The Jewels That Vanished With the Queen Elizabeth II HT

For seventy years on the throne, Queen Elizabeth II shaped a visual language entirely her own — a world of carefully chosen jewels, each one woven into her image, her character, and her story. After her passing, many of these pieces slipped out of sight, as if they quietly dissolved along with the era she defined.

In this video, I’d like to revisit fifteen of those treasures — from the tiny clips she wore as a teenager to the towering Cullinan diamonds — and reflect on their history, their moments in the spotlight, and the place they held in her life. And perhaps the most natural place to begin is with the jewels that stood closest to her — the pieces that marked her earliest milestones and stayed with her for decades.

And the most intimate of them all is a piece she wore every single day. It began with a sacrifice. Prince Philip didn’t have a fortune, but he had a mother who adored him. Princess Alice of Battenberg gave him her own aquamarine and diamond tiara—a wedding gift from the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia—so he could dismantle it to create a future for his bride.

The ring he designed with the jeweler Philip Antrobus is a masterpiece of understatement: a three-carat brilliant-cut diamond flanked by smaller stones set in platinum. For seventy-five years, this ring never left her finger. It was there in the formal portraits, and it was there in the quiet moments at Balmoral.

There is a wonderful detail about this ring that always makes me smile—it wasn’t just jewelry, it was a tool of communication. It is said that if the Queen began twisting the ring on her finger, it was a discreet, secret signal to her staff that she was ready for a conversation to end. A polite, silent command.

Contrary to some persistent internet rumors, the Queen was not buried with this piece of history. It remains with the family, a tangible memory of a 73-year marriage. It feels strange to think of it sitting still in a box now, doesn’t it? While the ring was a private promise, the world needed a public declaration.

On July 9, 1947, when the engagement was officially announced, the young Princess stepped out in a dress of daffodil yellow silk. And while the cameras focused on her hand, there was another significant jewel pinned to her shoulder that day. The Diamond Clematis Brooch is a lovely six-petaled flower with a single diamond at its center.

What makes it so touching is its origin: it wasn’t a diplomatic gift from a head of state, but a present from the Household staff for her twenty-first birthday, just months before. She chose to wear their gift on the day she announced her future to the world. It speaks volumes about her character. She continued to wear this brooch for seventy years—to the polo, to the Epsom Derby, pairing it with bright monochromatic coats.

It looked just as fresh in the 21st century as it did in 1947. A year later, the narrative shifted from romance to the future of the dynasty. When Prince Charles was born in 1948, her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, marked the arrival of the future heir with a jewel that is pure joy. It’s known as the Flower Basket Brooch—a “giardinetti,” or little garden—filled with flowers made of diamonds, rubies, and sapphires.

She wore it for Charles’s very first official portrait, a young mother proudly displaying both her son and the symbol of her parents’ pride. Decades later, in 2013, she chose it again for the christening of his grandson, Prince George. It was a golden thread connecting the generations of kings. But since 2022, this colorful basket has gone dark.

It feels almost impossible to imagine it on anyone else, doesn’t it? It is so specifically tied to her role as a mother and a daughter, a relic of the family unit she held so dear. And finally, there is the brooch that perhaps holds the most poignant story of all. It is a piece that became the bookend to her greatest love story.

Before the wedding, in 1946, she received a Sapphire Chrysanthemum Brooch after launching an oil tanker. It seems like a standard official gift, but it became the visual definition of her marriage. She wore it at Broadlands during her honeymoon in 1947, strolling through the gardens with Philip, looking shy and deeply in love.

Sixty years later, for their Diamond Wedding Anniversary, they recreated that famous photo. Same setting, same look of affection, and pinned to her jacket was the very same sapphire chrysanthemum. It was her way of saying that nothing had changed. Since she left us, this brooch has not been seen. It was the “signature” of her youth and the symbol of her enduring devotion.

Perhaps some jewels are simply too full of memory to be worn by another. If the sapphire chrysanthemum marked the beginning of their journey, other jewels were acquired along the way, serving as markers of a maturing, modern partnership. Prince Philip wasn’t just a consort; he was a man with a distinct, forward-looking taste, a patron of design who championed the new over the traditional.

