Royal fans will know that every item of jewellery the family wears has a deeper significance. Whether it’s Catherine, Princess of Wales, wearing a bracelet previously owned by Princess Diana or the unexpected story of Princess Anne’s pin, there’s always a story behind the sparkle. So when Queen Camilla appeared today with a brooch emblazoning her teal ensemble, we rushed to dig into its history.
Along with King Charles, Camilla appeared at Buckingham Palace today (9 June) to present members of the 1st Battalion Grenadier Guards with their new colours. Contrary to what that might sound like, this is not a process akin to Pantone revealing their colour of the year, but instead a special ceremony that sees a member of the royal family presenting the military unit with new regimental flags, known as ‘Colours’.
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These flags were historically used in battle to represent the location of each unit. While they’re no longer carried into battle these days, Colours remain highly significant, symbolising a regiment’s devotion to the duty of protecting the monarch and the country.
Each regiment of foot guards continues to have a pair of Colours; one is The King’s Colour, which displays the regiment’s name and a Union Jack, and the other is The Regimental Colour, which will have the regiment’s insignia. These will then be carried for the King’s birthday parade, known as Trooping the Colour, taking place on Saturday 13 June this year.
The King and Queen each walked by a lineup of guards to ‘inspect’ them, then stood side by side on a small raised stage for Charles’ speech. The brooch Camilla wore for this moment is the Grenadier Guards regimental brooch, which has a diamond-set Royal Cypher, a dark blue enamel garter and a diamond crown. If you zoom in you’ll spot some words around the edge – that’s the Order of the Garter; Honi soit qui mal y pense, which means ‘shame on him who thinks ill of it’.
AARON CHOWN
This brooch isn’t often seen, as the Queen tends to wear it solely for this particular occasion. And it’s a meaningful nod to the late Queen Elizabeth II, who received the brooch on her 16th birthday in April 1942, when she was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards.
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Elizabeth was given the brooch on her 16th birthday
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Queen Elizabeth II often wore the brooch when she inspected the guards
The late Queen Elizabeth wore the brooch many times throughout her life. It made an appearance in a series of photographs taken by Cecil Beaton, which were sent out to the Grenadier Guards at Christmas, and the Queen went on to don it each time she did an inspection. Of course, it was an essential piece of jewellery for the Queen’s parade, starting on her 26th birthday in 1952.
In 2022, Queen Camilla was given the same role of the Colonel of the Grenadier Guards, and received that very same brooch, which she wore in 2022 to present new Colours to the Royal Navy. From then, she wore it in 2023, 2024, and 2025 for the Trooping the Colour parade. So we’d place a pretty confident bet that you’ll see the brooch again this Saturday.
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The brooch was pinned on a Dior dress that Queen Camilla has previously worn to the Royal Ascot back in 2024, with an elegant lace panel detail and a vibrant shade of teal. Her matching hat is, of course, by Philip Treacy, while her earrings appear to be a topaz and peridot set by Kiki McDonough.
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It’s been a busy week for the Royals so far. After the wedding of Peter Phillips and Harriet Sperling on Saturday, today saw Princess Anne awarding honours to recipients including Dr Mark Williams for services to prosthetics, Dr Nasser Kurdy for services to community interfaith reconciliation and Solange Azagury-Partridge for services to design.
Next up on the Royal calendar? Later this week, Princess Anne will open International Students House Vauxhall, host a dinner at St James’s Palace, and do a trip up north to visit the Vine Trust Barge in Edinburgh. King Charles is set to do some royal visits in Lincolnshire, then it’ll be Trooping the Colour this Saturday. Keep your eyes peeled for some sweet family moments.