Royal jewelry has long been a way to send quiet messages, and Queen Camilla and Princess Kate relied on two historic pieces to do the talking on Monday, March 9. Both The Queen and Princess of Wales emanated stability and patriotism with their outfits as they attended the annual Commonwealth Day ceremony, with both women wearing royal heirlooms from generations past.Together, Queen Camilla and Princess Kate represented colors of the Union Jack as they arrived in shades of red and blue, with The Queen choosing a lipstick red coat by Fiona Clare and a matching Phillip Treacy hat. She pinned a sentimental brooch to her coat that was originally owned by the Queen Mother, as Nilesh Rakholia, Founder of jeweler Abelini, tells Marie Claire.“Queen Camilla’s choice of the Cartier Diamond Palm Leaf Brooch for Commonwealth Day is a striking nod to royal continuity,” he says, explaining that the diamond design was “commissioned by the Queen Mother in 1938, created by Cartier using diamonds from her own personal collection.”
Adding that its provenance “gives the brooch an exceptional level of historical resonance,” Rakholia says that its design also had a great “personal significance” to the late royal. “The brooch’s sweeping palm leaf shape echoes a paisley motif, which held particular meaning for the Queen Mother,” Rakholia says. “Paisley patterns have long been associated with Scotland, where she spent much of her childhood.”He notes that the brooch has already passed through several generations of royal wearers, since Queen Elizabeth regularly wore the diamond pin after her mother died in 2002. “Seeing it now worn by Queen Camilla places it firmly within the lineage of royal jewels that move through generations, reinforcing the sense of continuity within the monarchy,” Rakholia says.
As for the Princess of Wales, she also dipped into the royal vaults, selecting Queen Elizabeth’s Bahrain Pearl Earrings—a pair of pearl and diamond drops that Kate has worn to numerous occasions, including the late Queen’s funeral.“Those pearls were originally gifted to Princess Elizabeth as a wedding present in 1947,” Rakholia says. The Princess of Wales paired the priceless earrings with a more modern piece of jewelry, wearing a five-strand faux pearl necklace by Susan Caplan with her blue Catherine Walker coat dress. Rakholia says that combined, Kate and Camilla’s jewelry choices “feel especially fitting” for Commonwealth Day. “Together, these choices reinforce a theme of heritage,” he says. “They draw from the royal jewelry archive in a way that emphasises stability and continuity.”With the Royal Family currently in the spotlight thanks to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s arrest and repeated scandals, it’s natural for royal women to draw attention to themes of longevity and stability. “That symbolism is especially powerful at an event like Commonwealth Day, where tradition and shared history sit at the center of the occasion,” Rakholia says.
