The Queen has a jewellery collection that is unrivalled, and has more diamonds and pearls than any one person could hope to wear. However, some stones are rather under-represented in her collection (or to our knowledge, at least). The Queen’s jewellery vaults only contain a few amethyst pieces. Whether or not it is because she dislikes them or they weren’t commonly added to the royal collection, we only know of one set in the collection today. Just in time for Easter, let’s look at Queen Elizabeth II’s amethyst jewellery!
In the Victorian and Edwardian periods, purple was considered a colour of mourning. Queen Alexandra wore a great deal of amethyst jewellery after the death of her eldest son in 1892 (along with lilac clothing, like the dress below). Unfortunately, most of her amethyst pieces were auctioned off by her descendants.
The Kent Demi-Parure Set
Interestingly, the only remaining amethyst set in the royal jewellery vaults is actually the oldest set in the Queen’s collection. Given that for quite some time, amethysts were some of the most popular gemstones in the world, it is odd that she does not have more
In its original state, the full demi-parure consisted of a necklace, a set of earrings, three brooches, and a pair of hair combs. In The Queen’s Jewels: The Personal Collection of Elizabeth II, author Leslie Field notes, “[t]he central pendant with its small diamond drop matches the earrings, and the sunray design of diamonds surrounding the two side stones in the necklace is the same as that around the brooch.” (The Queen’s Jewels, 22.)
The set belonged to the Duchess of Kent, the mother of Queen Victoria. (You can actually see the duchess wearing the brooch in a 1839 miniature by Sir William Ross.) The Duchess left this set to her daughter who then in turn left it as an heirloom of the crown.
We most frequently see the Queen wearing one of the brooches on its own rather than the whole set. The only public occasion where she has been seen wearing more than one piece of the set at once was at a State Dinner in Portugal in 1985. She has worn the main brooch several times throughout her reign.
The Queen’s Other Amethyst Jewels
Field does explain that the Queen received an amethyst brooch in 1960 after opening The Queen’s Bridge in Perth. She describes it as “a miniature flower bouquet with seven amethyst buds surrounded by white and yellow gold ferns and grasses, with a central group of twelve freshwater mauve-tinted pearls from the River Tay.” (The Queen’s Jewels, 20.) I have not been able to find a photo of Elizabeth wearing the brooch; please leave a comment if you know of an event that she has worn it for!
She also has a pair of amethyst floral brooches that are a combination of amethysts and diamonds in yellow gold that are similar but not identical. We don’t know when The Queen added these to her collection, but she wore one of them for her 1993 Christmas address.
What do you think of Queen Elizabeth II’s amethyst jewellery?
Cheers,
The Historian
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