The Duchess of Cambridge’s Brooch

The Duchess of Cambridge’s Brooch is a “large pearl bouton encircled by 14 brilliant in cut-down settings and a narrow pave-set cusped band, suspending a brilliant and a large pave-set baroque pearl.”¹

The Duchess of Cambridge, born Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, was the original owner of the brooch. Like most of the royal family, she used Garrard as her principal jeweller. She owned some magnificent pieces, and upon her death in 1889, the brooch was inherited by her younger daughter, Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Princess Mary Adelaide then passed it to her daughter, the future Queen Mary.

Queen Mary wore the brooch for the christenings of the future Queen Elizabeth II and the future King Charles III. It was left to Queen Elizabeth II in 1953. The pearl is detachable, and it has been worn both with and without the pearl.

1. The Queen’s Diamonds by Hugh Roberts p.118