Queen Camilla Wears Queen Elizabeth’s Grenadier Guards Brooch to Trooping the Colour 2026

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Queen Camilla arrived with King Charles by horse-drawn carriage for Trooping the Colour, the sovereign’s annual birthday celebration, on Saturday. Although her husband’s birthday is actually in November, the monarch’s birthday is celebrated in June as the English weather is typically more agreeable in the summer for a public parade through the streets of London. Pinned to her red silk crepe Grenadier Guards uniform dress, designed by Fiona Clare, the Queen wore the Grenadier Guards brooch in a nod to the senior infantry regiment at the heart of the festivities. Camilla also had a black Philip Treacy beret with a white plume and cap badge of the Guards. She wore the same look in 2023.

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A closer look at Camilla’s brooch.

Many pieces in Camilla’s jewelry collection have a fascinating history, as does this one. As noted by the Royal Watcher, the pin features a crown over the Royal Cypher mirrored within the blue Royal Garter bearing the words from Middle French, “Honi soit qui mal y pense,” which translates to “Shame on he who thinks ill of it,” the motto of the Order of the Garter. The brooch originally belonged to Camilla’s mother-in-law, Queen Elizabeth, who first wore it when she was still a princess to a Parade of the Grenadier Guards on 16th birthday in 1942. Elizabeth had been appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards that year.

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Then-Princess Elizabeth wearing the brooch in a photo dated to the 1940s.

Queen Elizabeth continued to wear the Grenadier Guards brooch frequently over the subsequent decades not just to ceremonial parades and troop inspections but also garden parties and formal dinners.

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Queen Elizabeth, with the brooch, at a celebration marking 350th anniversary of the Grenadier Guards, at Buckingham Palace in 2006.

A few months after Queen Elizabeth’s passing in 2022, Queen Camilla was appointed Colonel of the Grenadier Guards. She wore the late Queen’s Grenadier Guards Badge for the first time in April 2023 at a ceremony at Buckingham Palace marking the presentation of new standards and colors to four military units.

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Queen Camilla wearing the Grenadier Guards brooch in 2023.

Trooping the Colour centers around a procession of the Grenadier Guards, one of the most senior infantry regiments in the British Army. The unit dates back to 1656 when it was first established in Bruges to protect the exiled King Charles II. Several members of the royal family traditionally participate, including the King himself as well as Prince William, Prince Edward, and Princess Anne.

The day culminates with the royal family’s appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace, followed by the annual RAF flypast over London. Sprawling balcony appearances were a hallmark of Queen Elizabeth’s reign, but King Charles has scaled back the lineup considerably since taking the throne in 2022. The King and Queen are expected to be joined on the balcony by the senior working royals as well as the three children of the Prince and Princess of Wales: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis.

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.