7 Royal Jewels Too Ugly for Queen Elizabeth! – HT
Seven jewels too ugly for Queen Elizabeth. Not every jewel ever placed in her hands was adored. Some glittered with history, yet carried messages the queen disliked. A choker that strangled her grace, a tiara too modern to be royal, earrings too plain for her crown. She valued elegance over spectacle, and she never hesitated to turn away.
What good is brilliance if it clashes with a monarch’s soul? These are the seven jewels Queen Elizabeth II disliked most and almost never wore. But why were they too ugly for her? That’s what we will discover today. So, let’s start. [Music] Kent Amethyst Peru. A jewel of breathtaking scale, the Kent Amethyst Peru dazzles with its deep violet stones set in gold and diamonds.
The demi Peru includes a commanding necklace, earrings, three brooches, and a pair of hair combs. Yet among all the treasures in the royal vaults, this is one sweet Queen Elizabeth II quietly disliked. Why? Because to her, Amethyst carried the wrong message. Associated with mourning, with loss, and with semnity, the queen is said to have had an aversion to them, especially the towering amethyst tiara once worn by her grandmother, Queen Mary.
The history of this pur runs deep. First owned by the Duchess of Kent, mother of Queen Victoria, the jewels appeared at grand weddings and portraits in the mid-9th century. They later became heirlooms of the crown reserved for queens themselves. Queen Alexandra dawned the necklace in 1902, and Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother, cautiously revived parts of the set during wartime.
When the jewels passed to Elizabeth II in 1952, expectations rose, but she wore the complete suite only once. During a state visit to Portugal in 1984, apart from rare outings such as the US state visit in 1991 or her 40th accession anniversary in 1992, the perur never became a staple. And yet, despite her distaste, the queen often reached for one piece, the single brooch without pendants, still a regular favorite.
which raises the question, will the grand amethyst tiara ever shine again? Perhaps not. [Music] Japanese diamond pearl choker. The Japanese pearl suite may glitter with royal prestige, but it carried a subtle tension in Queen Elizabeth II’s collection. Designed by Gerard in the 1970s, the set was made from pearls gifted by the Japanese government.
Its centerpiece, a four strand pearl choker with a bold diamond clasp, was paired with a matching bracelet. Elegant, yes. But unlike her long single strands or triple rows of pearls, the choker cut sharply at the neck, and that was where the queen’s dislike quietly surfaced. Elizabeth adored pearls, but chokers did not flatter her regal silhouette, nor her high- necked gowns.
They shortened the line of her neckline, a look she rarely favored. And perhaps behind palace walls, there lingered unease after Princess Diana once wore a royal emerald choker dramatically as a headpiece, reportedly irritating the queen. So while the Japanese suite was undeniably valuable, it was worn sparingly, almost reluctantly.
One of her rare outings with it came in Bangladesh in 1983, paired with the girls of Great Britain and Ireland tiara. She wore it again in Canada in 1984 and later in the 1990s for dinners at Clarages in the Chinese embassy. Yet compared to her daily pearls, the suite always felt like a guest piece in her jewel box.
Today, the Japanese pearl suite finds new life in the hands of Catherine, Princess of Wales. From Windsor Castle’s anniversary dinner to the state funeral of Queen Elizabeth, and recently at the Duchess of Kent funeral, Princess Catherine has worn it with striking grace. And so a jewel the queen disliked may yet find its true champion in the next generation.
Five Aquamarine tiara. The five aquamarine tiara is one of those rare royal pieces that dazzles in design yet failed to win the heart of the queen herself. With its five striking oval aquamarines framed in diamond ribbons and bows, the tiara was dramatic, perhaps too dramatic. Unlike her beloved Brazilian aquamarine tiara, which radiated grandeur and balance, this aquamarine ribbon tiara felt oddly modern, even theatrical.
For Queen Elizabeth II, who valued timeless elegance, it simply wasn’t royal enough. Its origin only deepened the enigma. No official records detail who commissioned it when it entered the royal vaults, or whether its aqua marines hailed from Brazil like her other set. This lack of pedigree paired with its unconventional shape may explain why the queen quietly set it aside.
She wore it publicly just once 1970 during a banquet in Yellow Knife on her Canadian tour. After that evening, it disappeared from view for over four decades. When it resurfaced, it wasn’t on the Queen, but on the then counters of Wessix, who carried it with elegance at royal weddings in Luxembourg, 2012, and Sweden, 2013, and again at a Singapore state banquet.
