I’ve always been quietly obsessed with the Duchess of Cambridge’s jewelry and what she wears and what she does NOT wear. She’s the future-future queen and clearly, the Queen has opened up the Royal Collection jewelry vault to Kate so that Kate can wear *some* of the bigger pieces, the ones fit for a future queen. But what’s notable is how rarely Kate actually wears those Royal Collection pieces. It’s not the rarity of her “tiara moments,” it’s that she rarely wears the earrings, bracelets and brooches I know she has access to. For a very long time, I don’t think Kate knew HOW to wear big pieces at all – when she did wear a giant diamond necklace, she threw her sausage curls around it, effectively hiding the piece. She has gotten a bit better about those pieces though.
So, these days, Kate wears a lot of costume jewelry, cheap pieces she picks out herself, or more expensive pieces which… we don’t know much about. Like, it was always said that “William buys her this or that,” but there’s more evidence to suggest that Kate herself is running to Kiki McDonough for the bulk of her earring collection (mostly smaller, semi-precious stones). I also assume that Charles has bought the bulk of those (overpriced) pieces. But here’s something a bit different: Kate apparently has a ruby-and-diamond set of earrings, bracelet and necklace and no one knows where it came from. We saw the earrings on Commonwealth Day and now people are like “wait, we haven’t seen these since 2011, where did they come from?”
The royal mum donned a pair of diamond drop earrings with flower-shaped rubies, which match a set that we haven’t seen Kate wear since her first few months as a royal in 2011. The Duchess dazzled in a black velvet Alexander McQueen dress, accessorising with the diamond and ruby necklace and bracelet, at the Military Awards with William and Prince Harry. The pieces are by Mouawad, a Geneva-based diamond house, which has been in business for more than 100 years. The jewels were reportedly a wedding present and in April, William and Kate will celebrate their ninth anniversary.
Do you have more questions? I have more questions.
The earrings are thought to be part of a suite of diamond and ruby jewels that she received as a wedding present from an unknown well-wisher. The set, known as the Mouawad Ruby and Diamond Demi-Parure, also includes a bracelet and necklace that the Duchess has only worn on one previous occasion in 2011.
Little else is known about the set, including the price, but it proved the perfect addition to Kate’s monochrome look yesterday.
So… for her wedding in 2011, Kate received an expensive diamond-and-ruby jewelry set from an unknown/mystery benefactor and before Commonwealth Day 2020, she had only worn the pieces one time in a decade? This is very strange! My theory is that Kate knows very well who gave her these jewels and the palace simply doesn’t want other people to know. My guess is some Middle Eastern despot gifted them and Kate probably doesn’t wear the pieces because they’re not her style and because she doesn’t want people asking too many questions. I also have to ask: if Meghan had received hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewels for her wedding, would the reaction have been different?
Photos courtesy of WENN, Backgrid.
so petty!!!!!!!!!!
It does not matter what she wears, she is still a MEAN girl. Should have been a better person. Let go of the hate and jealously. Not a good look for a future, future queen……just saying.
i totally agree.
+1
She wore the necklace with that black velvet strapless gown (PROTOCOL!!), and yes, her hair hid it, but it was lovely.
https://katemiddletonstyle.org/millies-black-velvet-dress/
Personally, I find the earrings TOO matchy-matchy to the necklace, but perhaps she broke up the necklace and made earrings out of one of the “branches” and used the rest of the stones for something else?
Even with her hair down, that look is probably my all time favorite of hers.
I clicked on the link and her face looks a bit different from then. very subtle work.
Well ya, no kidding her face looks slightly different – that pic was almost ten years and three kids ago. Why does it have to always be “work?” Not to say she hasn’t had some done, but why are the women who this site DOESN’T like ever allowed to age without squawking about “WORK!!!!!!,” And usually in a dog whistly way?
Because Kate has changed her appearance since before her marriage so yes, her face has changed due to aging AND procedures: nose, teeth, brows/eyes and even her body (through dieting). Sorry if this is news to you.
Dog whistling means a coded racist comment. Since Kate is white that term cannot apply to her. She’s part of the privileged class.
I’m not one of these people who dislike her, but honestly she’s unfortunate in that she looks a good 10 years older than she is. Even if she’s had stuff done, it’s not really helping. Bless her heart.
