The Princess of Wales wearing the sapphire and diamond earrings during Trooping the Colour in 2023
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This isn’t the first time in recent weeks that the Princess of Wales has turned to her extensive collection of meaningful jewellery to make a style statement. To present The Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design to Liverpool-born designer Patrick McDowell earlier this month, she chose to wear a pair of the late monarch’s favourite earrings – in tribute to Queen Elizabeth as she gave the award in her name.
Glittering at Kate’s lobes were the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings, which the then Princess Elizabeth created from a cache of seven pearls, which she received as a wedding present in 1947 from the Hakim of Bahrain. The earrings are comprised of round diamond studs, from which are suspended round and baguette-cut diamonds in an Art Deco style, plus two of of the Bahrain pearls. In the earl years of her marriage, the Queen wore these earrings often for gala occasions and official portraits; before they became part of Kate’s permanent collection, they were also worn by Princess Diana and the Duchess of Edinburgh.
The Princess chose another, equally sentimental pair of earrings for a Buckingham Palace garden party just days later, matching her buttery yellow Emilia Wickstead coat dress with the same gems she wore for her wedding day. The custom Robinson Pelham earrings – diamond-set oak leaves with a diamond acorn suspended in the centre – were a gift from her parents, Michael and Carole Middleton, before the couple’s big day in April 2011.