The brooch was presented to Princess Margaret at a luncheon in Victoria on 15 July 1958 during the tour of British Columbia, Canada, as a gift from the people of British Columbia.
The brooch is based on the Pacific Dogwood blossom, the floral emblem of British Columbia. See https://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/library/documents/treebook/pacificdogwood.htm
Some Dogwood blossoms have only 4 bracts surrounding the flowers; others have six. The brooch presented to Princess Margaret has six bracts.
[This segment was taken from an image posted by Maridje in 2019. Please see below for the link]
The flowers in the centre of the bracts are outlined in brown diamonds, and to my eye it looks as if the flowers themselves are done in yellow diamonds. The 6 bracts are set with white diamonds and the leaves are set with emeralds. Instead of gold, platinum was used.
It is possible that Princess Margaret wore this brooch during that tour of Canada; however, the first positive identification I could make of the brooch was when the Princess was photographed on her return to London.
From that time the brooch was worn regularly by Princess Margaret. It wasn't among the jewels auctioned by Christie's so it may still be with one of Princess Margaret's children.
For the best collection of photos of this brooch see the ones posted by Maridje in 2019. See https://mb.boardhost.com/historyroyaljewels/msg/1551098152.html
637
Responses
« Back to index | View thread »