So who did get diana’s gems?
We knew they were left to her boys – as Kate and Meghan have so proudly shown. But many of her favourite pieces have yet to be seen again, begging the question ...
tHIS was, undoubtedly, a tacit tribute to a woman she has never known, but who has nonetheless profoundly shaped her life.
Shortly after it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were expecting a baby, Meghan appeared in public wearing jewels that had belonged to Princess Diana.
On the first full day of their Australian tour, diamondencrusted butterfly earrings that had once belonged to Harry’s mother graced Meghan’s ears, and a gold bracelet Diana had owned was on her wrist.
The unspoken message was poignantly clear: Diana’s legacy would live on through her unborn grandchild. The late Princess — every bit as adept at using jewellery to communicate her emotions as Meghan, and a natural with children — would have been overjoyed. But the first sight of these butterfly earrings in 32 years poses the wider question: what has happened to Diana’s jewellery collection?
Before her death in 1997, Diana wrote a ‘letter of wishes’ to accompany her will in which she stated that one quarter of the value of her £21m estate was to go to her 17 godchildren, with the remaining three-quarter share — including her entire jewellery collection — to go to sons William and Harry precisely so their future spouses could wear it.
‘I would like you to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it,’ she wrote.
Famously, the letter’s stipulations regarding Diana’s bequests to her godchildren were ignored by her executors, Diana’s sister Lady Sarah McCorquodale and her mother Frances Shand Kydd. Rather than honour Diana’s wishes, her 17 godchildren were instead gifted trinkets of little monetary value, thus causing a deep tide of anger among the parents — and friends of Diana — whose children, they felt, had been betrayed.
As Diana’s boys grew up, William took charge of Diana’s jewellery collection, which comprises gifts from Prince Charles and others and is actually quite modest.
Although Diana was rarely seen without jewels, any that had been loaned or gifted to her from the Queen went back to the Royal Family, while the Spencer tiara — the only item she wore from her own family’s collection — went back to her brother, Charles Spencer.
Over the past couple of years, William and Harry have divided up what remains between them.
It is perhaps only now that both William and Harry are married that Diana’s collection will be viewed in full by a new generation. So, which of her jewels have Kate and Meghan worn so far? And which, intriguingly, have yet to grace a royal bride again?
THE ROYAL BABY BUTTERFLIES
TIMELESS, discreet, and made out of her favourite yellow gold, the butterfly earrings Meghan, 37, wore to Admiralty House in Sydney, epitomise the Duchess’ delicate style.
Yet they date back over three decades, as Diana first wore them during her royal tour to Canada with Prince Charles in May 1986, when Harry, now 34, was just 18 months old.
Given their association with Harry’s own formative months, it is little wonder the butterflies are reported to be a thoughtful gift from the Duke of Sussex to mark his wife’s pregnancy.
Not that Meghan and Diana have styled them in the same way, however. Diana accessorised hers in typically exuberant eighties fashion, with matching gold butterfly necklace, spotty hat and boxy blue jacket, while Meghan
opted for a more understated cream £1,000 shift dress, aptly named ‘The Blessed’, by Australian designer Karen Gee.
WOMEN WITH THE GOLDEN HANDSHAKES
CluTChinG bouquets of flowers and formally dressed in a dark blue double-breasted suit, Diana’s bold golden cuff bracelet perfectly matched the powerful yet feminine outfit she chose for visiting a housing estate in East london in 1990.
Although not averse to suits herself, the same diamond-studded bracelet looked markedly more casual on Meghan this week when coupled with her bare arms and shift dress.
it is not known where the bracelet is from, although the dark blue stones embedded at the front aren’t necessarily precious — Diana liked passing off cheaper trinkets as expensive heirlooms, once reasoning that it was ‘more sensible’ for young women such as herself to do so.
THE ENGAGEMENT RING KATE COULD HAVE MISSED OUT ON
ThE first piece of Diana’s jewellery to be spotted on either of her daughters-in-law was her iconic sapphire engagement ring, given to Kate, now 36, by William, also 36, after he proposed on holiday in Kenya in October 2010.
Containing an oval Ceylon sapphire surrounded by 14 diamonds and set in 18-carat white gold, it was selected by Diana from a tray of a dozen presented by royal jeweller Garrard after dinner with the Queen at Windsor Castle.
The Duke of Cambridge said he wanted to use his mother’s jewellery as a ‘way of making sure my mother didn’t miss out on today and the excitement’. Yet the £300,000 ring is also symptomatic of the close bond William and harry share. it had been chosen by 12-year-old harry as a keepsake shortly after Diana died, yet when William, who picked his mother’s Cartier watch as his keepsake, became the first to marry, harry generously handed it to his brother.
Arguably more in keeping with Kate’s classic style than Meghan’s quirkier taste, the Duchess of Cambridge wore the £300,000 showstopper when she posed on the steps of the lindo Wing with new-born son George — Diana’s first grandchild — in July 2013.
THE BROOCH THAT BECAME MEGHAN’S ENGAGEMENT RING
DETErMinED he, too, would honour his mother on his engagement last november, harry included gems from Diana in Meghan’s ring. The two smaller diamonds on either side of the large diamond harry had sourced from Botswana came from one of Diana’s favourite chokers ‘to make sure she’s with us on this crazy journey together’.
Meghan added: ‘it’s so important to me to know that she’s a part of this with us.’
The diamonds on Meghan’s yellow-gold ring, created by royal jewellers Cleave and Company and apparently worth £122,500, reportedly come from Diana’s enormous oval Sri lankan sapphire necklace, which is held together with seven strands of pearls.
Diana most memorably wore it with her figure-hugging black Christina Stambolian ‘revenge dress’ on the same night Charles announced his infidelity on television in 1994.
