- Catherine, Princess of Wales and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex wore jewels from Queen Elizabeth II.
- Kate Middleton wore a brooch from the monarch that she borrowed from her mother-in-law.
- Meghan wore diamond and pearl earrings given to her by the monarch.
The Princess of Wales wore a brooch from Queen Elizabeth II, and the Duchess of Sussex wore earrings from the monarch.
Catherine, Princess of Wales, and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex (who will always be known to many as Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle) both wore jewellery with a personal connection to Queen Elizabeth II as they attended a service following the procession of the Queen’s coffin from Buckingham Palace to the Palace of Westminster on Wednesday.
Kate donned one of the Queen’s most famous brooches, the Diamond and Pearl Leaf Brooch, which she borrowed from the late monarch in 2017. The Queen frequently loaned things from her — and the Crown’s — enormous jewellery collection to other royal women. The new Princess of Wales wore the brooch with earrings and a bracelet that belonged to the last woman to wear the title, her mother-in-law Princess Diana.
Meghan wore a pair of diamond and pearl earrings given to her by the Queen before their first joint royal engagement in June 2018, according to a Sussex spokesperson.
Lauren Kiehna, an eagle-eyed royal jewellery expert who archives the collections of the world’s royal families on her website, the Court Jeweller, saw and identified the jewels.
“In Western cultures, white gemstones like diamonds and pearls, paired with black clothing, are traditional choices for mourning,” Kiehna told. “The Queen wore pearls and diamonds for funerals, memorials, and remembrance services throughout her entire reign.”
Here’s a deeper look at Meghan and Kate’s jewels on Wednesday:
The earrings Meghan wore on Wednesday, June 14, 2018, were given to her by the Queen just before they both attended an official engagement in Halton, England.
Last year, Meghan detailed this moment in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. The Duchess of Sussex revealed that the Queen gave her “beautiful pearl earrings and a matching necklace” while they were riding by train to the engagement.
“We had breakfast together that morning, and she’d given me a beautiful gift. I just really love being in her company,” Meghan stated.
According to Kiehna in the Court Jeweller, the Queen only wore the Diamond and Pearl Leaf brooch in public once, during a trip to Seoul in 1999. The jewellery was not seen again until Kate donned it in 2017 on a solemn visit to a World War I memorial in Belgium. In 2018, she wore it again.
