Queen Camilla Wows at Royal Ascot with Rare Palace Jewels! Don’t Miss the Stunning Brooch Given to Queen Victoria by Prince Albert!

Last week’s Royal Ascot was notable for the heartwarming appearances of King Charles and other senior royals.

Even as he battles cancer, the King looked in his element alongside Camilla, who went on to arrive for day two with Prince William.

MALTON, ENGLAND – APRIL 05: King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort visit Talbot Yard Food Court on April 05, 2023 in Malton, England. The King and Queen Consort are visiting Yorkshire to meet local producers and charitable organisations. (Photo by Chris Jackson/Getty Images)

But it was the Queen’s effort on the jewel front that caught my eye.

There were outings for four rarely-seen royal brooches – including the one that Queen Victoria was given by her beau Prince Albert the night before their wedding.

Tuesday saw Her Majesty arrive alongside her husband the King and the Duke and Duchess of Wellington.

Fittingly, it was the current Duke’s ancestor who, in 1852, made the initial incision in the re-cutting of the famed Koh-i-Noor at Garrard & Co on Haymarket.

That now-controversial jewel was of course given to Queen Victoria.

Camilla honoured Victoria last week by wearing Prince Albert’s brooch, which was given to her by the German prince the night before their wedding in 1840.

The Queen wore the sumptuous sapphire and diamond brooch piece on her white dress the next day.

In the new book Precious: The History and Mystery of Gems Across Time, V&A jewellery curator Helen Molesworth describes how Victoria later journalled that the large

oblong sapphire surrounded by 12 round brilliant diamonds was ‘Albert’s beautiful sapphire brooch’.

Molesworth also adds that it was designated an ‘heirloom of the crown’.

Queen Alexandra wore the brooch at her coronation alongside Victoria and Albert’s son Edward VII in 1902.

It has subsequently been worn by Queen Mary, the Queen Mother and of course many times by Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

On day two of Royal Ascot, Camilla arrived with Prince William and the Earl and Countess of Halifax.

The beautiful brooch that she wore – one of my favourites – is a large turquoise cabochon surrounded by old mine cut diamonds.

It was given to the then Princess Mary of Teck as a wedding present in 1893 by her parents in law, the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra.

It is one of a pair that Mary received to complement a turquoise and diamond parure that her own parents gave her.

This set included the Teck Tiara, which is now part of the Duchess of Gloucester’s collection.

Queen Elizabeth II wore Queen Mary’s brooch for her national address in the depths of the coronavirus pandemic in April 2020.

Camilla twinned the brooch at Royal Ascot with matching turquoise and diamond earrings.

For Ladies’ Day last Thursday, Her Majesty was joined again by the King and the Duke and Duchess of Devonshire (the Duke had been the late Queen’s Representative at Ascot from 1997 to 2011).

Queen Camilla wore a spectacular and rarely seen brooch that had also belonged to Queen Mary: The Ladies of India Brooch – a huge carved hexagonal emerald surrounded by diamonds, with four diamond accents to each side.