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Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Queen Anne and Queen Caroline pearls??
Posted by Beth on January 11, 2020, 9:07 am
I found this photo of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother on the Royal Collection site.
According to the Royal Collection curators HM was attending a garden party at Bulawayo during the South African tour of 1947.
HM's pearl necklace/s caught my attention.
Could it be that she was wearing the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline necklaces?
What do others think?
I cannot place HM's brooch either. Has anyone any ideas?
For those who want to compare the pearls below is a photo of the Queen Anne and Queen Caroline pearls.
Re: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Queen Anne and Queen Caroline pearls??
A very good post Beth. The late Queen Mother was pictured with pearls from very early on her royal life. So they are so many pearl necklaces it would be hard to decipher.
I think that the brooch which can be seen in the image posted by Franck is one of the Cartier ruby brooches.
Part of Franck's image (posted to help people visualise)
The first point I think is important is that the image has been hand coloured and "touched up", so that it is not a 100% accurate reproduction of the original photo.
The ensemble worn by Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother was in fact pink.
HM wore the dress and matching coat numerous times during 1947. (Some times she wore only the dress). The dress and coat are so distinctive that both are easily recognised in photos.
On all but one of the occasions, which I have found, QEQM wore either both or one of the Cartier ruby brooches. On one occasion she wore the Cartier Palm leaf (Paisley) brooch.
Proof that the ensemble was pink
1. HM wore the outfit for Gold Cup Day at Ascot
According to Tatler HM's dress was pink and she wore the ruby brooches.
2. Among other occasions when QEQM wore this outfit was the return to the UK and the balcony appearance at Buckingham Palace after the South African tour.
All the numerous press reports state that QEQM was wearing a pink outfit. For example
Because the hand tinting in the image Franck posted was done to indicate a blue dress, the rubies show as a darker blue inside the outer ring of diamonds. The diamond elements above the central motif have also been made darkish. What looks like a shadow to the lower left hand side of the central element is all that can be seen of the second ruby and diamond element in the brooch. When I looked carefully, I could discern part of the lower diamond leaves of the brooch showing through the fern in HM's bouquet.
I was interested to note that the second smaller part of one of the brooches is not always immediately discernible in photos. In part that is because of the angle from which some photos have been taken, but possibly light exposure may also play a part. I suspect that in the image Franck posted it is the fact that the photo has been taken from the right hand side which has resulted in the second element appearing as a shadow.
I will post some more images of HM wearing the dress and brooches to give an idea of what I am suggesting may have given us a mistaken idea. The photos above of HM on the balcony of Buckingham Palace and at Gold Cup Day at Ascot show that the diamond elements did not always show up clearly in photographs.
Below HM is wearing a different dress and coat, but the photo shows part of the ruby element obscured from view.
Re: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Brooch worn in Bulawayo
The photo which I initially posted in this thread showed QEQM at a Garden Party at Bulawayo during the South African tour of 1947.
Apart from HM's pearls, I was interested in her brooch.
As my post immediately above would suggest, I don't think that the brooch is the one Franck has been trying to identify.
I think that Bryce was correct when he mentioned that it might have been a badge.
I haven't had time to do a newspaper search to see if the King and Queen inspected troops and, if so, which ones, but it seems highly likely. That was one the many things which they did in South Africa, and also visiting and acknowledging those who fought in WWII.
I wonder if QEQM might have been wearing her Black Watch badge and that the top diamond portion has faded into the background of HM's dress? I think I can make out something at the bottom of the jewel.
Other images of HM wearing the Black Watch badge.
Re: Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother. Brooch in Franck's image
on January 11, 2020, 9:07 am
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