Teck Flower Brooch

Today marks the anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, who died on this day in 2002. We have featured many of her jewels over the years and today, we are featuring the Teck Flower Brooch!

A central floral design with large diamonds set with a series of four pendants that hang below from a diamond chain, the Teck Flower Brooch is associated Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck, but according to Hugh Roberts in The Queen’s Diamonds, it was possibly among the jewels she inherited from her aunt, Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, a daughter of King George III. Inherited by her elder son, Prince Adolphus of Teck, after her death, it was eventually acquired by his sister, Queen Mary, by the early 1920s.

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In 1923, the Brooch was among the wedding gifts given by Queen Mary’s younger son, the Duke of York, to Lady Elizabeth Bowes Lyon, and became a favourite during her early years, worn in official portraits with both the Lotus Flower Tiara and the Strathmore Rose Tiara, which were also Wedding Gifts.

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The Teck Flower Brooch continued to be worn after she became Queen in 1937, and was notably worn on the famous State Visit to Paris in 1938. From the 1940s to the 1960s, the Queen and later Queen Mother preferred to wear other heirloom brooches, like Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Brooch, Queen Victoria’s 11 Pearl Brooch, and Queen Victoria’s Fringe Brooch, but by the 1970s, the Teck Flower Brooch became a favourite again and was worn for a variety of occasions from Royal Ascot, her annual birthday celebrations, concerts and galas, and even for  Banquets with the Greville Tiara. One of the last notable appearences was at the Prince of Wales’ 50th Birthday Reception in 1998, four years before the Queen Mother’s death in 2002.

The Teck Flower Brooch was inherited by the Queen but has not become a favourite, possibly because of the complicated pendants. It was worn by the Queen for a series of portraits taken by her former brother-in-law, the late Earl of Snowdon, in 2010, which was featured on a magazine cover for her Diamond Jubilee in 2012. Lets hope we see this royal heirloom worn again soon!

The Queen Mother’s Tiaras | Oriental Circlet TiaraCoronation Rivière | Queen Alexandra’s Wedding Necklace | Greville Festoon Necklace | Greville Emerald Necklace | Queen Adelaide’s Fringe Necklace | Teck Flower Brooch | Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee Brooch | Queen Victoria’s 11 Pearl BroochIrish Guards Brooch | Sapphire Fringe Earrings | Maple Leaf Brooch | Queen Victoria’s Fringe Brooch | Queen Mother’s Birthdays

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RJWMB | RJWMB

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