![Diana, Princess of Wales at the Guinness Trust's Lord Gage Centre in Newham, London. She is seen touching the face of the centre's oldest resident Dolly Rowe, 18 Sep 1990](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana02.jpg?resize=1200%2C1016&ssl=1)
Both of the daughters-in-law of the late Diana, Princess of Wales have worn jewelry from her personal collection. Today, we’ve got a look at Diana’s butterfly jewels, made of gold, diamonds, and dark blue gemstones.
The earliest appearance of the butterfly suite that I’ve been able to find came during a royal visit to British Columbia in May 1986. For a visit to Prince George, Diana wore a Catherine Walker suit with a Graham Smith hat, accessorizing with butterfly earrings and a gold necklace with a matching butterfly slide enhancer.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends a ceremony at Taronga Zoo on October 16, 2018 in Sydney, Australia](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana05.jpg?resize=806%2C568&ssl=1)
Here’s a closer look at the butterfly earrings. Made of yellow gold, they’re set with diamonds and small dark blue gemstones. I’d wager that they’re probably sapphires.
Here’s another look at Diana wearing the earrings and necklace from that Canadian trip in 1986.
A few months later, in November 1986, Diana wore a very similar gold omega-style necklace during a trip to Saudi Arabia. Ayvee from Diana’s Jewels thinks that it’s the same necklace, worn without its butterfly enhancer, and I think she’s likely correct.
![Diana, Princess of Wales at the Guinness Trust's Lord Gage Centre in Newham, London. She is seen touching the face of the centre's oldest resident Dolly Rowe, 18 Sep 1990](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana02.jpg?resize=1200%2C1016&ssl=1)
Diana also wore a cuff bracelet that coordinates with the earrings and the necklace. The piece, made of textured yellow gold, features diamond detailing and a pair of dark blue stones at each end. Above, Diana wears the bracelet as part of a stack on her right wrist for a visit to the Lord Gage Centre in Newham in September 1990. Diana continued to wear the bracelet on other occasions in the ’90s, even after she announced that she would no longer take on a regular slate of public engagements.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex launches the Smart Works capsule collection on September 12, 2019 in London, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana07.jpg?resize=1200%2C735&ssl=1)
Here’s a closer view of the bracelet, worn second from the bottom in this stack.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends an afternoon reception hosted by the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove during Day one of their tour, on October 16, 2018 in Sydney, Australia](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana03.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
In October 2018, pieces from the suite appeared again in public on Diana’s daughter-in-law, the Duchess of Sussex. She wore the earrings and the bracelet together in Sydney during a royal tour of Australia.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attends an afternoon reception hosted by the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove during Day one of their tour, on October 16, 2018 in Sydney, Australia](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana04.jpg?resize=1200%2C1654&ssl=1)
Here’s a closer look at one of the earrings from an afternoon reception hosted by Australia’s Governor General.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex greets members of the crowd at the Sydney Opera House on October 16, 2018 in Sydney, Australia](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana01.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
The shape of the earrings, which are larger at the top than on the bottom, means that they’re prone to turning while being worn. Above, you can see one of the earrings twisting a bit as Meghan wears it at the Sydney Opera House.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex arrives to launch the Smart Works capsule collection on September 12, 2019 in London, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana11.jpg?resize=1200%2C1800&ssl=1)
Meghan wore the earrings and the bracelet together again for another daytime engagement almost a year later. In September 2019, she wore the jewels in London for the launch of the Smart Works capsule collection.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex delivers a speech as she launches the Smart Works capsule collection on September 12, 2019 in London, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana13.jpg?resize=1200%2C1606&ssl=1)
Here’s another view of one of the earrings from that launch.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex launches the Smart Works capsule collection on September 12, 2019 in London, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana08.jpg?resize=1200%2C1506&ssl=1)
And here’s a look at the bracelet, which Meghan wore stacked with other gold and diamond pieces.
![Meghan, Duchess of Sussex and Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, attend the premiere of Cirque du Soleil's Totem in support of Sentebale at the Royal Albert Hall in London on January 16, 2019](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana10.jpg?resize=1200%2C2014&ssl=1)
The bracelet has also made appearances on the Duchess at evening engagements. She wore it at the Royal Albert Hall in January 2019 for the charity premiere of a new Cirque du Soleil production in support of Sentebale.
![Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan, Duchess of Sussex attend the Cirque du Soleil Premiere Of "TOTEM" at Royal Albert Hall on January 16, 2019 in London, England](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana09.jpg?resize=816%2C507&ssl=1)
Here’s a view of the bracelet on Meghan’s right wrist during that appearance.
![The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at the NAACP Image Awards, Feb 2022](https://i0.wp.com/www.thecourtjeweller.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2022-0302-01-diana14.jpg?resize=722%2C938&ssl=1)
And more recently, Meghan wore the bracelet with a Christopher John Rogers gown at the NAACP Image Awards in Los Angeles. So far, we haven’t seen Meghan wear the necklace from the set in public, either with or without the butterfly enhancer. Its design really is a relic of the ’80s, so perhaps that part of the suite will be remaining hidden away for the moment.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.