Monday was Commonwealth Day, an annual celebration for the Commonwealth of Nations’ 2.5 billion citizens and, for obvious reasons, a day honored by the British royal family. Camilla, Queen Consort, and Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales, both wore a very special set of royal jewels, both in the form of extravagant sapphire and diamond brooches totaling over $1 million in high-end jewelry.
Maxwell Stone of Steven Stone Jewelry spoke to Page Six Style about the brooches worn by both royals, their importance, and the approximate worth of each item. Kate wore the Prince of Wales feather pin with her patterned navy Erdem skirt suit, which is set with blue sapphires and little white diamonds, rubies, and emeralds meant to “represent the Welsh flag.”
The piece was given to Princess Alexandra of Denmark upon her marriage to King Edward VII in 1863 and is estimated to be worth $400,000, according to Stone. Soon-to-be Queen Camilla’s brooch was even more extravagant: a magnificent sapphire-and-diamond sparkler known as the Russian Sapphire Cluster Brooch was attached to her royal blue Fiona Clare outfit.
Stone values this brooch at $680,000 because it has “18 large diamonds” and “a large eight to ten sapphire stones” placed in a delicate gold setting. Kate completed her appearance with a $425 Emmy London Natasha purse, $775 Gianvito Rossi shoes, and a set of sapphire-and-diamond flower earrings that belonged to Princess Diana. Each earring features two round sapphires ringed by tiny diamonds.
Camilla wore a blue Philip Treacy hat that matched her coat, black leather gloves, and modest pearl earrings in the style of the late Queen Elizabeth II. On this Commonwealth Day, Kate and Camilla reminded the world just how much the royal family still has to give, at least in terms of jewelry.