit right in with her surroundings.

Royal Family

Let's get one FAQ out of the way real quick: Why isn't she wearing a hat? Because this visit happens later in the day; she arrived just before 6 pm. She's been without a hat - or with one of her infamous bow- or flower-adorned hairnets - for this event since the late 1960s.

Small Pink and Diamond Brooch

Diamond Art Deco Double Clip Brooch

20 May 2018

Church at Windsor

The Queen attended Sunday church services while staying at Windsor Castle.

A post shared by The Mirror (@dailymirror) on May 20, 2018 at 3:46am PDT

Only rarely do we see The Queen head out for church when she's at Windsor (though it's a weekly activity), but the place is still bustling after the wedding, so lucky us! The angle's making this very difficult for brooch identification, I'll turn it over for your thoughts. (Update: After looking at more pics, it is the Art Deco Double Clip!)

19 May 2018

The Wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex

The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh, and other Members of The Royal Family attended the wedding of Prince Harry and Ms. Meghan Markle, now The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, at St. George's Chapel, Windsor.

Royal Family Channel screencap

The Queen came ready for a spring wedding today, in an outfit in lime, lemon, and purple by Stewart Parvin with a matching hat by Angela Kelly. The Duke of Edinburgh was looking in fine form too, returning to the royal fold after his hip surgery.

Royal Family Channel screencap

My "practical" brooch guess turned out to be spot on, if I do say so myself: The Queen sized up from her everyday brooch selections with the Richmond Brooch, one of Queen Mary's wedding gifts. Very sparkly indeed!

Richmond Brooch

Queen Mary's Turquoise and Diamond Brooch

Three Strand Pearl Necklace

Queen Mary's wedding gifts also provided part of the bride's tiara, which was on loan from The Queen.

Royal Family Channel screencap

Queen Mary's Diamond Bandeau Tiara, as the palace called it in their release, has been popularly known on the internet as the Filigree Tiara. It's been a bit of a mystery, not seen since the later years of Queen Mary's life (she died in 1953), and it wasn't known if it was still with The Queen. Here's what the official information from the palace:

The veil is held in place by Queen Mary's diamond bandeau tiara, lent to Ms. Markle by The Queen. The diamond bandeau is English and was made in 1932, with the centre brooch dating from 1893.

The bandeau, which is made of diamonds and platinum, is formed as a flexible band of eleven sections, pierced with interlaced ovals and pavé set with large and small brilliant diamonds. The centre is set with a detachable brooch of ten brilliant diamonds.

The diamond bandeau was made for Queen Mary and specifically designed to accommodate the centre brooch. This brooch was given as a present to the then Princess Mary in 1893 by the County of Lincoln on her marriage to Prince George, Duke of York. The bandeau and the brooch were bequeathed by Queen Mary to The Queen in 1953.

We'll have more on the tiara over at the other blog and it will eventually get its own post here as other jewels have - but first, the rest of the wedding posts! Stay tuned to the Order of Splendor.

17 May 2018

Place Your Bets: Which Brooch Will The Queen Wear to Harry and Meghan's Wedding?

By popular demand, here's your spot to guess which brooch The Queen will wear to the wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on Saturday!

I've had a bunch of requests for a flashback post on brooches worn by Her Majesty to past royal weddings, and we've actually already done that for several royal weddings; you find links to those flashbacks under the Royal Weddings section of the Annual & Special Events tab.

The wedding of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, 2011

The Queen does tend to wear a larger brooch for special occasions like these. William and Kate got the True Lover's Knot; Charles and Camilla got the Australian Wattle; the Williamson Diamond Brooch was the choice for Charles and Diana's wedding as well as Edward and Sophie's wedding. (I believe that gorgeous pink diamond brooch is currently in Australia with the Cartier exhibition, taking it out of the running.)

Princess Marie Louise's Diamond Sunburst Brooch and The Queen Mother's Ruby and Diamond Floral Clip

Here are my wishes, both of them serious long shots: I've been waiting for the debut of Princess Marie Louise's Diamond Sunburst Brooch for for-e-ver, and I'd also love to see both of The Queen Mother's Ruby and Diamond Floral Clips used at the same time. (Like I said, long shots.) I'm leaning toward the Richmond Brooch as a more practical guess. Or maybe, since Her Maj has been in a purple mood this year, we could see the Kent Amethyst Brooch with pendants? Okay, I'll stop now.

Your turn! Tell me what you're wishing and predicting in the comments...

16 May 2018

Victoria Cross and George Cross Association Reception

The Queen, accompanied by Members of The Royal Family, gave a reception for members of The Victoria Cross and George Cross Association at Buckingham Palace.

Royal Family

Outfits like this are why it pays to have a brooch in every color! She's perfectly matched and giving us a rare-ish brooch to look at while she's at it, excellent.

Royal Family

15 May 2018

Buckingham Palace Garden Party and Audiences

The Queen and other members of the Royal Family held a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace.

Diamond and Pearl Navette Brooch

For more: Zimbio gallery.

Lovely view of the Diamond and Pearl Navette Brooch from a card-carrying member of #TeamShades! This brooch had its big public debut at another garden party back in 2016.

Royal Family

The Duke of York and The Earl and Countess of Wessex joined Her Maj for this event, which was the first garden party of the year. Stay tuned to the other blog tomorrow for Sophie's outfit.

Also today, The Queen held audiences at Buckingham Palace.

Multi-Color Pendant Brooch

For more: Zimbio gallery.

Took me a second thanks to the brooch-concealing print on the dress, but we have a lovely surprise here: a second 2018 appearance for the Multi-Color Pendant Brooch! There's a video from this group of audiences (below) that shows a front view, although I can't say that makes it any easier to spot.

Engagement and Wedding Rings

13 May 2018

Royal Windsor Horse Show

May 9-13: The Queen attended the Royal Windsor Horse Show at Home Park, Windsor.

The Royal Windsor Horse Show is mainly an opportunity to see The Queen in casual mode - this year's casual outfits included a Two Strand Pearl Necklace, Pearl Stud Earrings, one of her Black Strap Watches, and her Engagement and Wedding Rings - but a few brooches also manage to get in on the action.

Embed from Getty Images

May 12: The Triple Diamond Bar Brooch came out for some of the prize presentations.

Embed from Getty Images

May 13: The Centenary Rose Brooch made its first appearance of the year.

Embed from Getty Images

And it looks like we have a third brooch here, at what I suppose is some of the evening entertainment. Maybe The Queen Mother's Palm Leaf Brooch, hard to be sure.

04 May 2018

Investiture at Buckingham Palace

The Queen held an Investiture at Buckingham Palace.

Sir Paul McCartney has joined an exclusive club today by being made a Companion of Honour – a group containing only 65 people at any one time. #paulmccartney #queen #thequeen #royals @paulmccartney

A post shared by Channel 5 News (@c5news) on May 4, 2018 at 3:17am PDT

This one's hard to pick out even on video. Keep those guesses coming...

Unidentified Brooch