My god, why doesn’t she wear more dresses like this? It’s stunning. The jewelry is ugly though.
@Jessica – I agree with you. Kate looks really stunning in this black velvet gown. I have not seen her look this good since the EACH fundraiser at Houghton Hall.
I do not think the jewelry is ugly it just does not look good with that dress IMHO.
Totally agree, she looked stunning with the black dress. Look at the joy on her face then and compare it to how she looks now. That was 9 yrs ago. The BaRF sucked the life out of her.
I recently looked through a bunch of old photos of Kate after she first got married and the difference in how she dressed and looked compared to the last several years was shocking to me. I had forgotten how beautiful and sleek she used to dress. She was even a tad…sexy.
I understand that maybe she wants to dress a little more conservative because she’s the FFQC, but good Lord, she jumped headfirst in the school marm clothing racks and never found her way out.
YES. Thank you. That jewellery set (earrings, necklace & bracelet) are ugly AF. I honestly had no idea they were rubies. I legit thought it was some cheap stuff from Accessorize – acceptable for then 29 y/o Kate with no access to HM’s jewels and they were both still too young & ‘junior’ to afford the good stuff
No, you can see she’s got the earrings on, too–she’s wearing the whole set, earrings, necklace, bracelet.
She is 100% not wearing the earrings there. The earrings she’s wearing are smaller, all-diamond pieces.
WOW. I knew her fashion had gotten stuffy, old-fashioned and Camilla-esque (no offense to Camilla but Kate is 34 years younger), but the change has been so gradual I hadn’t realized just how conservative she has become.
I agree it looks like the set can either be worn in different configurations or else she has made some modifications. In the Canada Day celebration post linked to in the article you shared, they mention these specific earrings were gifted to her by William and a “similar” set of jewelry from Charles, so maybe the two collections (if the rubies are from Charles) are designed to be stylistically compatible.
Wow she looks amazing there. It’s like looking at a vibrant beautiful younger sister of the woman in the pictures above.
I wonder if she has body dysmorphia and low confidence in her own skin. As this was pre-kids, pre-high profile Wandering Willy affairs, etc.
I have never seen this picture before but I’m not a Kate watcher. But is it just me or is this a throw back to that black strapless dress Diana wore after the engagement to Charles was announced? Talk about cosplaying.
Soon Kate will be cosplaying the cosplay, since she’s been cosplaying Diana since she got married.
As you age your eyelids become droopier and not less droopy like Kate’s have done in ten years. She got work done around her eyes to lift her brow line. It’s more than just better eyeliner.
The whole thing looks like a cheap set you’d buy your 11 year old at a costume jewelry shop.
I do not like the earring design. They look stiff, is the best word I can come up with, like they are missing something? Almost, angry, although that seems to fit her mood!
I do like the matching necklace, the straight diamond “sticks” look fine as a large neck piece. I really like the new blue flower earring she wore later with the blue dress. That’s just my style though!
ETA I agree that for someone who has access to royal jewels, she doesn’t wear much. Maybe the Queen really is stingy? I wouldn’t doubt that. For all that the Royal Family claim to just be guardians for history, they are very stingy and secretive. Like Melania and her stupid tennis gazebo. I would love to know where her personal jewelry comes from. I do think she picks out most of those pieces herself, with maybe a couple coming from William. But anything that was a “gift”, I’d love to know the source. Was it Uncle Gary?????
Uncle Gary would never have kept quiet about that. He’s only recently quieted down since he was arrested.
Normal Bill doesn’t pick out jewelry. Every time there was a piece of new jewelry early on in their marriage, it was speculated that Willy bought it for a birthday or anniversary. Later, a shopkeeper would gush about Kate being so nice while choosing the piece. Maybe he paid for it, but he never chose anything for her back then and probably doesn’t now. Charles knows jewelry, but no evidence that William does.
I don’t blame her for not wearing them, the whole set is ugly. She only wore them Monday because it was the only way to get people to talk about her.
I’m not a fan of the earrings. The dangly flowers almost feel childish rather than classic. That’s just me, though.
They are part of a set Charles gave her years ago, she wore it will the matching necklace with a strapless velvet gown
Did you read the article? It mentions that she wore them before and that their origin has never been confirmed.
