They have conferred an aura of dignity and royal class over the centuries. And now it’s Princess Catherine who’s turning heads as the Royal Family’s Pearly Queen…
Pearls symbolize dignity and class and have been associated with royalty – men and women – for centuries. Just look at the portraits.
Pearly Queen Mary was fond of these purest of gems, and in a famous studio portrait she wears an eleven-strand choker so studded with pearls that it resembles armor.
Her daughter-in-law Elizabeth (later the Queen Mother) did this too, albeit in a slightly more subdued way, although for a year she too had pearl necklaces wrapped high around her neck while they stuck low below the bust.
Meanwhile, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II was rarely seen without her three-strand pearl necklace and earrings.
Kate looks dignified in pearls at the Royal British Legion Festival of Remembrance
The set of pearls was previously worn by the late Queen Elizabeth at the same event in previous years. Here she is pictured in 2019
Catherine wears earrings with outsized pearls at the Cenotaph on November 12
Now, in keeping with her new role as one of the highest-ranking members of the royal family, the Princess of Wales is also falling in love with pearls – and has recently been spotted wearing some of the pieces that once belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II.
The Princess of Wales wore an important three-strand pearl necklace at the recent Festival of Remembrance at the Royal Albert Hall.
The occasion was marked by the unveiling of her statue next to that of her late husband by their son, King Charles.
For the memorial service at the Cenotaph the next morning, Kate wore a pair of pearl and diamond leaf earrings. These also belonged to Her Majesty.
They matched a brooch worn by Kate at previous memorial services in 2017 and 2018, and at a service honoring the late Queen last year.
The necklace worn by Kate at the Albert Hall on November 11 was worn by Her Majesty at the same event four years ago. Kate had also worn it to a lunch before the state funeral last September.
It is not one of a trio of three-strand pieces that Elizabeth wore almost every day. This one is longer.
The pearl and diamond earrings worn the next morning belonged to the Queen, who was photographed in Nigeria in 2003 at the meeting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government.
They form a set with the brooch worn by the Princess of Wales on many occasions.
Kate has worn several other inherited pairs of earrings that belonged to Her Majesty, including a simpler pair set with diamonds, given to the then Princess Elizabeth for her wedding in 1947 by the Hakim of Bahrain, Sheikh Salman bin Hamad.
These were also worn by the late Princess of Wales, Diana, in the 1980s
Another piece associated with Catherine, but mainly for somber reasons, is part of what is known as the Japanese Pearl Suite (the pearls were donated by the Japanese government in the 1970s).
Queen Elizabeth giving a toast at the dinner for Commonwealth officials in Nigeria in 2003 – pearls on full display
The gemstones have had royal associations over the centuries, favored by monarchs including Elizabeth I. This portrait dates from about 1588
Queen Mary, grandmother of the late Queen Elizabeth, was especially fond of pearl-based statement pieces, including the eleven-string choker in this photo
The Duchess of York, later Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother, pictured in 1926
They are strung by Garrard as a four-strand choker, along with a spectacular diamond clasp, and include a matching bracelet.
Kate wore the necklace to the funerals of both Prince Philip in 2021 and Her Majesty in 2022 – although she first wore it on a happier occasion: the Queen and Prince Philip’s 70th wedding anniversary celebrations in 2017.
The Princess of Wales appears to be sticking to the same pieces when it comes to honoring her husband’s grandparents.
Our Pearl Princess also wears the gemstone on less somber occasions.
Perhaps the best-known and earliest piece of royal pearl jewelry worn by Kate is the Lover’s Knot Tiara, created in 1913 by Garrard for Queen Mary and loved by Princess Diana.
Catherine was first seen in this beautiful piece in December 2015 at the annual diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace.
Queen Mary commissioned it to replicate the Cambridge Lover’s Knot Tiara of her grandmother, Princess Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge, from the early 19th century.
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge wearing pearls as she meets with Commonwealth representatives in 2022
Catherine, Princess of Wales during the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Abbey
Wearing a choker with four strands of pearls and earrings, Kate attends the National Thanksgiving and Dedication Service for the Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla in July
Her late mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, wears the same choker in Bangladesh
Catherine wore pearl earrings during the South African president’s state visit last year
Her late mother-in-law had worn the same earrings in a slightly modified form
Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge stand on the balcony of Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Color in 2016
When Garrard presented the headdress to Queen Mary just months before the start of the First World War, there were 19 upright pearls on the top, as well as the 19 hanging pearls we see today, which were transferred to the Vladimir Tiara to be interchangeable. are with the emeralds.
The name Lovers Knot comes from the bows that run the entire length of the band. The bow is tied in an intricate knot, making it difficult to untie, symbolizing the bonds of love.
Another heirloom comes in the form of Princess Diana’s South Sea Pearl and diamond earrings set.
These were worn by Kate at King Charles’s coronation and on other occasions, although Kate has varied them. She wears a smaller pair of pearls hanging from the diamonds than her late mother-in-law, which she received during a tour of the Gulf in 1989.
So Catherine has a wealth of ‘pear trees’, but also owns some modern pearl pieces of her own, including oversized Mabé Pearl earrings – worn during Trooping of the Color in 2016.
This type of pearl culture has existed in China since the 12th century, but became popular in the 1950s around the time when a traditional large pearl called South Sea, from Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia, became very rare.
Mabe versions are half pearls and are grown in the shell of a mollusk in salt or fresh water and are hollow.
Catherine Duchess of Cambridge wears one of her own pearl pieces for the Queen’s Birthday Garden Party at the Orangery, Warsaw. The stones are cultured Mabe pearls
Last year, baroque – non-spherical – pearls appeared at Wimbledon
This Van Cleef and Arpels necklace and matching mother-of-pearl earrings were worn in the Bahamas. Kate is pictured attending the Governor General’s reception
She wore this, and a matching necklace, in Poland a year later.
Last year, 2022, Kate wore a pair of baroque (non-spherical) pearls at Wimbledon
And of course – who can forget the beautiful Van Cleef & Arpels Alhambra earrings and necklace, set in mother of pearl, that Kate wore last year with a Philippa Lepley dress to a dinner hosted by the Governor General of the Bahamas.
- Josie Goodbody, is a jewelry writer and author of mystery novels