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When you think of the Queen, you think of a brooch, and vice versa.
Also a bejewelled crown (and corgis), but mostly, a sparkling brooch.
She is almost always seen with one, often as a symbolic nod to her hosts during official Commonwealth tours.
So of course it makes sense to put a few on display during Queen Elizabeth’s historic and record-breaking Platinum Jubilee celebrations set to take place in June.
PEOPLE reported that she is cracking open her jewellery box and loaning several pieces of her personal jewellery to the Royal Collection Trust to exhibit at various royal palaces over the UK summer.
The celebrations of the Queen’s 70 years on the throne will come with quite a few dazzling displays, including the Queen’s Coronation Dress, Robe of Estate, and her famous Diamond Diadem.
Yep, there’s the crown.
Those pieces will be displayed alongside five brooches that represent the emblems of the Commonwealth – the same floral emblems embroidered by hand onto the dress:
“I think it serves to underline the significance of emblematic design and iconography of the coronation dress, but at the same time it’s really supporting that message of the Queen as head of the Commonwealth and the fact that she has really devoted so much of her reign to that,” Caroline de Guitaut, deputy surveyor of the Queen’s works of art and curator of the exhibition, tells PEOPLE.
Now for the brooches.
There’s the Canadian Maple-Leaf Brooch made by Asprey & Co, which was worn by Princess Elizabeth on her first visit to Canada in 1951 and has also been loaned to both Camilla and Kate Middleton:
And the Flame-Lily Brooch, which represents the national flower of Zimbabwe:
One of the larger brooches in the Queen’s collection is the Australian Wattle Brooch:
It was presented to Queen Elizabeth by the government and people of Australia on the monarch’s first visit there in 1954 and was also worn at the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla in 2005.
Most extraordinary is the Sri Lanka Brooch set, with pink, blue and yellow sapphires, garnets, rubies, and aquamarine, gifted to the Queen in 1981:
And last but not least, the Queen’s famous Diamond Diadem, often worn to the State Opening of Parliament, will also be on display:
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That whopper has 1 333 brilliant-cut diamonds, two rows of pearls and diamonds set in the form of a rose, a thistle, and two shamrocks to represent England, Scotland, and Ireland.
All in all, it makes for a very large collection. Maybe, as a gesture of goodwill, she can return some crown jewels to their rightful owners.
[source:people]
