The Queen of pearls

Of all the dazzling jewellery she owns, these pearl earrings are the Queen’s favourites — and we’re giving away FREE* real pearl and white sapphire versions inspired by their timeless elegance

ROUND, lustrous button pearls, peeking out from beneath diamond studs. The Queen’s earrings looked every bit as glorious when she wore them teamed with a beautiful mint green coat and hat at Cardiff University this week, as when she wore them half a century ago with a coral coat on a visit to the Isle of Wight in 1965.

Given to the Queen as a wedding present by her beloved grandmother Queen Mary in 1947, these button pearls are at the heart of the Queen’s personal jewellery collection, and have travelled with her all over the world — from New Zealand to the Seychelles, Nairobi to Mexico.

The most versatile of all the Queen’s jewels, they effortlessly blend into any surroundings.

They have shone from turbans as she has been introduced to foreign monarchs in remote climes, gleamed from hard hats as she visited building sites and added the most discreet touch of countrywoman glamour under hats at rain-sodden horse meets.

They looked just as appropriate when worn with a casual tweed skirt suit to cradle an infant Prince Edward in 1965, as they did 34 years later at his wedding to Sophie Rhys-Jones — accessorised with a lilac embroidered dress and matching fascinator.

For while we tend to associate the Queen with her incredible Royal Collection of priceless tiaras, intricate brooches and dazzling diamond earrings, she is, like many women of a certain age, most at ease in her pearls.

The soft lustre of these jewels, which deepens the more they are worn, is flattering to older skin. And the Queen has only grown fonder of them as the years have passed.

Pearls were the Queen’s first ‘serious’ piece of jewellery. When her grandfather George V celebrated his Silver Jubilee in 1935, he gave both his granddaughters pearl necklaces. The then nine-yearold Princess Elizabeth received a necklace of three rows of perfectly matched pearls; Princess Margaret, four years younger, got a two-row version.

Among the collection Elizabeth owns today are two stunning necklaces; the 18th-century Queen Anne pearl necklace and the 50-pearl Queen Caroline necklace, both given as a wedding present from her father.

The Queen adores them all, perhaps because she did not own many other jewels as a young girl, so they remind her of her youth. One item she did have was a sapphire bracelet (later, her father King George VI gave her more sapphires, in the shape of a mid19th-century set of necklace and earrings, set in gold, as a wedding present).

But when she became 21, jewels flooded in, mostly in the form of gifts from relatives. Pre-eminent among them was a pair of heavy diamond chandelier earrings that had been given to her mother Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother as a wedding present.

THESE, by Cartier, are one of the few pieces of jewellery that the Queen owns that could be called Art Deco and, because of their weight, could be worn only with pierced ears, which she did not yet have. Soon, she had acquired many other pairs of earrings that could be worn only with pierced ears and so in 1951, just before her state visit to Canada, the 25-yearold Queen gave in to the inevitable and had her ears pierced. Jewellers all over the country reported a flood of enquiries about ear piercing. Thus began her love affair with pearls, both in her ears and draped around her neck.

Her favourite necklace for quiet days is her single-strand version, one of the first pieces she acquired, matching the timeless elegance of her treasured pearl and diamond studs.

When she was growing up, such strings were often given by wellheeled parents to their debutante daughters — hence the famous Country Life magazine’s frontispiece, Girls In Pearls. At Balmoral, where — despite the holiday atmosphere so enjoyed by the Queen — dressing for dinner is de rigueur, the three-strand pearl necklace from her grandfather often appears.

Its elegant simplicity could hardly be more different from the glittering collection of gems she is obliged to wear at state occasions.

The highlights of this vast collection of tiaras, necklaces, brooches and earrings will be revealed in a series of glorious pull-outs in The Mail next week.

When Elizabeth became queen, she inherited the Royal Collection of jewels — gems that are the property of the Crown (though distinct from the Crown Jewels, ceremonial objects worn at the coronation ceremony and the State Opening of Parliament) so pass from reigning monarch to reigning monarch.

These were worn by the Queen Mother until Elizabeth II acceded the throne, when she began to wear items from it at once. For her Coronation she wore the set of diamond collet drop earrings and necklace made for Queen Victoria in 1858. These wonderful jewels come into their own on State occasions, when they are worn not so much as adornment, but as a statement of who she is. It is at such receptions she has a duty to be regal, and nothing represents this semi-theatrical quality more than

jewellery. Early on in her reign she wore impressive pieces, most of them Georgian or early Victorian, that would have dominated anyone else. Most of them came from her grandmother, Queen Mary.

As a glance at any picture of Queen Mary will show, her upright, idol-like figure was often so swathed in pearl necklaces and diamonds it was difficult to see the colour of her ankle-length dresses.

By contrast, the Queen takes care to ensure her jewellery enhances rather than dominates her outfits. Brooches, usually worn on the left shoulder, are a favourite.

A selection that would go with an outfit are presented to her — usually three at a time — by her senior dresser and confidante Angela Kelly on special trays that once belonged to Queen Mary.

‘The lace covers were handsewn by Queen Mary,’ says Angela, ‘and bear her own M monogram. We use lace handkerchiefs when presenting these brooches for the Queen to make her choice.’

Adds Ingrid Seward, editor-inchief of Majesty magazine: ‘She always wears a brooch, even privately, when she puts on almost as much jewellery as she wears in public.’ Among the brooches she favours are the Prince Albert sapphire brooch and the three diamond bow brooches Queen Victoria had made.

Her great-grandmother Queen Alexandra and Queen Mary, both given to bedecking almost every square inch of their persons with gems, often wore all three of these diamond bow brooches together.

Keeping these stones in mint condition means regular cleaning. Much of this is done by Angela Kelly. She says: ‘I wear white cotton gloves and use a jeweller’s cloth.’

Sometimes, the Queen lends pieces to the royal ladies nearest to the throne, a considerable mark of favour. The Duchess of Cornwall has worn the huge Greville tiara (made by Boucheron in 1921 for the Hon. Mrs Greville, a famous Edwardian society hostess who left her collection of jewellery to the Queen Mother).

Accompanying it were more glittering stones in the form of the Greville ‘festoon’ necklace — two diamond necklaces, one of three and one of two strands.

Last year, the Queen lent the Duchess of Cambridge the Cambridge Lover’s Knot tiara for a diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace. Then there is the maple leaf diamond brooch. The Duchess of Cornwall wore it in 2009 during her first tour of Canada. ‘The Queen is so fond of her collection of private jewels that much of it travels with her, even on holiday,’ says Ingrid Seward.

‘The collection, looked after by her footman, is carried in a brown suitcase and has its own protective canvas cover across it.’ In this case are kept seven sets of jewellery, a different set for every week day.

At home in Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, the jewellery she wears regularly is not kept in one of the boxes of battered leather lined with mushroom velvet that house her ‘grand occasion’ pieces. Instead, they live on trays that house stones according to colour — rubies, sapphires, emeralds.

Yet there is one notable omission from the Queen’s jewel box: she very seldom wears rings.

Although she received a stunning square-cut diamond engagement ring with diamond side stones set in platinum from Prince Philip, the ring is barely seen as the Queen tends to cover her hands with gloves when in public.

‘She doesn’t much like her hands,’ says Ingrid, ‘and prefers not to draw attention to them.’

But with so many other items of dazzling jewellery to choose from, who would notice?