Gleaming Heirloom Pearls and Diamonds for the British Royals at the Commonwealth Day Service

The King and the Princess of Wales made a triumphant return to the annual Commonwealth Day service on Monday, and there were plenty of special royal jewels worn to mark the occasion.

King Charles III and Queen Camilla were joined by the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Princess Royal, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester at Westminster Abbey for this year’s Commonwealth Day service. Last year, ongoing treatments for cancer kept King Charles and Princess Catherine from the event, but they’re both healthier this year and able to be present once again for the important commemoration.

Queen Camilla wore light pink for this year’s service, including a favorite hat with a cascading leaf decoration. She accessorized with some of her most-worn jewelry pieces, including her pearl drop earrings and her four-row pearl necklace with the round diamond clasp.

Princess Catherine was elegant in red for her return to the Commonwealth Day service, rewearing a red Catherine Walker coat from her wardrobe. We memorably saw her wear this same coat at the Abbey in December 2021 for her annual Christmas carol concert. This time around, she added a hat by Gina Foster.

With the red coat dress and hat, Kate added pieces of pearl and diamond jewelry with important family significance. The necklace belonged to the late Queen Elizabeth II, and the earrings come from the collection of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

The four-row pearl necklace, which has a modern diamond-set clasp, comes from a suite of jewelry commissioned by Queen Elizabeth II in the 1970s. Per Leslie Field, the pearls used were a gift from the Japanese government. The set also includes a matching bracelet. The Queen wears both pieces in the photograph above, along with the Bahrain Pearl Drop Earrings. Kate is now the primary wearer of all of these pieces of jewelry.

The earrings that Kate wore for the Commonwealth Day service are Diana’s Collingwood Pearl Drop Earrings. The classic earrings were given to Diana by Collingwood as an engagement present in 1981. She liked to wear them with Queen Mary’s Lover’s Knot Tiara, a combination pictured above in a photograph from 1985. Now, Kate also likes to wear the tiara and earrings together as a married parure, though she also wears the earrings more generally.

The Princess Royal, as usual, reached for familiar clothes and jewels for the service. With her patterned green coat and coordinating hat, she wore gold and diamond jewels. The earrings, which have a floral design, have been in her collection for some time. The eye-catching modern brooch, which many believe resembles a stalactite, was reportedly a wedding present from her mother, Queen Elizabeth II, in 1973.

Anne has been a fan of this jewelry combination for many years. Above, you’ll see her wearing the earrings and the brooch together in a photograph taken at the Not Forgotten Association’s garden party at Buckingham Palace in the summer of 2013.

The Duchess of Gloucester rounded out the party of royal ladies at the Commonwealth Day service. As usual, Birgitte was elegant in classic jewelry. She paired pearl drop earrings and a single-stranded pearl necklace with striking ruby and diamond clip brooches for the occasion.

Much of Birgitte’s fabulous jewelry comes from the collection of her mother-in-law, the late Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. The ruby and diamond clips are no exception. Here, Alice wears them at the Highland Show in Melrose in 1936. Her all-black ensemble is part of the court mourning for her father-in-law, King George V, who had died in January.

Scheduling note: this is our regular Tuesday post, but I’ve decided to share it early with all of you. I’ll see you back here with more sparkle on Wednesday!