Queen Elizabeth II wearing the gold-and-diamond royal brooch at the launch of The Queen’s Baton Relay for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia at Buckingham Palace in London on march 13, 2017. Picture by Stephen Lock / i-Images
The gold-and-diamond trellis royal brooch is a classic 1940s pin that Queen Elizabeth II has worn since at least 1948.
Royal brooch composition
The oval-shaped royal brooch is made up of a folded net of gold trellis that billows out from a cluster of five diamond lilies, each with a stem made up of invisible-set baguette-cut rubies.
Creation
Unknown but, based on its style, it appears to be from the late 1940s, likely after the end of the Second World War.
Queen Elizabeth II’s gold-and-diamond trellis brooch, worn at the Commonwealth baton relay start in March 2017
Provenance
This gets tricky. No one is exactly sure who gave the brooch or when exactly it entered Queen Elizabeth II’s jewellery collection. Because of the detective work of royal jewellery bloggers we do know that it was a wedding gift to then-Princess Elizabeth when she married Prince Philip in 1947. Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault combed the pictures of the wedding gifts that were seen by the public at St. James’s Palace, and located the gold-and-diamond trellis royal brooch in the bottom of one display. In the list of wedding gifts are a few jewellery descriptions that could apply to this particular brooch including “gold brooch set with diamonds and rubies in a trellised floral design.” That gift was from the Principality of Monaco. However, without confirmation from Buckingham Palace, it remains a mystery.
Or not.
Because the Queen has another gold trellis brooch. And yes, that one has rubies and diamonds as well. Her Majesty wouldn’t want to make things easy for royal brooch aficionados
Worn
It’s never been a favourite, but has popped up regularly. On May 15, 1948, she wore it pinned to the lapel of a lime-green suit during a visit to Versailles in France. In recent years, she’s favoured it when wearing pink- or purple-toned outfits that set off the royal brooch’s delicate structure.
