‘[Kate] wanted to develop a necklace with charms that a mum could buy for herself and her daughter, for them to wear together, which I thought was a lovely idea,’ the designer recalled. The end result, ‘The Mother and Child Pendant Necklace’, was a chic silver necklace with a silver charm, a rose quartz charm, and a pearl charm. Not only did Catherine give the necklace her royal stamp of approval, but her sister, Pippa Middleton, was also a fan, as was Dame Helen Mirren.
‘Looking back on it now, it must have been a crazy situation for her to be in,’ said Bradby of the future Princess of Wales, who was dating Prince William at the time
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From Bradby’s report, it seems that, even aged just 25, the future Princess of Wales possessed the grace and decorum for which she is now known the world over. ‘Looking back on it now, it must have been a crazy situation for her to be in, to be having a relationship with the future heir to the throne, and this was her first job out of university,’ she said. ‘It felt normal at the time, and there was certainly no sign of the pressure she must have been under.’
While that pressure may well have caused a brief hiccup in Catherine’s royal career – months after her collaboration with Bradby, she and Prince William would call a break on their blossoming romance – Bradby recalls the future princess remaining ‘charming’ throughout their interactions, which included a breakfast meeting at Bibendum in Chelsea. ‘She is obviously a very striking woman, but you know how some people can occupy a lot of space, and some people go quietly? I remember thinking she had a charming and quiet nature about her.’