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Few accessories carry more meaning in the royal wardrobe than jewelry, and Queen Camilla has already made the most with her brooches during this week’s State Visit to the United States. After wearing two historical pins in less than 24 hours, Camilla changed again, this time fastening the Queen Mother’s Art Deco Brooch to a white coat dress with black embroidering for King Charles’s address to a Joint Session of Congress.
The Art Deco Brooch is built around a rock crystal face with a central diamond, enclosed in an oblong diamond frame. Intricate decorative work on the back of the crystal adds depth to the piece, while black studs—likely onyx—ring the central stone. The curved details along the frame also give it the look of a double clip.
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The Queen Mother, then the Duchess of York, seen wearing the Art Deco Brooch fastened to her hat on a state visit to Australia in 1927.
The brooch’s exact origins are unknown, but the Queen Mother, then the Duchess of York, was first pictured wearing it in the 1920s. Camilla has since worn it on occasion, including while on a solo engagement to an animal rescue in London in 2010 and during her first state visit to Paris as queen consort in 2023.
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Camilla wore the Art Deco Brooch while visiting one of the fashion houses that grew exponentially in the early 20th century: Chanel.
Earlier on Tuesday, Camilla wore the Cullinan V diamond brooch, a significant bauble from the royal collection that Queen Elizabeth wore often over the years. On Monday, upon the King and Queen’s arrival in the U.S., Camilla wore the Cartier Union Jack and Stars & Stripes pin, gifted to Queen Elizabeth by the New York City’s mayor’s office in 1957. The 1957 state visit also carried considerable weight for the “special relationship” between the U.S. and UK. Conducted at the height of the Cold War, it was intended to reinforce the special relationship between the U.S. and UK. It also echoed the visit that Queen Elizabeth’s parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, had made to the United States in 1939 in the lead-up to World War II.
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King Charles and Queen Camilla seen entering the House Chamber.
King Charles also referenced his grandparents’ state visit in his address to Congress on Tuesday: “The first reigning British Sovereign to set foot in America was my Grandfather, King George VI. He visited in 1939 with my beloved Grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. The forces of Fascism in Europe were on the march, and some time before the United States had joined us in the defence of freedom. Our shared values prevailed. Today, we find ourselves in a new era, but those values remain.”
King Charles is only the second British monarch to address a joint session of Congress, following Queen Elizabeth’s speech at the Capitol in 1991. Before entering the chamber, the King met with Congressional leadership. A bipartisan escorting committee of members of Congress, appointed by the four leaders, preceded the royal couple into the chamber.
Rachel King (she/her) is a news writer at Town & Country. Before joining T&C, she spent nearly a decade as an editor at Fortune. Her work covering travel and lifestyle has appeared in Forbes, Observer, Robb Report, Cruise Critic, and Cool Hunting, among others. Originally from San Francisco, she lives in New York with her wife, their daughter, and a precocious labradoodle. Follow her on Instagram at @rk.passport.