Europe's Royals

The Royals & Kiki

The first British royal to wear Kiki McDonough was the Duchess of York in 1986. The Duchess arrived at Bordeaux airport wearing an onyx heart and bow earrings with a pearl and onyx crystal heart necklace. 

Not long after that appearance, the late Diana, Princess of Wales, began to wear Kiki jewellery, and was photographed in a pair of Kiki earrings in 1990 on a state visit with First Lady, Barbara Bush.

With the icon status that Diana held, it was not too long before the name of Kiki McDonough was brought into the light as her jewellery box became filled with the jewels from this designer. 

Kiki describes her relationship with the British royal family a ‘joy’ and never downplays the value of having a member of the Royal Household wearing her designs.

The Kate Effect

Whilst Catherine, the Princess of Wales was not the first royal to wear Kiki McDonough, she was the royal that coincided with the growth of online media. It is no secret that British businesses have had an uplift in sales whenever the Princess wears their product, the aptly coined ‘Kate Effect’.

Kiki McDonough is often credited as being one of the Princess’ favourite jewellery designers, with Catherine having over 20 pieces of jewellery and has even debuted a pair of earrings recently after all these years since her marrying into the royal family.

The Coronation

Kiki was commissioned to create a cypher brooch for Queen Camilla and her ladies-in-waiting - one of which was worn by the Queen’s sister, Annabel Elliot, at King Charles III’s coronation on May 6th, 2023.

Swedish Processional Necklace

When i saw this ask, this was the first piece of jewel I thought about. I've always loved this necklace and the design of it with the different gems of sapphires and pearls with the gold.

Known as the ‘intågssmycket’ in Swedish, this spectacular necklace composed of pale blue Ceylon sapphires, pearls, and diamonds set in gold was a gift to the newlywed Crown Princess Victoria, to be worn on her procession into the city of Stockholm after her Wedding to Crown Prince Gustav ~ The Royal Watcher

2. Princess Sofia's Wedding Tiara

Credit: The Royal Watcher

This may be cheating, but is anyone doing it like her? I can't get other the amount of different toppings she's had for her wedding tiara and there is more to come, i'm sure of it.

I don't think I could pick favourites, but i do love the turquoise and the topaz toppings.

3. Queen Caroline Amalie's gold tiara

Another person doing it like no other is Queen Mary, wearing jewels that haven't been worn for 140 years is something and we love to see it.

It's not the 'prettiest' but i love the vibe it brings and Mary wore it very well. The medieval feel is so cool and I just like how different it is.

4. Sri Lankan Navaratna Brooch

This brooch is personally one of my favourites, I have such a soft spot for it and I think the pastel colours of the stones are just the prettiest.

The exhibition is intended to tell the story of the history, ownership, wearing (by both women and men) and storing and the makers of royal jewels from the sixteenth to the twentieth century.

In addition to jewels, the exhibition is expected to include portraits, photos, documents and furniture in which the jewels have been kept.

No dates have yet been set, but the current exhibition at the King’s Gallery in London, of Queen Elizabeth’s wardrobe, will run until 18 April next year and is expected to be followed by an exhibition on miniatures, so I suppose it will not be until at least the autumn of 2027.

Side note: isn't it weird there was an ask only recently about putting jewels on display lol

I know the website is going through a revamp - a lot of the items do not have pictures, especially coloured pictures.

I suppose they have some jewels of Queen Mary of Scots right ?

I imagine there will be a lot of men's jewels and I do hope we don't see jewelled items/ jewelled badges - no, i want pieces of jewellery thank you!!

There are a few items that are old:

King Charles I's ring

Reported Charles II Ring

Set of jewels given away by Mary of Scots and then reached Queen Mary

Queen Charlotte's ring

Ring given to the Prince of Wales

There are also a lot of mourning jewels and jewels gifted to Queen Victoria as well as jewels in general from the 19th century onwards but before that nothing too major.

I wouldn't mind seeing Catherine in one of the two. The first paired with Queen Mary's choker would be matching as both have cabochon emeralds. The second....I think she will have to go full diamond for the rest of the jewels unless Camilla lends her aquamarine set. Or are there aquamarine earrings and necklace in the royal vault that are not part of the Brazilian parure?

Charles needs to enrich the vault with missing coloured stones in the collection.

Yeah, I hope so too, they attended the Royal Variety Show last year so they won't be attending this year, which should free her schedule hopefully.

I think the Queen has another diamond and aquamarine bracelet that does look lovely. It would also be a lovely moment to debut some of Diana's aquamarine jewels maybe, like these earrings.

The Queen Mary’s sapphire sunray tiara would be a nice debut from Catherine as well.

I have some slight hope for Charles to add to the collection and unfortunately he's the only one I can see doing it now.

