On Monday, the Princess of Wales celebrated St. Patrick’s Day with the Irish Guards, handing out shamrocks while wearing a special gold and emerald brooch.
The Princess of Wales has been linked to the Irish Guards since her royal wedding in 2011. Her husband, Prince William, was named Colonel of the regiment by his grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II, two months before the wedding. Together, the couple often visited the Irish Guards on St. Patrick’s Day, with Catherine taking on the job of handing out shamrocks ahead of the traditional parade.
In December 2022, in a post-accession shake-up of royal colonelcies, William became Colonel of the Welsh Guards, and Kate was tapped to serve as the new Colonel of the Irish Guards. Today, she made her first visit to the regiment on St. Patrick’s Day since 2023. She was absent from last year’s celebrations because of her cancer treatment.
This year, she beamed as she handed out shamrocks, wearing a dark green ensemble and a special gold and emerald shamrock brooch. The jewel belongs to the regiment, and it is loaned out to the royal lady most closely associated with the Irish Guards. Since 2011, that’s been Kate.
The brooch was previously worn by other royal ladies for events linked to the Irish Guards. Above, Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother wears the textured gold brooch for a service of thanksgiving at Guards Chapel in London in honor of the regiment’s centenary in 2000.
The Princess Royal has also worn the brooch when handing out shamrocks to the regiment on St. Patrick’s Day. Above, she wears the jewel as she takes on the honor in 2009.
Princess Catherine also sometimes wears the Irish Guards Brooch for other events related to Northern Ireland or to the military. We most recently saw her wear the brooch for Trooping the Colour in June 2023.
For today’s St. Patrick’s Day parade, Kate also wore a pair of earrings from a favorite jewelry designer, Kiki McDonough. The earrings are set with bright green tourmalines and pale green amethysts.
Per Rebecca English, the earrings were made by the jewelry company to commemorate the birth of Princess Charlotte in 2015. Kate wore them publicly for the first time about a year later, in April 2016, during a visit to India.
She’s often used the tourmaline and amethyst earrings on St. Patrick’s Day. We most recently saw her wear the earring-brooch combination in March 2019.
Here’s one more photograph of Kate’s St. Patrick’s Day jewels from earlier today. The lighting here highlights that tiny green emerald beautifully, doesn’t it?
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