And nowhere is this clearer than in a gift he presented to her in 1966. This is the Grima Ruby Brooch, often called the “Scarab Brooch.” It is unlike anything else in the royal collection. Created by Andrew Grima, the revolutionary jeweler of 1960s London, it features a carved ruby centerpiece surrounded by an abstract, textured gold sunburst with scattered diamonds.

It’s bold, artistic, and wonderfully unconventional—a perfect reflection of Philip’s own modern spirit. For decades, it was a quiet favorite, worn for day-to-day engagements. But in her final years, the Queen seemed to turn to it with increasing frequency and significance. She chose it for her 2017 official portraits with Philip, marking their monumental 70th wedding anniversary.

And most heartbreakingly, she wore it for her first solo engagement after his funeral. It makes you wonder, doesn’t it? Was wearing this bold, modern jewel her private way of keeping his spirit close, a quiet signal that he was still with her? Alongside this avant-garde treasure, there was another piece that became a staple of her middle years, a jewel that radiated the warmth of a summer garden.

The Golden Dahlia Brooch, commissioned from Garrard in the early 1970s, is a masterpiece of matte gold and diamonds. While its exact origin remains a topic of debate—some believe it was a gift from Philip, others suggest her sister Margaret—it became an essential part of her wardrobe for over forty years.

This wasn’t a grand state jewel laden with centuries of history. It was a piece for garden parties, for visits to the Chelsea Flower Show, for bright coats and sunny days. It appeared in Christmas broadcasts and Easter services, a constant, cheerful presence. To see it sitting unworn now is to realize just how much of her daily image was built on these personal, beloved items.

They weren’t just accessories; they were the familiar beats in the rhythm of her reign. Now that the rhythm has stopped, the silence around these personal favorites feels particularly profound. While Prince Philip’s gifts told the story of their private life, other parts of the Queen’s collection were purely about the job.

These were the historic heirlooms, the pieces worn not for sentiment, but for the state. And a perfect example is a pair of earrings that date all the way back to the 1840s. These are Queen Victoria’s Pearl Drop Earrings. Gifted to her by Prince Albert in 1847, they feature large, perfect pear-shaped pearls suspended from diamond brilliants.

Victoria adored them and designated them as “Heirlooms of the Crown”—treasures that belong to the monarch, not the individual. But here is an interesting detail. After Victoria, these earrings essentially went into hibernation. Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary, and the Queen Mother were not known for wearing large drop earrings like these; they preferred different styles.

So when the young Queen Elizabeth II began wearing them soon after her accession, she was reviving a look that hadn’t been seen on a monarch for half a century. For Elizabeth, they became an essential part of her “uniform.” If you look at photos from State Openings of Parliament or Garter Day services, you will see them again and again.

She often paired them with the Golden Jubilee Necklace, creating a look of timeless authority that held its own even against the Imperial State Crown. Since 2022, they have been silent. It is unlikely we will see them on Queen Camilla, as she famously does not have her ears pierced. So the real question is: will we see them reappear on Catherine when she eventually becomes Queen? It will be fascinating to see if she decides to carry on this specific tradition.

From Victoria’s pearls, we move to the imposing diamonds of her granddaughter-in-law, Queen Mary. Mary was a connoisseur, a woman who understood the language of majesty better than anyone. And one of her most striking pieces was the Lover’s Knot Brooch. This isn’t a delicate little pin. It’s a substantial, architectural bow of diamonds, acquired from Garrard in 1932.

Elizabeth inherited it in 1953, and it quickly became a trusted companion for significant family and state events. She wore it to the wedding of her sister, Princess Margaret, in 1960—a day of high emotion. She chose it for state visits to Germany and the United States. And, in a moment that delighted royal watchers, she wore it to the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011.

It’s a brooch that seems to say “romance,” but in a very grand, sturdy, royal way. Given its name and history, many wonder if this piece might one day find its way to Catherine. It would be a fitting tribute, wouldn’t it? A “lover’s knot” for a future Queen who has already embraced the Lover’s Knot Tiara. Another bow from Queen Mary’s collection tells a story of even longer service.

The Dorset Bow Brooch was a wedding gift to Mary herself in 1893 from the County of Dorset. In 1947, Mary passed it to her granddaughter Elizabeth as a wedding present. It’s a beautiful, classic diamond bow, and for Elizabeth, it became a true constant. She wore it for the christening of Prince Charles in 1948.

