A gorgeous deep purple set, this demi-parure is an eye catcher in The Queen’s collection! Over the decades, we have seen the brooch a number of times, but the earrings and necklace rarely.
Origins of the Kent amethyst parure
Made in the early part of the 19th century for the Duchess of Kent, she passed the set to her daughter upon her death in 1861: her daughter just so happened to be Queen Victoria. That makes these pieces some of the oldest jewellery in the royal vaults.
Following her mother’s death, Victoria later recorded in her journal: ‘After luncheon went to the room where beloved Mama’s jewels were put out, and after much reflection, we began to divide the pearls & diamonds & best bracelets. The fine amethyst & diamond parure & the miniature of George IV she always wore, I have kept & is to be considered as an heirloom.’
Victoria left the contents to the Crown upon her death in 1901, with the items to be passed down successive generations of Queens.
Leslie Field notes in her book, The Queen’s Jewels, the parure consists of a necklace, three brooches, a pair of earrings, and a pair of hair combs – meaning there is more to see…!
The brooch
A large hexagonal amethyst is decorated with diamond scrollwork around the top, and radiating rows of diamonds on the bottom half; this gives it a shell-like shape.
The piece can be worn with or without three amethyst pendants, which we rarely saw from Elizabeth II.
The piece can be worn with or without three amethyst pendants, which we rarely saw from the late Queen, but you will notice the tiny loops on the image above for this attachment.
The brooch is actually part of a set, or demi-parure, composing a necklace, hair combs, earrings, and three brooches (a tiara would make it a full parure). It has been suggested – which I think makes a lot of sense – that the other two brooches have been absorbed into the parure’s necklace; see the photo below for the two similar shaped segments and let us know your theory…!
Necklace
The large necklace features eight eye-catching, cabochon-cut amethysts. Each stone is surrounded by diamonds and connected by stars consisting of diamonds.
It also features three detachable amethyst and diamond drops that hang from the front of the piece.
Earrings
The earrings in the suite consist of two large pear-shaped amethysts, which are suspended from an amethyst stud with more radiating diamonds and set in gold. Beneath the pear-drop stones is more scrollwork and and additional single drop diamond.
Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images
Appearances of the Kent amethyst parure
Queen Alexandra was seen wearing the necklace in 1902, but never seen wearing the full parure. Additionally, the Queen Mother was a fan of the brooch.
Elizabeth II wore the necklace and earrings from the parure twice, including a visit to Portugal in March 1985. However, despite never wearing the full set, the brooch was often seen adorning one of her famous coats.
Queen Camilla wore the necklace (which hadn’t been since 1985) and earrings for the US State Dinner at the White House in April 2026. She wore a modified version of of the necklace with a few stones being removed.
As is to be expected, we usually see this set on a background of vivid purples (and now pink), but I would be interested to see the brooch on a pale pink background, or even white to make it pop!
