Just 19 Photos Of Camilla, Duchess Of Cornwall, Sparkling In Diamonds
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The Duchess of Cambridge wasn't the only sparkling royal attendee of the London premiere of the latest James Bond film, No Time to Die. The Duchess of Cornwall was equally a vision in sequins and diamonds, opting for her oft-worn pair of Van Cleef & Arpels Magic Alhambra earrings, plus a brooch that hadn't been seen in public since 1971. The piece, designed as a diamond fringe with a detachable pendant (which the duchess removed for this occasion), originally belonged to Queen Victoria. After being passed down to her daughter and granddaughters, it was eventually inherited by the Queen Mother, the last person to wear the brooch.
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For the opening of the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh earlier this month, the Duchess of Rothesay, as she is known there, wore the Diamond Thistle Brooch (the thistle is the national flower of Scotland), which belonged to the Queen Mother, who commissioned the piece in the 1940s and often pinned it to her hats.
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Camilla chose one of her favorite brooches on loan from the Queen to accompany the monarch to this year's State Opening of Parliament. Crafted in diamonds, onyx, and carved rock crystal, the Art Deco pin belonged to the Queen Mother—this, too, she loved wearing on her hats.
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For Prince Philip's funeral earlier this year, the Duchess of Cornwall paid homage to her late father-in-law with the Silver Bugle Horn Brooch of the Rifles, an infantry regiment of the British Army that the Duke of Edinburgh was associated with for 70 years—he also served as its colonel-in-chief until 2020, after which he transferred his military title to Camilla.
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A closer look at the Silver Bugle Horn Brooch commissioned for the Duchess of Cornwall by the Rifles, which she wore for a portrait with the Riflemen earlier this month in Scotland. Set with 206 diamonds, the piece also features three emeralds that adorn the bugle cords and sovereign's crown.
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Prince Charles reportedly bought a tiara and had it dismantled in order to create this stunning demi-parure for the Duchess of Cornwall. The necklace and earrings, which she wore to a state dinner in 2019, feature gleaming clusters of pear-, oval-, and marquise-cut diamonds.
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When British philanthropist and socialite Margaret Greville died in 1942, her incredible jewelry collection was bequeathed to the Queen Mother. One of the most notable treasures was the Greville Tiara, created by Boucheron in 1921, which became a favorite of the Queen Mother, who added more diamond clusters to the top of the diadem. Today it's on loan to the Duchess of Cornwall, who wears the piece for nearly every official Buckingham Palace affair, like for this reception for members of the Diplomatic Corps in 2019.
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Camilla (pictured here in 2018), first debuted this Diamond Moth Brooch in 2015. Its exact provenance is unknown, though it is likely an Art Deco piece from the 1930s.
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Camilla's love of Van Cleef & Arpels jewelry is well-documented. Along with her diamond Magic Alhambra earrings, she also has pieces in that motif in malachite and blue agate, along with several brooches. Also part of her personal VC&A cache: these diamond earrings and matching necklace from the maison's Snowflake High Jewelry collection, which she wore to a 2018 state banquet in Ghana.
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For a 2017 banquet at Buckingham Palace to celebrate the state visit of Spain's King Felipe and Queen Letizia, Camilla wore the Queen Mother's Greville Tiara, along with her Van Cleef & Arpels Snowflake earrings, one of her many multi-strand pearl chokers, and a diamond bracelet.
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The same tiara and pearl choker combination made an appearance on Camilla in late 2017 for the annual Diplomatic Reception at Buckingham Palace. For this, she opted for her pear-shaped diamond cluster earrings.
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In 1897, Queen Victoria's Hesse grandchildren presented the beloved monarch with the Hesse Diamond Jubilee Brooch to mark her 60th year on the throne. The gem—which features a heart design enclosing the number 60 in Cyrillic numerals, plus a cabochon sapphire stone on top and two additional sapphires suspended as pendants—hadn't been seen since, for more than a century, until the Duchess of Cornwall began wearing it in 2007. Here, she wore the brooch at the Olympia Horse Show in 2017.
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For the Duke of Wellington's Waterloo banquet in 2015, the Duchess of Cornwall wore two striking pieces from the Greville bequest (along with her beloved pear-drop earrings and go-to diamond bracelet): the Boucheron tiara and the incredible 5-row Festoon Necklace, which was first made by Cartier in 1929 as a 2-row piece—in 1938 Mrs. Greville returned to the maison to add another 3 rows of diamonds.
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Another look, from 2007, at the Duchess of Cornwall's extravagant taste in important diamonds. Her preference for the Greville pieces may also be explained by the fact that the Hon. Mrs. Greville was the godmother of Sonia Keppel, Camilla's grandmother.
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While Camilla's go-to topper is the Queen Mother's Greville Tiara, she has occasionally turned to her own family heirloom, the Cubitt Tiara, for certain royal events, as she did here in 2015. The gem belonged to her grandmother Sonia Keppel, whose own mother Alice was most famous for being the long-time mistress of King Edward VII.
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In 2012, Camilla wore her trusted Van Cleef & Arpels earrings for the Princes Trust Comedy Gala at Royal Albert Hall in London.
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Setting the stage early for many magnificent diamond displays to come, Camilla attended her first official function—a Buckingham Palace banquet for the Norwegian royal visit in 2005—wearing Queen Mary's over-the-top Delhi Durbar tiara, which had last been seen on the Queen Mother. She paired the topper with her diamond serpent necklace (with rubies for eyes), which was a gift from Prince Charles.
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Van Cleef & Arpels' diamond Cosmos brooches and matching earrings are also among many of the maison's jewels the Duchess of Cornwall has in her personal collection. She has two of the pins, one set in white gold and the other in yellow, which she often wears as a pair, like she did for the Buckingham Palace Garden Party in 2005 (she is also wearing the earrings, hidden behind her hair).
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In 2005, Prince Charles proposed to his longtime love with a 5-carat emerald-cut diamond ring that once belonged to the Queen Mother. Some have reported that she herself had received the gift from her husband, King George VI, when their daughter Elizabeth was born in 1926.
From the Greville Tiara to her Van Cleef & Arpels pieces, the future queen of England proves to have the most extravagant taste in diamond jewelry.