The queen who turned a strange Victorian gem into the jewel win of 2024

While royal watchers often eagerly await reports of which tiaras royals are wearing to events, there are so many other historic and gorgeous pieces of jewellery in the royal vaults. We are looking at some of the best jewellery appearances of 2024 today! 

Queen Maxima wears the Diamond and Pearl Devant de Corsage

In May, Queen Maxima of the Netherlands presented the King Willem I Awards in Zwolle and chose an heirloom piece for the event. The Dutch Diamond and Pearl Devant de Corsage is now worn as a substantial brooch but was originally part of a stomacher. The piece features a large diamond-studded bow with a round diamond at the centre, a particularly glittery choice. 

While the corsage can be worn in the pearl setting where a large pearl is suspended from the centre and a smaller diamond bow with two pearl drops is suspended from a diamond chain, the Dutch Queen chose the simple but still stunning diamond setting. 

Queen Camilla wears the Queen Mother’s Diamond Thistle Brooch

The King and Queen’s visit to Scotland was cut short by the General Election, with their typical week-long trip reduced to two days. While in Edinburgh, Queen Camilla chose one of the Queen Mother’s brooches for a special reception. 

For the event at Edinburgh Castle, Camilla wore the Queen Mother’s Diamond Thistle Brooch. The platinum and diamond brooch is in the shape of a thistle, the national flower of Scotland. After Queen Elizabeth II inherited the brooch upon her mother’s death in 2002, she gave the piece to her daughter-in-law. This has quickly become a go-to piece for Queen Camilla when she is in Scotland. 

Princess Amalia wears the Diamond Trellis Necklace 

The heir to the Dutch throne has been wearing more and more substantial pieces as she establishes herself as a working royal. Princess Catherina Amalia of the Netherlands joined her parents at the Council of State Dinner in September at Noordeinde Palace. Known to her family as Princess Amalia, she wore a pair of beautiful diamond drop earrings with a stunning necklace. 

Princess Amalia wore the Diamond Trellis Necklace. The necklace features over 100 small diamonds set in a trellis or lattice pattern, most likely made by German jeweller Koch around the year 1900. Notably, the largest diamonds can be swapped out for other stones if the wearer wants a colourful jewel.  The intricate but delicate necklace was a perfect choice for the young Princess of Orange. 

Queen Mary wears the Portrait Bracelet with Pearls

In October, King Frederik and Queen Mary of Denmark joined Crown Princess Victoria and Prince Daniel of Sweden and Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway in Berlin to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pan-Nordic Complex. 

Queen Mary wore a particularly historic piece from the Danish collection, the Portrait Bracelet with Pearls. This nine-strand pearl bracelet features a miniature portrait of the future Queen Josefina of Sweden and Norway surrounded by diamonds. 

Queen Letizia wears the Joyas de Pasar Diamond Collet Necklace 

The Joyas de Pasar are a group of pieces of jewellery that are owned privately by the Spanish Royal Family and only worn by the current Queen of Spain. For a new portrait released in November, Queen Letizia of Spain chose one of the necklaces from the collection, the diamond collet necklace.

This collet necklace of round diamonds can be worn at several different lengths- Letizia chose the shorter length for this portrait. Although she did not choose to wear a tiara for the Annie Leibowitz portrait, it is more than appropriate that she wore a piece from this collection for queens.