She wore it for the wedding of Princess Anne in 1973. And perhaps most movingly, it became a fixture at the Remembrance Sunday services at the Cenotaph. Year after year, against a solemn black coat, the Dorset Bow held her poppies. It was a beacon of continuity in moments of national reflection. To see it gone is to feel the absence of that steady presence.

Like the Pearl Drop Earrings, it has vanished into the vaults, its future uncertain. But the most formidable of all these inheritances is Queen Mary’s Diamond Stomacher. This wasn’t just a jewel; it was a challenge. When Queen Mary passed this massive, multi-part ornament to her granddaughter in 1947, it was already a relic of a different age.

But Elizabeth found a practical way to make it her own. For decades, she almost exclusively wore just the bottom portion, detaching it to serve as a large, glittering diamond brooch. You’ve likely seen it in countless photos—it became a staple of her formal wardrobe, a manageable piece of history. It wasn’t until her Golden Jubilee in 2002, at a dinner at Windsor Castle, that she stunned everyone by reassembling the pieces and wearing the stomacher in its entirety.

It was a singular, breathtaking display of old-world splendor. Today, however, this piece faces a difficult future. Fashion has moved on; the rigid gowns required to support the full stomacher simply aren’t worn anymore. And even that recognizable bottom brooch, once so frequent, has fallen silent. It feels as though the sheer grandeur of this piece belongs to a specific era of monarchy—one that may have closed with Elizabeth.

From the heavy, historic diamonds inherited from her ancestors, we move to a completely different chapter. This is a story of mid-century glamour, international diplomacy, and a Queen who wasn’t just a guardian of the past, but a creator of her own legacy. We are talking about the Brazilian Aquamarine Parure—perhaps the only grand set of jewelry that Elizabeth II assembled and evolved entirely according to her own vision.

It began in the coronation year, 1953. The President and people of Brazil presented the young Queen with a gift that was nothing short of spectacular: a necklace and earrings featuring enormous, perfectly matched rectangular aquamarines set in diamonds. These weren’t just gemstones; they were liquid blue fire.

The necklace featured a massive detachable pendant that commanded attention. The Queen was so enchanted by the gift that she decided she needed a tiara to match. In 1957, she commissioned Garrard to create a bandeau-style tiara, incorporating three large aquamarines. For years, this elegant, modern set accompanied her on film premieres and state visits, from Malta to Brazil itself.

But the collection kept growing. In 1958, Brazil added a brooch and bracelet. Then, in 1968, the Governor of São Paulo presented her with a hair ornament. And this is where the Queen made a bold decision. In 1971, she had the tiara completely dismantled and rebuilt. The result was a towering masterpiece. The original necklace pendant was moved to the center of the tiara, replaced on the necklace by a smaller stone.

Four fan-shaped motifs, crafted from the Governor’s gift, were added to the frame. The new tiara was imposing, architectural, and exceptionally tall—a true “power tiara” that became one of the largest in her entire collection. She wore it for decades, right up until the Spanish state banquet in 2017. It was her creation, her signature.

But since her passing, this magnificent parure has vanished. And here lies a fascinating detail that has royal watchers whispering. We know that Queen Camilla is fond of aquamarines. In fact, for the Diplomatic Reception in November 2024, she surprised everyone by debuting an aquamarine tiara. But it wasn’t the grand Brazilian one.

Instead, she chose the much smaller, more delicate Aquamarine Ribbon Tiara—a piece Elizabeth II had worn only once in her entire life. Camilla paired it with her own private aquamarine necklace and earrings, leaving the Queen’s magnificent Brazilian parure untouched in the vault. Does this mean the Brazilian set is considered too iconic, too closely linked to Elizabeth’s personal image to be worn by anyone else just yet? Or perhaps its sheer size and mid-century boldness simply don’t fit the current Queen’s style? Whatever the reason, the silence of these great blue stones is deafening. The Queen’s most personal creation remains, for now, exclusively hers. While the grand tiaras tell a story of state, the brooches and smaller jewels speak of the woman behind the crown. They were her daily companions, the pieces she chose not for a banquet, but for a Tuesday. And perhaps the most personal of all are a pair of clips

that have been with her since before she was Queen. In 1944, the world was still at war. But in the private quarters of the royal family, there was a milestone to celebrate: Princess Elizabeth’s eighteenth birthday. For this occasion, her parents, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, presented her with a gift that was both practical and exquisitely beautiful: a pair of aquamarine and diamond clips.

