The priceless jewellery Queen Camilla may wear to the Coronation
The jewellery on display at the Coronation will represent royal history dating back hundreds of years.
The Queen Consort is likely to wear a series of invaluable pieces that were worn at the coronations of many of her predecessors.
While Buckingham Palace has not yet confirmed what jewellery Camilla has chosen to wear on May 6, it may include the coronation necklace and earrings created for Queen Victoria, and feature include a nod to the late Queen Elizabeth.
Here, The Telegraph details all the jewellery we can expect to see at the Coronation.
Coronation necklace
The coronation necklace was made by Garrard for Queen Victoria and presented to her in 1858.
It consists of 25 graduated brilliant diamonds with a 22.48 carat diamond pendant, known as the Lahore Diamond.
It was worn by several Queen consorts during their coronations; Queen Alexandra in 1902, Queen Mary in 1911 and Queen Elizabeth, later the Queen Mother, in 1937.
Queen Elizabeth II also wore it for her own coronation in 1953.
The necklace was among several new pieces of jewellery ordered by Queen Victoria to replace some of the items lost when her uncle became the King of Hanover, King Ernst August I, and sought possession of the jewellery that had belonged to Queen Charlotte, his late mother and Queen Victoria’s grandmother.
After a legal battle that lasted almost two decades, the courts ruled in December 1857 that Victoria must hand over several pieces of jewellery to her Hanoverian cousins, including Queen Charlotte’s diamond necklace and earrings.
The new commissions included a trio of diamond bow brooches, as well as a new diamond necklace and earrings.
The diamonds are said to have been taken from “swords and useless things” in the royal collection.
For the necklace, 28 stones were removed from a Garter badge and a sword hilt.
Meanwhile, the Lahore Diamond, which had been set in the Timur Ruby necklace in 1853, was made detachable so it could be used as the pendant.
In 1937, the Lahore Diamond was removed, recut and set temporarily in Queen Elizabeth’s new crown for the coronation.
The diamond was returned to the necklace for the state portrait, by Sir Gerald Kelly, and for the celebratory images taken in July 1939 by Cecil Beaton.
Coronation earrings
The coronation earrings were also among the new commissions made for Queen Victoria, who wore them often.
They were subsequently worn at the coronations of consorts Queen Mary in 1911 and Queen Elizabeth in 1937.
The drops, which originally formed part of the Indian armlet setting of the controversial Koh-i-Noor, were removed from the Timur Ruby necklace in 1858.
The additional four stones were taken from an aigrette and a garter star.
Queen Elizabeth’s Coronation necklace
This antique diamond collet necklace was given to Queen Elizabeth by her husband, King George VI, to mark their coronation on May 12, 1937.
It was worn on the day along with Queen Victoria’s coronation necklace and two strings of pearls.
Queen Elizabeth II inherited the necklace when her mother died in 2002, and has since loaned it to her daughter-in-law, now the Queen Consort.
Camilla, then Duchess of Cornwall, was pictured wearing it in an official portrait to mark her 60th birthday in summer 2007. On that occasion, the necklace was shortened from 40 to 31 collets.
She wore it again in March 2008 for a state banquet given for President Sarkozy of France at Windsor Castle.
The Queen Consort’s ring
Both the sovereign and the Queen Consort will be presented with a ring during the coronation ceremony.
This ring was made for the coronation of William IV and Queen Adelaide in 1831, and since Edward VII’s coronation in 1902, all Queen Consorts have worn it.
As has been tradition since the thirteenth century, it includes a ruby as the principal stone.
It comprises an extended octagonal mixed-cut ruby in a gold setting, unbacked, within a border of fourteen cushion-shaped brilliants set transparent in silver collets. The gold shank is set with fourteen graduated mixed-cut rubies.
The concept of a consort’s ring dates back centuries.
Dr George Gross, visiting research fellow in theology at King’s College London and a co-founder of the British Coronations Project with Dr David J Crankshaw, said: “The Victorian compiler of coronation records and antiquary, Leopold Wickham Legg, claimed that Matilda of Flanders, Queen of England and consort of William I, had received a ring of gold with a sapphire from her Westminster Coronation in 1068.
“The rumour was that her tomb was ransacked during the Wars of Religion in the 16th century and the Coronation Ring was found still on her hand.”
Queen Victoria’s ring
Queen Victoria had her own coronation ring made in 1838 because the ring made for her uncle, William IV, was too big.
However, Rundell, Bridge & Rundell, the royal goldsmiths, misunderstood the traditional wording of the rubric for the coronation and made the ring for the Queen’s little finger, rather than her ring finger.
As such, it was too small and the Archbishop had to force it onto the correct finger.
Queen Victoria had to soak her hand in iced water after the ceremony. She later wrote in her journal: “I had the greatest difficulty to take it off again – which I at last did with great pain.”
The ring was later inscribed “Queen Victoria's Coronation Ring 1838”.
The King William IV buckle bracelets
Another option for the Queen Consort could be these bracelets featuring four rows of diamonds linked by two large enamelled buckles.
According to the Court Jeweller website, one features the cypher of King William IV and the other of his wife, Queen Adelaide.
Both Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth wore the bracelets at their coronations in 1911 and 1937 respectively.
