Queen Mathilde’s Shimmering Diamond Fringe Earrings in Santiago

Last week, the King and Queen of the Belgians headed to Chile, and Queen Mathilde packed some gorgeous diamond earrings in her luggage for the trip.

King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians headed to Santiago on Tuesday to begin their state visit to Chile. On the first evening of the visit, they attended a reception in Santiago with President Gabriel Boric.

For the reception, Queen Mathilde wore a striking red dress from everyone’s favorite Benelux royal couturier, Natan. She carried a metallic clutch bag and added even more sparkle with a diamond bracelet and a favorite pair of diamond fringe earrings.

The earrings, shown here in a close-up picture from a previous appearance, look to be vintage pieces from the 1950s or 1960s. They feature a diamond ribbon twist from which three rows of diamond fringes are suspended. Round and pear-shaped diamonds are set at the end of each fringe, and additional round diamonds decorate the top of the earrings. To the best of my understanding, the precise provenance of the earrings is unknown. Mathilde is known to acquire antique and vintage jewels through auctions, and it wouldn’t surprise me if these were added to her collection through that channel as well.

One of the world’s first glimpses of the earrings on Queen Mathilde came in March 2017, when she wore them for the return event during the state visit to Denmark. On that occasion, she also wore a red dress, as well as a ruby and diamond bracelet that belonged to the late Queen Fabiola.

We got an even better look at the earrings a few weeks later, when Mathilde wore them for a gala banquet held in Oslo in May 2017 to celebrate the 80th birthdays of the King and Queen of Norway.

Since then, the earrings have been staples in Mathilde’s gala jewelry collection. She’s paired them with the major tiaras in her collection and worn them for white-tie, black-tie, and less formal evening events. Here, she wears them with the bandeau base of the Nine Provinces Tiara in Germany in 2023.

Queen Mathilde paired the earrings with the full tiara a few months later, when she and Philippe hosted a state banquet in honor of his cousin, the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, at the Palace of Laeken.

And in December, we saw her wear the earrings with the Wolfers Tiara for a state banquet in honor of the visiting Sultan of Oman.

Here’s one more look at Mathilde wearing the earrings in Chile on Tuesday. The logistics of this state visit have been interesting, to say the least. The royal journalist Wim Dehandschutter has been sharing regular updates on problems with a damaged tire on the royal plane. As I’m writing this post on Friday afternoon, the couple are planning to finally be able to return to Belgium on Sunday. Fingers crossed they’re home by the time you read this article!