![Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle on December 23, 2021 in Windsor, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth02.jpg?resize=1200%2C811&ssl=1)
On Saturday, the Queen made her traditional Christmas Day broadcast to the nation and people all around the world. For this year’s message, she wore a brooch with very sentimental personal history.
![Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle on December 23, 2021 in Windsor, England. The photograph on the desk is of The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, taken in 2007 at Broadlands, Hampshire, to mark their Diamond Wedding Anniversary](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth03.jpg?resize=1200%2C795&ssl=1)
The Queen chose the Sapphire Chrysanthemum Brooch for her 2021 Christmas broadcast, pairing it with pearl earrings and a three-stranded pearl necklace. The choice of the brooch was a very sentimental one, as it’s become associated with her marriage to the late Duke of Edinburgh. Both the Duke and the brooch were featured in the photograph sitting beside her on her desk for this year’s message, which was recorded in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle on December 23.
![Britain's Princess Elizabeth (R) Britain's Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (L) walk during their honeymoon in Broadlands estate, Hampshire November 25, 1947](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth04.jpg?resize=1200%2C1714&ssl=1)
The chrysanthemum brooch has been in the Queen’s jewelry box since 1946. She received it when she launched an oil tanker, appropriately named the British Princess. One of its most prominent early appearances came on November 25, 1947, when she wore it for a photo session at Broadlands during her honeymoon. She and the Duke of Edinburgh had been married at Westminster Abbey five days earlier.
![Princess Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth II) leaving Grosvenor Square, London, after the unveiling of the memorial to American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 10th April 1948](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth05.jpg?resize=1200%2C1646&ssl=1)
She continued to wear the brooch often throughout the years. Here, in April 1948, she wears the jewel to attend the unveiling of a memorial to American President Franklin D. Roosevelt in London’s Grosvenor Square.
![Portrait of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip with their baby daughter Princess Anne following her christening, at Buckingham Palace, October 23rd 1950](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth06.jpg?resize=1200%2C1530&ssl=1)
In October 1950, she wore the brooch at Buckingham Palace for the official photos taken after the christening of her daughter, Princess Anne. On this occasion, she also wore another sapphire jewel: the Cartier bracelet given to her by her father, King George VI, as an 18th birthday present.
![A photo taken in 1951 shows Britain's Princess Elizabeth II](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth07.jpg?resize=1200%2C1439&ssl=1)
Here, the Queen wears the brooch with pearls and a very late ’40s, early ’50s hat in a photo taken in 1951, the year before her accession to the throne.
![Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, arriving at the Tomb of the late Empress Menen, where the Queen laid a wreath, Ethiopia, February 4th 1965](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth09.jpg?resize=1200%2C1286&ssl=1)
The brooch can be frequently spotted in photographs taken throughout her reign. Here, in February 1965, she wears it to lay a wreath at the tomb of the late Empress Menen during a visit to Ethiopia.
![Jun 1991: Her Majesty the Queen (left) and her Majesty the Queen Mother (right) during the Derby at Epsom racecourse in Epsom, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth10.jpg?resize=1200%2C1196&ssl=1)
Diplomatic occasions weren’t the only opportunities to wear the classic brooch. Here, in June 1991, she wears it at Epsom as she watches the Derby with the Queen Mother. (The Queen Mum, incidentally, is wearing Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Brooch.)
![The Queen (C) and the Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien (2L) inspect the honor guard at Buckingham Palace, May 13, 1998](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth08.jpg?resize=1200%2C816&ssl=1)
Naturally, she loves to wear the brooch with clothing in various shades of blue, like the royal blue coat she chose to inspect a Canadian honor guard from Princess Patricia’s Light Infantry at Buckingham Palace in May 1998.
![Queen Elizabeth II leaves the Easter Sunday service at St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle on April 5, 2015 in Windsor, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth11.jpg?resize=1200%2C881&ssl=1)
And she’s also chosen the brooch for other holiday celebrations, too. In April 2015, she wore the brooch for the royal family’s traditional Easter celebrations at Windsor.
![Britain's Princess Elizabeth (future Queen Elizabeth II) and her husband Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, pose during their honeymoon, November 25, 1947 in Broadlands estate, Hampshire](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth12.jpg?resize=1200%2C905&ssl=1)
But it’s really those honeymoon portraits that have captured the world’s attention. Here’s another image from the photo session at Broadlands, Lord Mountbatten’s country estate, taken in November 1947.
![Picture released 18 November 2007 showing Britain's Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh Prince Philip walking at Broadlands in the Hampshire, earlier in the year](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth13.jpg?resize=1200%2C1628&ssl=1)
In 2007, photographer Fiona Hanson helped the Queen and the Duke recreate their honeymoon photos to mark their diamond wedding anniversary. Sixty years after their honeymoon, they returned to Broadlands to take their anniversary photographs, and the Queen wore the very same jewels—brooch, necklace, and earrings—that she’d worn for the pictures taken back in 1947. The images also offered a lovely view of her diamond engagement ring, which has a very interesting royal backstory of its own.
![Queen Elizabeth II records her annual Christmas broadcast in the White Drawing Room at Windsor Castle on December 23, 2021 in Windsor, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-1226-elizabeth01.jpg?resize=1200%2C1789&ssl=1)
The sapphire brooch was a touching choice for this year’s Christmas message, the first she has recorded since the Duke’s death. She’ll be surrounded by several members of her family this year at Windsor for Christmas, including the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall. And, just in case you missed it, Charles and Camilla are giving us all an extra Christmas present this year: they’re presenting a special reading of excerpts from Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, as part of Camilla’s Reading Room initiative.
UPDATE: I’ve gotten a LOT of questions about the placement of the brooch for this broadcast, and whether it’s a kind of secret signal. I don’t think so—I think it’s just part of the framing choice for the video, keeping the brooch close to the photograph. I elaborated over on my Twitter account if you’re interested!
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