Kate Middleton Is Wearing One of the Queen Mother's Favorite Necklaces to the Dutch State Dinner Tonight
The Duchess of Cambridge isn't skimping on the jewels at tonight's Dutch State Dinner at Buckingham Palace.
For the event, which welcomed Queen Maxima and King Willem-Alexander to the UK, Kate paired the Cambridge Lover's Knot tiara, which she has worn several times before, with a new-to-her necklace, the Queen Alexandra Wedding Necklace.
Ella Kay, a royal jewelry blogger, first identified the piece on Twitter, and also pointing out that Kate was wearing it with Princess Diana's Collingwood Pearl Drop Earrings.
Kate wears Queen Mary's Lover's Knot Tiara, Princess Diana's Collingwood Pearl Drop Earrings, and Queen Alexandra's Wedding Necklace tonight for the state banquet https://t.co/vyj4N2sYHJ
- Ella Kay (@courtjeweller) October 23, 2018
The striking piece of jewelry is actually part of a set designed by Garrard, which was given by Prince Albert, the future King Edward VII, to his wife Princess Alexandra of Denmark as a wedding gift in 1863.
The parure also includes a pair of earrings and a brooch. At one point, there was a tiara as well, but unfortunately it no longer exists.
According to another royal jewelry blogger, "From Her Majesty's Jewel Vault," the necklace was one of the Queen Mother's favorites.
"Queen Mary gave the necklace to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, and she wore it constantly," reads a post about the jewels. (Queen Mary had inherited it from Alexandra.)
Here, the Queen Mother paired the necklace with the ring that would eventually become Camilla's engagement ring:
And here she is once again wearing the necklace at a 1989 recital at the Royal College of Music.
After the Queen Mother died, the piece was inherited by Queen Elizabeth II, though we have yet to see her wear it. Today, she loaned it to her granddaughter-in-law, Duchess Kate.
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