They feature a classic Art Deco design, a geometric yet fluid combination of baguette, oval, and round stones that feels very much of its time. For decades, these clips were the subject of a persistent jewelry myth. Even the most seasoned experts, including Leslie Field in her definitive book The Queen’s Jewels, attributed them to Cartier.

It seemed like a safe bet; the style was quintessential Cartier, and the family frequented the firm. But in 2006, the Royal Collection set the record straight during a summer exhibition at Buckingham Palace. The curators revealed that these cherished clips were, in fact, by Boucheron. It is a wonderful reminder that even the most famous jewelry boxes can still hold secrets, and that sometimes, what we think is a fact is merely an educated guess waiting to be corrected.

The Queen wore these clips for her entire adult life. They were incredibly versatile—she wore them as separate clips on her collar, or sometimes joined together to form a single, substantial brooch. But it is the timing of their appearances that makes them so significant. She chose them for her Diamond Jubilee speech in 2012, a moment of national celebration.

Then, she selected them for her poignant televised address on the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020. But perhaps their most heartbreakingly beautiful appearance was in February 2022. On the 70th anniversary of her accession—the very day she marked seven decades without her father—she wore the aquamarine clips he had given her as a teenager.

It was a silent, sparkling tribute to the man whose legacy she had carried for so long, bringing her story full circle from an 18-year-old princess to a Platinum Queen. Since her passing, these constant companions have not been seen. From the cool blue of aquamarines, we turn to the warmth of rubies, and a piece that represents a very different side of the Queen’s collecting habits.

In 1964, the Queen made a significant move: she purchased a piece of jewelry herself. This was the Baring Ruby Necklace. It wasn’t a gift, it wasn’t an inheritance; it was a strategic acquisition bought at auction. The necklace has a very distinct look. It features three pendant drops set with flat-cut rubies.

This antique cut is quite different from the deep, faceted stones we see in modern jewelry; flat-cut stones have a softer, more subtle glow, sitting lighter against the skin. It is believed these pendants were originally earrings that were converted, which adds a lovely sense of history to the piece. For the Queen, this wasn’t just a pretty object; it was a necessary tool for the job.

In the 1960s, she lacked a substantial ruby necklace for state occasions, as the Crown Rubies were still with the Queen Mother. So, she bought the Baring necklace to fill that gap. It became a workhorse of her collection, a reliable partner for the Burmese Ruby Tiara or the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara.

She wore it for state visits to Germany and the United States, and often for the State Opening of Parliament. It’s a piece that speaks to her practical approach to building a functional royal wardrobe. But unlike the grand heirlooms, this was her purchase. Will it pass to the new Queen, Camilla, or perhaps to the Princess of Wales? Or will it remain, like so many of her personal acquisitions, quietly retired? And finally, there is a brooch that is a masterclass in modern versatility, a piece that proves the Queen was never afraid to experiment with her style: the Modern Ruby Spray. Its origins are a complete mystery—no one knows for sure where it came from or who made it. There are no records of it being a state gift, which suggests it might be another private purchase or a personal gift from within the family. But from its first appearance in 1965, it became a staple of her wardrobe for nearly sixty years. It is a dynamic design: a spray of gold and diamonds, set

with a slender, curving line of rubies that gives the piece a sense of movement. What made this brooch so special was how the Queen engaged with it. Usually, she pinned it with the spray fanning upwards, following the line of her shoulder. But in 2018, during a visit to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, she flipped the script.

She pinned the brooch pointing downwards. It was a small change, but it completely altered the look of the piece, turning it from a spray into something resembling a cascading flower or a firework. This brooch traveled the world with her, a reliable flash of red on countless Commonwealth tours and diplomatic visits.

Now, its journey has paused. Will we ever see it sprayed across a royal lapel again? If the previous jewels told stories of sentiment or artistic flair, our final chapter tells a story of sheer, unadulterated power. We are leaving behind the delicate clips and floral sprays to confront the absolute giants of the royal vault.

