Queen Consort Camilla Revamped the Brooch She Wore to Prince William and Kate Middleton's Wedding

From state dinners to overseas tours, members of the royal family have countless duties they need to uphold that require a lot of thought and attention to detail. Another element that they must plan in advance is their wardrobe. While Queen Consort Camilla and King Charles visited Germany from March 29, 2023, to March 31, 2023, Camilla wore an accessory that has a special connection to her stepson, Prince William, and Kate Middleton. On the second day of their tour while touring the German parliament, a market, and Komische Opera, the Queen Consort brought back the brooch that she wore when William and Kate tied the knot in 2011. 

The accessory is a diamond and yellow gold brooch from the Van Clef & Arpels Cosmos collection, which she pinned to a chocolate brown coat. Creative director of Steven Stone Jewelers, Maxwell Stone, explains that the piece has a deeper meaning behind it. “The brooch appears to be a combination of a four leave clover and a flower,” Stone says. He notes that the four-leaf-clover shape represents faith, hope, love, and luck, which is meaningful for her visit, which aims to strengthen the relationship between the United Kingdom and Germany after Brexit. According to the jewelry expert, the brooch is estimated to be worth $19,000.

When the prince and princess of Wales said “I do” in 2011, Camilla wore the same accessory and a second smaller brooch in white gold. She pinned the set of sparkling pins to a light blue and pink coat, which she slipped on over a cream ensemble with gold embroidery. To complete her look, Camilla accessorized with white gloves, pearl earrings, a pearl necklace, a beige clutch, and an oversized hat. Before Kate and William got married, the queen consort also wore the special accessory at her first Buckingham Palace garden party after she tied the knot with King Charles in 2005. 

On the final night of her visit, another brooch made an appearance: a sapphire and diamond pin that once belonged to Queen Victoria. According to the Royal Collection Trust, Prince Albert, Victoria’s cousin, gave the monarch the item the night before her wedding in 1840, and the bride pinned it to her wedding dress the next day. Victoria continued to wear the emblem throughout her life, and she passed it down to future generations as a family heirloom. Camilla took after Queen Elizabeth II since the former monarch also wore the brooch while she visited Berlin, Germany in 2015. Ever since Victoria's reign, every queen after her has also sported the pin, People reports.

In September of 2022, Camilla wore another item from Queen Victoria’s jewelry collection. For Elizabeth’s funeral, the queen consort donned the Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch. The Court Jeweller explains that the pin is a heart-shaped accessory with the number 60 engraved in Cyrillic numerals inside the symbol. Three sapphires are also suspended from the shape. The brooch was a gift from many of Victoria’s grandchildren.