Princess Diana endures as a style icon to this day, pairing bold fashion-forward choices with some of the most dazzling pieces of jewellery in the royal collection. In the years since her early passing, her striking bling has since started to resurface and it appears that Camilla Parker-Bowles has redesigned a necklace famously worn by the late royal.
At the fiftieth anniversary of the investiture of Prince Charles earlier this year, the Duchess of Cornwall was seen wearing a dark green skirt suit - accessorised with pearls and a glittering diamond and emerald brooch. The brooch, which is called the Prince of Wales Feathers Brooch, is a redesigned version of a necklace Princess Diana wore back in 1986.
According to The Sun, the diamond and emerald necklace was a wedding present from the Queen Mother to Princess Diana when she married Prince Charles in 1981. The necklace, which she famously wore at an Austrian theatre performance paired with a sparkling green Catherine Walker sequin gown, featured a large diamond and dangling emerald pendant and dates back over 150 years.
Princess Diana was also known to wear the necklace with and without the emerald drop. For example, she wore it without the emerald while on a royal tour of Australia in 1983.
It’s believed that the pendant has since been incorporated into Camilla Parker-Bowles’ brooch, which she has been photographed wearing in the past: notably at the 2006 History Boys premiere and Trooping the Colour in 2015.
The emerald necklace (and now brooch) is said to be a royal family heirloom. It’s most likely part of The Firm’s collection, meaning it was probably gifted to Princess Diana on loan and returned to the family collection after she passed away.
Parker-Bowles is not the first member of the royal family to redesign pieces that Princess Diana has previously worn. For example, Kate Middleton is believed to have adapted Princess Diana’s sapphire stud and drop earrings; which were reportedly part of a large collection of sapphire pieces from the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia according to the Daily Mail.
They’ve since been seen on Kate as simple understated drop earrings.
Prince Harry also took two diamonds from Princess Diana’s personal trove and famously designed Meghan Markle’s wedding ring himself, which also features a third larger diamond from Botswana.
Prince Harry said to BBC shortly after their engagement announcement, “The ring is obviously yellow gold because that's [Markle's] favorite and the main stone itself I sourced from Botswana and the little diamonds either side are from my mother's jewellery collection, to make sure that she's with us on this crazy journey together.”
The engagement ring has since been updated with a new and resized pave diamond band by celebrity jeweller Lorraine Schwartz, which was a push present from Prince Harry. A source told Harper’s Bazaar, “Meghan was touched [by Harry’s gift].”
When Princess Diana passed away, she left a “letter of wishes” that reportedly left all of her jewellery to her sons Prince William and Prince Harry. The letter read, “I would like [my will executors] to allocate all my jewellery to the share to be held by my sons, so that their wives may, in due course, have it or use it. I leave the exact division of the jewellery to your discretion.”