Originally given to her as a brooch by the Queen Mother to mark her engagement to Charles in 1981, Diana had it re-fashioned into a neckpiece.
DIVORCE GIFT THAT WAS REBORN AS A MARRIAGE PRESENT
rESplEnDEnT in silk Stella McCartney for her evening wedding reception at Frogmore house in May, Meghan added a dash of colour to her white designer dress with a square-cut aquamarine cocktail ring.
A wedding gift from harry, the ring by luxury jeweller Asprey had originally been presented to Diana under very different circumstances, by her friend, lucia Flecha de lima, to celebrate the day her divorce became final in 1996.
Just as Diana wore her ring, replete with blue Versace dress, on tour in Sydney in 1996, Meghan is also said to have brought the ring
with her on her Australian tour. Whereas Diana teamed the trinket with a matching aquamarine pearl bracelet, however, Meghan completed her look with £60,000 diamondstudded Cartier chandelier earrings.
THE SIGNATURE SAPPHIRE SET ADAPTED BY KATE
A WeDDing present from Crown Prince Fahd, one of Diana’s most famous collections of jewels was known as ‘The Saudi Suite’ and contained a sapphire watch, earrings, bracelet, ring and necklace.
Diana, who famously loved sapphires, wore the entire set to a Brisbane state reception in 1983, but also experimented with each item separately.
The earrings contained detachable sapphire drops, which Diana removed before wearing the resultant chunky studs, each surrounded by ten round diamonds, to mark Harry’s birth in 1985.
When William gave them to Kate after their engagement in 2010 she too put her own stamp on them, refashioning them into modest drop earrings, which she wore on a royal tour to California in July 2011.
GIRLS WITH THE PEARL EARRINGS
CreDiTeD with making pearls fashionable among young women in the eighties, Diana loved the pearshaped pearl drop earrings given to her by jewellers Collingwood before her wedding, so much she wore them repeatedly — from a month before her marriage to the day of her wedding itself and that infamous Serpen tine party as Charles announced his infidelity on TV in 1994.
it was 24 years later before they reemerged on Kate, who updated the classic style by wearing them with a floral satin erdem dress at a state banquet in Sweden this January.
CLASSIC BRACELET WORN IN VERY DIFFERENT FASHION
KATe wore Diana’s diamondclasped pearl bracelet with an abovetheknee summery bird print dress from Markus Lupfer at a Berlin reception during a royal Tour last July.
it was a far cry from the decadent image Diana opted for when she paired the bracelet with a pearlstudded Catherine Walker dress — known as the ‘elvis’ on account of its matching highcollared bolero jacket — during an official visit to Hong Kong in 1989.
MYSTERY OF DIANA’S UNSEEN SPARKLERS
inTriguingLy, many items cherished by Diana have not been seen since her death.
A pair of South Sea cultured pearl drop earrings which she wore on a visit to the London City Ballet in 1990 have yet to be worn by either royal bride.
Also yet to be worn again is her gold charm bracelet, a gift from Charles who added charms with every year of their marriage. These include a gold ‘W’, an ‘H’ — references to her beloved boys — a tiny pair of ballet slippers and a tennis racquet, the latter two symbolising her love of dance and her favourite sport.
Another unseen set is a pair of emerald and diamond drop earrings Charles gave her as an engagement present, which she memorably teamed with an emerald and diamond choker lent by the Queen — daringly worn as a headband — while dancing with Charles on their tour of Australia in 1985.
They were in the Kensington Palace safe when she died and were in the inventory drawn up by Diana’s butler Paul Burrell and the Spencer family, but have not been seen since 1997. This doesn’t mean anything sinister has happened, just that they haven’t been seen.
equally, we have never seen the Jaeger LeCoultre reversible watch Diana was wearing at the time of her death, plus her pearl bracelet, which was broken in the Paris tunnel crash. As well as the poignant link with tragedy, both were presents from Dodi Fayed, which may explain why they have never been worn again.
Also not seen since her death is Diana’s much loved Cartier watch, a present from her father.
. . . AND TREASURES KATE AND MEGHAN WILL NEVER WEAR
One of Diana’s most famous pieces of jewellery — the Spencer Tiara which held her veil in place on her wedding day — is a family heirloom thought to have been in the custody of Diana’s brother, Charles since her death.
The gold, diamond and silver floral headpiece wasn’t seen until this June, when Diana’s niece, Celia McCorquodale, wore it to marry george Woodhouse. Whether the Spencer family will eventually sell it is unknown — they recently sold another headpiece with 800 diamonds at auction for £185,000. it is unlikely. As the father of three girls Lord Spencer is certain to want each of his daughters to wear it on their wedding day.
The story of Diana surrendering the tiara was one of the saddest episodes. After her wedding to the Prince of Wales, Diana’s father, the 8th earl Spencer, was happy for it to remain with her.
it became synonymous with the princess and she preferred it above any of her other jewels, particularly after her separation. The reason was not just its link to her own family roots, but also because of the powerful message of independence it sent out.
When Charles Spencer asked for it back, Diana was heartbroken. it came at a time when relations between brother and sister were not good. in the end she was so angry she refused to discuss it with her brother. if he wanted it, he could have it.
She put the precious heirloom in a cardboard box and left it for him to pick up from the butler’s pantry at Kensington Palace.
Another of Diana’s most celebrated jewels is the ‘Swan Lake’ necklace she was pictured wearing to the ballet at the royal Albert Hall just two months before her death.
Produced by garrard — the Crown jeweller at the time — Diana returned the necklace after the ballet so that earrings being made as part of the set could be completed.
Comprising 178 diamonds and five pearls, it was sold at auction after Diana’s death and relisted by its most recent owners last January for £9.6m.