Most recently, both the Duchess of Edinburgh and Queen Camila have brought it back into rotation. Yet, one question lingers. If even the late Queen disliked it, will this aquamarine oddity ever escape its shadow of disfavor? Empress Maria Fodderon’s sapphire choker consisting of four rows of pearls held together by 20 diamond bars and finished with an angular sapphire and diamond clasp that could even detach into bracelets.
On paper, Empress Maria Theodora’s sapphire choker was every inch a royal treasure. Yet, Queen Elizabeth II disliked it. Chokers never suited her taste. She found them restrictive, old-fashioned, and almost theatrical. Perhaps that is why this striking heirloom, though glittering with history, appeared around her neck only once in her reign before vanishing into the shadows of her jewel vault.
Its story, however, is no less dramatic. The choker once belonged to Empress Maria Fyodorovna of Russia, who was photographed wearing it in the 1890s alongside her sisters. Against the backdrop of revolution, it became one of the few jewels she escaped Russia with, keeping it until her death in 1928. Queen Mary, always keen to preserve dynastic gems, acquired it for £6,000 and wore it occasionally in the 1930s.
When the piece passed to Queen Elizabeth in 1953, it barely saw daylight. The Queen’s distaste for chokers meant it soon found a new home. Her daughter, Princess Anne. Unlike her mother, Anne adored the drama of the design, wearing it for milestones like her 50th birthday and even Prince William’s wedding gala.
And so, a jewel once rejected by a queen continues to sparkle, just never on the neck it was meant for. Queen Victoria’s wheat ear brooches, three mirrored pairs of diamond wheat stalks, gleaming, intricate, yet overwhelmingly large. That was the design of Queen Victoria’s wheat ear bes, a set that Queen Elizabeth II is said to have disliked.
Why? Their sheer size made them difficult to wear gracefully. Unlike her preference for subtle yet commanding jewels, these brooches felt cumbersome. She wore them only sparingly, perhaps once or twice, often to pin a sash, or in rare moments of creativity woven into her hair in place of a tiara. But the truth remained.
The queen never warmed to them. Their history, however, is illustrious. Ordered in 1830 by King William IV for Queen Adelaide. Crafted by Rondell and Bridge with diamonds from the family collection, they later became part of Queen Victoria’s formal attire, glistening at grand weddings. After Victoria’s death, they passed through the crown worn memorably by the Queen Mother in Paris in 1938.
By 1952, they landed with Elizabeth, who despite her reigns grandeur, left them mostly in the shadows. Their rarest reappearance came in 2018 when she loaned three to Princess Eugenie for her wedding day. A jewel cherished by history, but never by the queen herself. Queen’s pearrop diamond earrings. Composed of two luminous pear-shaped drops suspended from smaller diamonds.
The Queen’s peardrop earrings should have been a classic triumph, but they never won her heart. Why? Some say their modest size pald in comparison to the grander coronation diamond earrings she so often favored. Others whisper that after lending them to Diana, then Princess of Wales, the Queen no longer wished to reclaim them, almost as if the sparkle had shifted to another era.
First seen on Queen Elizabeth in 1968 at the premiere of Lord Mountbatton: A Man for the Century, the earrings made a brief glittering appearance and then quietly vanished from her jewel box. In 1983, Diana revived them spectacularly. Once with the Spencer tiara and a polka dot Catherine Walker gown in Oakuckland and again days later with Queen Mary’s Lovers Not Tiara.
After those dazzling outings, the earrings disappeared from public view. Where are they now? Hidden in the royal vaults, untouched. A jewel once too delicate for a queen, yet unforgettable in the hands of a princess. Queen Mother Cartier Bracelet Bando. A jewel of striking ingenuity, the Cartier Bracelet Bando dazzled as a choker-like tiara made from five art deco diamond bracelets.
Yet for all its brilliance, Queen Elizabeth disliked them. She was never a bracelet or bangles woman. Her style was tiara’s forever wrapped in royal grace. Unlike her mother, who adored stacking all five bracelets and even mounting them as a bold bando in the glittering 1920s, Elizabeth found the effect far too loud, too restless.
Her taste lean toward understated majesty, and she preferred to slip on just one or two bracelets at a time, never the full spectacle. History tells a different story. The Duke of York gifted the bracelets to his duchess between 1923 and 1925, and the Queen Mother embraced them in portraits, ballet galas, and state events.
But when the jewels passed to Queen Elizabeth in the 1970s, the Bando form virtually disappeared. She wore it as a tiara only a handful of times, quietly setting it aside in favor of more classic diadems. Today, the legacy has shifted. The late queen’s Cartier bracelets now shimmer on Queen Camila, most recently at the celebration of Shakespeare in 2024, restoring their stage in royal life.
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