Description
The Princess of Wales wore The Queen’s Three Strands Pearl Necklace for the first time in September 2022 when she joined The Royal Family at Buckingham Palace to receive Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin that traveled from Scotland.
She again wore the necklace a few days later at the Governors-General Lunch hosted at Buckingham Palace. The pearls are a symbol of mourning and date back to Queen Victoria’s reign. More from the article,
When Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert died in 1861, she was so overwhelmed by grief, that she wore all black for the rest of her life, a period that spanned almost 40 years. Her head-to-toe black ensembles were broken only by the occasional piece of jewelry. Most of it was black, or colorless, but Queen Victoria also wore white pearls, as they were considered to denote purity and tears.
To mourn the loss of both her daughter Princess Alice in 1878, as well as Prince Albert, Queen Victoria wore brooches made with their initials, and a jet-black pendant set with a single, white pearl, establishing a tradition that has lasted until the present day.
As a monarch, Queen Elizabeth followed court protocol rigidly. Following the tradition set by Queen Victoria, she wore pearls to attend the funeral of her uncle, the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII in 1972. His abdication forced his brother, the queen’s father, onto the throne as King George VI. At the Duke of Windsor’s funeral, both Queen Elizabeth and the Queen Mother wore pearls.
The necklace seems to be one from a large collection of Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty’s Jewel Vault has discussed Queen Elizabeth II’s pearl necklaces in detail here. People Magzine got a confirmation from Buckingham Palace that The Princes of Wales in fact wore a pearl necklace that once belonged to The Queen.
The Queen owned many three-strands-pearl necklaces so it’s hard to say which one is exactly from the collection. The Court Jeweller (Lauren Kiehna) thinks it was the necklace that Queen wore at the 2012 Royal Windsor Horse Show during the Diamond Jubilee celebrations (shown below). I will update this post once I found more about the origin of these pearl necklaces.