These are the diamonds that define the British monarchy’s material wealth. It all begins with a stone that was almost too large to comprehend. In 1905, the Cullinan Diamond was pulled from the earth in South Africa, a staggering 3,106 carats of rough blue-white diamond. It remains the largest gem-quality rough diamond ever found.

It was presented to King Edward VII, and the task of cutting it fell to the legendary Joseph Asscher in Amsterdam. The result was nine major stones, numbered I through IX. While the two largest sit in the Sceptre and the Imperial State Crown, the third and fourth largest—Cullinan III and IV—became the personal property of Queen Mary.

And Queen Mary, with her architectural eye, treated these massive stones almost like building blocks. Cullinan III is a pear-shaped drop of 94.4 carats; Cullinan IV is a square-cut cushion of 63.6 carats. Together, they weigh over 150 carats. Mary wore them everywhere. She set them in her Delhi Durbar Tiara.

She suspended them as a pendant from her coronation necklace. But most famously, she hooked them together to form the most valuable brooch in the world. When Queen Elizabeth II inherited these behemoths in 1953, she gave them a nickname that perfectly captures her dry wit and understated approach to grandeur.

She called them “Granny’s Chips.” A chip off the old block, indeed. But unlike her grandmother, who wore them with imposing regularity, Elizabeth treated them with extreme caution. For a young monarch in a modernizing world, pinning a glass of heavy water to one’s chest was perhaps a step too far for everyday wear.

Consequently, their appearances became vanishingly rare, which made the moments she did choose them all the more electric. One of the most significant outings was in 1958, during a state visit to the Netherlands. In a touching nod to history, the Queen wore the brooch to visit the Asscher workshop in Amsterdam.

She unpinned the brooch and handed it to Louis Asscher, the nephew of the man who had cut the original stone fifty years earlier. Aged 84, he was deeply moved that the Queen had brought the diamonds with her, knowing how much it would mean to him seeing them again after so many years. After that, they largely disappeared, emerging only for exhibitions or the rarest of portraits.

It seemed they had become museum pieces, too heavy and too valuable for the modern age. But then came 2012. To celebrate her Diamond Jubilee—marking sixty years on the throne—the Queen attended a Service of Thanksgiving at St Paul’s Cathedral. And there, pinned to her outfit, were Granny’s Chips. It was a masterstroke.

Nothing says “I have reigned for sixty years” quite like the effortless display of the world’s most impressive diamonds. Since that day, they have returned to the darkness of the vault. Now, the question hangs in the air: what happens to “Granny’s Chips” under the reign of King Charles III? These are not easy jewels to wear.

They require a certain stature, a certain fearlessness. For now, the giants sleep, waiting for a new era to call them forth. We often say that diamonds are eternal, destined to outlast us all. Yet some jewels become so intertwined with the woman who wore them that, once she is gone, they fall quiet. For seventy remarkable years, Queen Elizabeth II didn’t simply wore her treasures — she allowed them to settle into the rhythm of her life.

Some were tender family gifts, others were steeped in royal history, and many travelled with her through decades of state visits and public duty. Over time they became part of her silhouette, her constancy, her unmistakable presence. Now, there is a stillness around them. A kind of gentle hush in the royal vaults.

It’s true that Queen Camilla has already brought several grand parures back into the light, and the Princess of Wales wears the pieces personally loaned to her with such natural grace. Still, there remains a subtle hesitation — something you almost feel rather than see. A sense that certain jewels, the most personal and unmistakably “hers,” remain tucked away.

Some of them are simply too intimate: her engagement ring, or that charming Flower Basket brooch linked so closely to her young family. Others belong to an older aesthetic, like Queen Mary’s immense diamond stomacher — magnificent, but so far from today’s style that it may never leave the vault again. A few treasures could well return one day — perhaps the Baring rubies, or the Lover’s Knot brooch — yet for now they rest in silence.

And then there are those that seem, at least to me, quietly retired. It makes me wonder whether some of these pieces will remain unseen for many years. Maybe even across an entire generation. Some treasures, it seems, belong to Elizabeth alone — and that, in its own way, feels fitting. Thank you so much for walking through this history with me today.

It’s been a moving journey. Which of these missing pieces do you miss the most? If this quiet journey through her unseen jewels resonated with you, I would be very glad if you supported the video with a like or a subscription. Thank you for spending this time with me.