Great George (cheated a little because this one is a badge)

The 1819 inventory described the badge as 'A very large Brilliant George with rubies, saphires [sic] in the drapery & Brilliant Fleur-de-lis at top'. There is no other provenance for the piece and it has been little worn, as later sovereigns have preferred other, lighter, badges.

There is the lesser George as well.

2. RAF Dacre Brooch

I know a lot of people don't like this, but I really love it and she wears it so well.

The Princess of Wales was presented with the RAF Dacre Brooch in December 2015 at her appointment as the Honorary Air Commandant after Prince Philip stepped down from his position. The brooch features a crown and RAF designed in diamonds adorned with ruby in two leaves set in a circle of diamond. 

3. Brigade of Guards Brooch

I love the meaning behind the brooch and it is quite pretty with all the diamonds surrounding it.

Known as the Brigade of Guards Brooch or the Guards’ Badge, rendered in diamonds and topped by a crown, the piece combines the badges of the five Household Regiments: the Grenadier, Coldstream, Scots, Irish, and Welsh Guards, all enclosed in an oval frame bearing the words QUINQUE JUNCTA IN UNO, meaning “five joined as one”. Created for Queen Mary, an identical piece was also given to her daughter, Princess Mary, in 1922, and the Queen began wearing the Brooch in 1987, when she stopped wearing Uniform for Trooping the Colour.

4. Britannia Brooch

Not necessarily military themed but the personification of Britannia is on a couple of military regiments.

It was a Silver Anniversary gift (1992) from her husband, Prince Henrik, who designed them.

The central element can be detached to be worn as a brooch.

The central element/brooch features a man and a woman formina a heart with their bodies.

The lock is a heart of solid gold, decorated with axis of grain and vines, symbolising Denmark and France.

NEW: Queen Camilla visited Norfolk to see the Emmaus Norfolk and Waveney centre, which she is patron of.

For the occasion, HM debuted another piece from her ever growing Van Cleef & Arpels collection, the 'Lucky Spring Butterfly Clip'.

Lucky Spring Butterfly clip, 18K yellow gold, lapis lazuli, blue and green agate, white mother-of-pearl.

Star Brooches

Queen Emma

There are 2 sets that were gifted to Queen Emma on the occasion of her wedding:

- 5 diamond 12-pointed stars

- 5 diamond 10-pointed star

✨️ 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 👑 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 ✨️

Balmoral Tartan

It's the Royal Gamily's official tartan and is inrended to be worn exclusively by the members of the Royal Family. The tartan was first designed by Prince Albert in 1853.

King Charles III Tartan

''Intended for the private use of His Majesty King Charles III. The design is based on the Balmoral tartan sett, which dates from c.1850. The cloth ...... includes a central stripe motif (one broad and two narrow)''

Created in 2023.

The Duke of Rothesay (Hunting) tartan

There are 2 Duke of Rothesay tartans: the original one is predominantly red with green stripes. The Hunting one has the colours reversed.

Strathearn tartan

Use by The Earl and Countess of Strathearn

Lord of The Isles Tartan

When the then HRH Prince Charles held the title Lord of the Isles would wear this tartan when visiting Scotland.

The Stewart Hunting Tartan

This tartan is distinct in that it is available for anyone without a clan tartan of their own to wear.

Royal Stewart tartan

Queen Elizabeth II's official tartan

Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Tartan

Glas-Allt-Shiel

on Loch Muick

Privately owned by the Monarch

Location in relation to Balmoral Castle

Balmoral Estate

It is located in the countryside of Aberdeenshire and is part of the Balmoral Estate, private property of the monarch.

Queen Elizabeth II has spent some of her Scottish summer breaks at the lodge rather than at Balmora Castle.

The Garden Cottage

Tam-Na-Ghar

Located not far from Balmoral, this cottage was built with stone and wood from the property and it was completed in 1895.

👆here on the left is the cottage position to the Castle. On the right there are the kitchen gardens created by Prince Philip, the greenhouse and the conservatory. In the middle, the Water Garden and the Thistle Maze (the latter created by King Charles III).

The Honka Hut

The Honka Hut overlooks Glenbeg burn on the Balmoral Estate in Ballochbuie Forest, near Braemar. The wood cabin was gifted to HM Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip by the Finnish Forest Industry as a 25th wedding anniversary gift in the 1970s.

Photo taken by The Princess of Wales and shared as a tribute to Prince Philip on the occasion of his death.

B. 15th August 1950

Cottages for rent

Tigh Na Garaidh Cottage

Located in the Castle Kitchen Gardens

Connachat Cottage

3 miles west to Balmoral Castle

Garbh Allt Shiel

Karim Cottage

Built for Munshi Abdul Karim, Queen Victoria's private secretary from India

Rhebreck Lodge

Located in Craith Church

The next 3 cottages are situated in a place overlooking the River Muick, near Ballater.

Milton of Braichlie Farmhouse

Milton of Braichlie Farmhouse

Milton of Braichlie Stable Cottage

Sterinbeg Cottage

In Glen Muick