From 1943 onwards during WWII Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother frequently wore a spectacular diamond thistle brooch. Usually HM wore it on her hat.

Until the Duchess of Cornwall wore the brooch in New Zealand I suspect that few of us had any idea of how much this brooch sparkles and what an impact it must have had during the war years when female fashions (and in particular QEQM's clothes) featured subdued colours.

Duchess of Cornwall


Pinned to QEQM's hats, the brooch would have focused all eyes on her, and being a national symbol would have been interpreted as a patriotic gesture by the community at large.

1943


1943


1944


After the war the Queen continued to wear the brooch on her hat.

By chance I stumbled across the image below showing HM at the Braemar Games in 1949. On that occasion she was wearing it as a conventional brooch on her lapel.



Has anyone ever come across other occasions where QEQM wore the brooch on her dress?