So far I cannot find photos of QEQM wearing this brooch before 1959. After that time, it was one of the most favoured of HM's brooches worn regularly for important events, as well as "every day" events.
Apart from what I refer to as the emerald palm tree brooch, there is little evidence of QEQM wearing a large emerald brooch immediately after WWII.
One possibility is the brooch QEQM wore to the wedding of King Peter of Yugoslavia in March 1944. I stress this is a possibility only as I have found conflicting information about HM's attire for this event.
Tatler 29 March 1944 said that HM's dress was a fuchsia colour.
The Daily Mirror 21 march 1944 said that the colour of HM's dress was cafe au lait. Crucially, for this discussion, the paper also reported HM as wearing an emerald brooch.
Photos of the wedding are scare and not very sharp. (perhaps a high resolution photo would clarify things!)
In the photo below it can be seen that QEQM is wearing a brooch with a diamond border surrounding a squarish central stone, which appears to be set on the diagonal. This brooch is definitely not the Albert sapphire or the large sapphire which may have been given to Princess Diana.
Comparison of gemstones.
It is possible that the gemstones in what is referred to as the Greville emerald brooch might have come from Mrs Greville and even that the central emerald might have been mounted as a brooch. Another alternative is that the emerald is detachable and can be worn separately as a brooch, but we have no direct evidence of that. If the brooch had existed from when QEQM inherited the jewels in 1942 it seems odd that HM was not seen to wear it during eras (such as the coronation of QEII) when QEQM was wearing much of her significant jewellery for various events.
So far I have no definite information that the brooch QEQM wore to the wedding of King Peter was an emerald. I feel that we need to re-examine photos of HM from this period to see if the brooch can be spotted and if there is any description of HM's attire and jewels for the occasion.
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