Camilla’s Brooches

by Victoria Howard

Following on from our look at The Queen’s brooches, next comes her female successor: Camilla. A number of brooches in her collection came from The Queen Mother, via Prince Charles, while others were gifts from foreign Royalty.

The brooches are separated into categories according to their colour, so yellow stone brooches and gold pieces can be found under the same section.

More links will come as the ‘Diamond Database’ expands, so keep checking back!

Head here to explore the royal jewel vault.

Diamond and clear-stone brooches

The brooches here are comprised solely of diamonds and are distinctly absent of colour. If you are looking for a brooch with a flash of rubies for example, head to that section. 

Screenshot 2020-05-19 at 21.05.55 Duchy of Cornwall badge The Canadian Maple Leaf brooch was part of a Commonwealth exhibition at the opening of Buckingham Palace (RCT/Queen Elizabeth II) Diamond moth Diamond moth Diamond cosmos brooches Queen Mary's Thistle pin Queen Mary’s Thistle pin Diamond flower brooch Irish blossom brooch Irish blossom brooch Three thistle brooch City of London flower brooch City of London flower brooch Gold flower brooch Gold flower brooch Cullinan V brooch Cullinan V brooch Queen Victoria’s bow brooches Jardine star brooch FEI horseshoes brooch FEI horseshoes brooch Three diamond bar brooch Three diamond bar brooch

Blue-stone brooches

A collection of sapphires, aquamarines, turquoise stones and even blue topaz are below.

Van Cleef & Arpels dragonflies Turquoise duck brooches Brazilian aquamarine brooch

Pearl and white brooches

The central focus of these brooches are lustrous pearls, and other white materials, like porcelain.

Crown brooch Crown brooch Pearl trefoil brooch Queen Mother's navette brooch Queen Mother’s navette brooch Richmond brooch Richmond brooch Greville scroll brooch Greville scroll brooch Victoria’s 11 pearl brooch Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee brooch Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee brooch Porcelain lily of the valley brooch Porcelain lily of the valley brooch Cambridge pearl pendant Cambridge pearl pendant

Red brooches

You’ll find swathes of rubies, garnets, coral and other red tones here

Grima ruby brooch Grima ruby brooch Ruby spray brooch Ruby spray brooch Queen Mother's ruby spray bouqet Queen Mother’s ruby spray bouqet Hibiscus brooch Hibiscus brooch

Pink brooches

Pink topaz, sapphires, and even diamonds make up these pieces.

Williamson pink diamond brooch Saskatchewan flower brooch Saskatchewan flower brooch Small pink stone brooch Cameo rose brooch

Purple brooches

Amethysts are the main stone in this section, but you might also find 

Amethyst bouquet brooches Amethyst bouquet brooches

Green-stone brooches

Brooches made of emeralds, topaz, tourmaline and other green stones.

kiefer Three shamrock brooch

Yellow, gold & orange brooches

Rich and warm colours of orange and yellow amongst The Queen’s collection

Claddagh brooch Frosted sunflower brooch Frosted sunflower brooch Singapore filigree brooch Singapore filigree brooch Braemar Gathering feather brooch Braemar Gathering feather brooch Daffodil brooch Daffodil brooch

Multi-colour brooches

These pieces are a mix of gorgeous stones, giving a colourful look 

Van Cleef & Arpels ballerina brooch Van Cleef & Arpels Lucky Animals

Official badges

These brooches are military badges and symbols of various official organisations.

Duchy of Cornwall badge Duchy of Cornwall badge Duchy of Lancaster brooch Duchy of Lancaster brooch HMS Ocean brooch HMS Ocean brooch Drapers' Company Drapers’ Company

Sources and recommendations:

Certain pieces are easy to research and look-up, on the internet, or in books, though others can be tricky. I have largely based my work on three books and the Royal Collection site. The books are: Hugh Roberts’ ‘The Queen’s Diamonds‘; Leslie Fields’ ‘The Queen’s Jewels’; and Suzy Menkes’ ‘The Royal Jewels’, although these publications are 30 years old now. Fields focuses solely on Elizabeth II’s collection, and Menkes’ book features jewels from Victoria to Diana.

For those trickier pieces, I sometimes defer to the more knowledgeable authors of Order of Splendour (referenced as OoS), an informative and detailed site covering the European jewel collections too, or From Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault (HMJV), their sister site. Another excellent jewels blog comes from The Court Jeweller (TCJ).

For more general fashion readers (and royal watchers) is a book by Angela Kelly, The Queen’s dresser and assistant, called ‘Dressing The Queen: A Jubilee Wardrobe’. It was released, unsurprisingly, for the Jubilee in 2012, and it is a great look at how Her Majesty’s wardrobe works, and is put together. Angela Kelly released another book (2019) called ‘The Other Side of the Coin’, which looks at her working relationship with Her Majesty; there are a number of other references and anecdotes in this book.