Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
The King and Queen made a triumphant entry to Royal Ascot, embracing the history and pomp of one of the Royal Family’s most beloved traditions. Queen Camilla put a spotlight on family tradition by wearing some of the oldest stones in the Royal Family’s collection.
The Queen embraced the green of the race course with her deep green day dress and matching hat. The real star of her ensemble was her jewels, specifically the Cambridge Emerald Cluster Brooch.
Originally won in a lottery by Princess Augusta, wife of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge in the early nineteenth century, the Cambridge emeralds are a set of nearly forty, large cabochon-cut emeralds.
While they were briefly “lost” when Queen Mary’s brother left the stones to his mistress, Queen Mary bought the gems back and set to work creating.
Mary was the magpie of the Royal Family; she commissioned and collected numerous gems that are still favourites in the Royal Collection to this day.
In 1911, Queen Mary commissioned a new emerald and diamond parure ahead of the Delhi Durbar. The new set included this stunning brooch.
Originally part of a larger stomacher, the brooch features a round emerald surrounded by two circles of diamonds with a cabochon-cut emerald suspended below.
It quickly became a favourite of the young Queen Elizabeth II after inheriting it in 1953. The late queen would often wear the brooch in its smaller setting without the drop, but did choose to wear the full setting occasionally.
Queen Camilla has made the brooch her own by embracing the full setting and coordinating it perfectly.