Princess Diana’s Emerald Earrings

This week marks the 60th Anniversary of the Birth of the late Diana, Princess of Wales! We covered her Top 20 Jewels to mark the 20th Anniversary of her Death in 2017, and for the days leading up to this anniversary, we are featuring a few more pieces from the late Princess’ collection, continuing with her Emerald Earrings:

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For her 22nd Birthday in 1983, the Prince of Wales gifted his wife a pair of pear-shaped emerald and diamond earrings and an Art Deco emerald and diamond bracelet, supposedly to coordinate with Queen Mary’s Art Deco Emerald Choker, which had been given to the Princess on lifelong loan from the Queen. However, the Princess disliked emeralds and the writer Suzy Menkes has said that:

like so much Prince Charles didn’t know about his young wife, he didn’t know she didn’t like emeralds”

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Embed from Getty Images

Despite her dislike for emeralds, the Princess of Wales wore her pair of emerald and diamond earrings for numerous occasions, most notably when she wore Queen Mary’s Art Deco Emerald Choker as a bandeau on a visit to Australia in 1985, and at the Royal Film Premiere of ‘A Passage To India’ earlier that year.

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There were numerous appearences of the emerald earrings later in the 1980s as well, not just with Queen Mary’s Choker but also with the Prince of Wales Feathers Pendant, most notably on a visit to Vienna in 1986.

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Embed from Getty Images

Later in the 80s and in the early 90s, the Princess began to wear the earrings for more gala events with the Spencer Tiara, for a few Banquets at Claridges Hotel and for a Gala Dinner at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto during an official visit to Canada in 1991. She also wore the earrings for a portrait taken by Lord Snowdon

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The emerald earrings were retained by the Princess through her seperation, being worn for her last Banquet hosted by the King and Queen of Malaysia in 1993, and after her divorce. Despite her dislike of emeralds, Diana, Princess of Wales wore the her emerald earrings, bracelet, and Queen Mary’s Art Deco Emerald Choker for her 36th Birthday Party at the Tate Gallery in London, which became her last birthday celebration. After her tragic death later that year, the Princess’ jewels were inherited by her sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, but the emerald earrings have yet to make a reappearance on either the Duchess of Cambridge or the Duchess of Sussex.

Top 20 JewelsAmethyst SuiteAquamarine Ring

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