Dave kindly did some hunting and suggested it was HM's Pearl Trefoil brooch. Thank you Dave, and please accept my apologies for not replying earlier. I have had a busy time and then forgot during the excitement of seeing the Greville emerald tiara.
Recently I found 2 sharper images of HM in 1945 which allowed me to see that she was wearing a badge.
With a little more hunting in newspapers of the era I realised that HM was wearing the badge of the Grenadier Guards, which she received on 20 April 1942 following her appointment as Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadiers on 24 February 1942. See the Royal Collection https://www.rct.uk/collection/2999910/princess-elizabeth-b-1926-as-colonel-of-the-grenadier-guards for the details.
The first time HM wore the brooch in public was for her first inspection of the Grenadier Guards on 21 April 1942. There are numerous photos of her from this occasion. She wore another Grenadier badge on her hat for the occasion and the badge with the cypher of George VI was used as a badge/brooch.
RCIN 2999910 A formal portrait to mark the occasion.
The badge was worn frequently throughout the war era and immediately afterwards.
1944
1944
1945
HM has continued to wear the badge on appropriate occasions.
2003
2006
2013
As we would expect there is an entry on the Queen's Jewel Vault site about this brooch, and in the comments section there is a photo showing HM wearing this at an evening reception http://queensjewelvault.blogspot.com/2013/06/grenadier-guards-badges.html
Below is the best image I have been able to do of a close up of the badge
590
Responses
« Back to index | View thread »