I don’t read the DM as if it is the word of god. Charles was said to have given her the necklace and set at the time, but it was never confirmed because they don’t answer every question the DM throws at them. But go off, by all means. The DM is the Bible around here
There’s also a segment quoted from Hello mag. And at the time she first wore it in 2011, it was said to be a wedding gift and it was never said who it was from. Most pro Kate blogs list this information – like the one cited above and WKW.
she definitely knows where the set came from. No way is a member of the royal family walking around wearing jewelry that could be from anyone.
my guess is the gift-giver was problematic (Saudi Arabia?) so they wont announce who it was but not so problematic that she cant wear the jewelry. (I think the Queen has quite a few significant pieces from the Saudis, so regardless of what we may think, they’re not that problematic for the royals.)
Re: (TheOG) jan90067’s link above:
If the set is indeed Mouawad – a jeweler of Lebanese origin that got its start designing for the House of Saud – then maybe it was a gift from the Saudi royal family and that’s why no one talks about it.
The Saudis were very generous to Diana, giving her quite a haul of sapphires: http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/search?q=Diana+sapphires
That would explain why no one has confirmed who gave it. If it was Charles or William they would have confirmed it by now. All the jewelry Charles got Diana and later Camilla has been confirmed. William is unlikely to have ever purchased her anything.
Kate’s face is so different. She’s crossed over from procedures “freshening” her up to starting to look artificial. I’m sure she goes to the best of the best but I don’t think the last round of stuff was a success. Her eyes are different and not for the better.
Maybe part of it is her eye color hasn’t been photoshopped to be lighter?
Her jewellery is fine, but the worst thing about Kate’s outfits are always her fascinators. I was looking at fascinators and headwear online today, and some of the pieces can be really beautiful and chic. Some are quite simple and classic, so I have no idea why kate chooses to wear these satellite dishes on her head. They make her look even more matronly and stiff.
Agree February Pieces —- In that photo above where her face is turned to the right and she’s clutching those flowers that red hat looks especially ridiculous. Like her in the black velvet but that was a point in time some years ago when Kate was more Kate and not the future future Keen Queen. Comparing the two photos, I think she’s settling into the face she deserves.
Maybe they were a gift from Harry??
Can I say something about that look that William gives Kate in that photo? That’s a telling look – like part aggravation, part disappointment – like “I know what you did”, “I’ve tired to tell you a million times but you don’t listen to me” and/or “did you really have to do that?” look. Really a picture with a 1,000 words attached to it.
I think that Will was looking at something beyond Kate
I would imagine that Meghan did receive a decent amount of jewellery at her wedding? Perhaps not as much as a future queen, but weddings are normally when royal brides get a lot of their collection, either from relatives or dignaturies. I would be quite surprised if she didn’t come out with a fair amount of personal jewellery, but I also think that we wouldn’t see a lot of it, seeing as it took Kate this long to showcase hers (assuming that these came from her wedding).
A lot of the jewelery that the Royals wear is part of the royal collection and not actually their own.
I believe she got a bracelet and some earrings from Charles and the queen. They are smaller but pricey pieces. In a way I think that is better because she will get more wear from them than a big showy set.
Insane Hyena Laugh is back! Along with the squinty eye it makes her look a lil cray.
Those earrings don’t go with the outfit. Kate has no clue when it comes to accessories.
Thank you Dee!!!! I came to day the same. She clearly has no idea how to wear jewels or clothes!
Palace officials reportedly had H and M return about $ 9.3 million in gifts. Allegedly, so firms or people would not have undue influence over the couple. Which was bullsh*t. It was not required by law, as they were wedding gifts, and the Cambridges were clearly allowed to keep expensive gifts. So, the question is not what would the reaction have been had Meghan received a like gift but rather why was she not allowed to keep such gifts?
I feel like there have been a lot of rewears from 2011-era Kate lately. Is she nostalgic for the good times? Do you think she’s hoping people will dig out old photos for comparison and sort of remember when SHE was the sparkly young royal?
I definitely would love to see that strapless black velvet gown again, with hair up this time! I’m sure those earrings are expensive as hell, but they look like clip on costume jewelry to me! Pass.
Bet it is of shady provenance from some despot. Was a bone saw included with that set? Also that Mary Poppins hat is so frickin’ stupid. Just ridiculous. She and Sophie were dragged by NYMag for their rudeness..
I remember that set. It’s hideous.