The brooch first came to the attention of royal watchers in January 2024, when Queen Camilla made her debut in the piece during the opening of Maggie’s Royal Free, a cancer support centre in London. The timing of this outing suggests that the brooch may well have been a Christmas present from King Charles. It clearly became a favourite of the Queen, who wore it again just weeks later at a Buckingham Palace reception, where she presented the Queen’s Anniversary prizes for higher and further education.
Romance is clearly on the mind for Queen Camilla, who wore a similarly romantic piece of jewellery to a previous outing this week. Her Majesty was at Clarence House on Tuesday, where she marked the 100th anniversary of the BookTrust charity, joining Peter Rabbit to cut a special centenary cake in the company of Sir Michael Morpurgo, Richard Osman, and Floella Benjamin, Baroness Benjamin.
The Queen also wore a romantic necklace to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the charity BookTrust this week
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The Queen wore another style staple at the event, picking her long-sleeved navy blue dress, which she paired with drop pearl earrings, her Van Cleef & Arpels clover bracelet, black heels, and a rarely seen necklace. The blue enamel pendant, with its interlocking diamond-studded hearts, appears to be a new addition to the royal jewellery box. Royal watchers surmised that this could be another 19th-century antique piece, which was first spotted as a part of the Queen’s ensemble during the royal Christmas get-together at Sandringham in 2022.
Another Christmas gift, perhaps? Or could the necklace – another depiction of intertwining hearts, symbolising the eternal bond that the King and Queen share – have been a gift to mark King Charles’ accession to the throne in September? What better time to immortalise the royals’ love for each other than on one of the biggest days in their lives, the day they became the King and Queen of Great Britain? Either way, Queen Camilla is clearly as proud of her presents as King Charles is happy to give them, and no doubt we will be seeing plenty more of these two treasured pieces of jewellery as the Queen continues to support her husband on public engagements and pursue the passions that she has cultivated throughout her own royal career.